Town boss Mick McCarthy is hopeful striker Joe Garner will be OK to start against his old club Preston North End at Deepdale on Saturday, despite missing Wednesday’s 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff with a knee problem. McCarthy is less certain whether winger Muzzy Carayol will join the rest of the squad in flying to the North-West.
"With Joe it was always the plan that he’d play on Saturday,” McCarthy said. "I’m saying it was always the plan, but he hasn’t done anything, he’ll be training today and if he’s fit he’ll start.
"Muzzy, I’ve not seen him yet, but it’s unlikely he’ll be fit to start having had diarrhoea and sickness for two days, that’s going to have taken a lot out of him.”
McCarthy says Carayol, signed on a free transfer after leaving Nottingham Forest on deadline day, is desperate to make his first start for the Blues.
"I’m sure he is, of course,” he said. "He’s joined a long list of sickness and injuries unfortunately.
"One real positive out of the game the other night was Luke Hyam coming back after all his injuries. Despite the injuries and sickness that we’ve had, that was great that he came back and played.”
McCarthy isn’t aware of any new injury problems ahead of the game: "I don’t know, I’ve not seen everybody yet, I’ve been in a while, but they’ll all be coming in. I hope not.”
He says some younger members of the squad will be making the trip: "Tristan Nydam’s travelling, he’s been out for a while injured and just been coming back, Ben Morris, who has been doing well, and Aaron Drinan, they’ll all travel.
"As I explained previously, they all played in the U23s on Monday because I got a full squad. I didn’t expect to lose three players by the time the game came around on Wednesday.”
The Blues boss says strikers Morris and Drinan could well be on the bench if Garner and Carayol fail to make it with David McGoldrick expected to be out for the season having damaged a tendon in his groin in training earlier in the week.
"Yes, of course, with Didzy out, we’ll see how Joe is this morning, see how Muzzy is, see whether he’s travelling, I don’t know yet,” he added.
"I certainly don’t want him travelling if he’s still infected and passing that on to anybody, particularly me, by the way! I don’t need that.”
McCarthy says he’s not sure when Tom Adeyemi might be ready for an U23s game, although the midfielder recently said he was hopeful of being back in first-team contention at some point in March.
"I can’t answer how close he is to a game, I’m afraid,” the Town manager said. "He’s doing his rehab and they haven’t given me a time on that.”
With Saturday’s game against Preston Town’s third match in seven days McCarthy says he’ll be giving his players some time off following the game.
Yes, they’ll be off Sunday and Monday to recover,” he continued. "I think they’ve all earned that. They can spend a bit of time with their families.
"Some of them, of course, who may live in the North can go and see somebody and stay with them and just have a rest because it’s taking its toll.
"And I think probably some of the injuries have come through all the games and the training and the fact that we’ve not used that many players.”
The Town squad are flying to the game rather than taking the coach, which McCarthy says is very welcome: "Oh yes, the trip to the North-West from the South-East is not a great trip on a Friday afternoon, believe me. It doesn’t matter when you go, train travel’s not the easiest either to get up there.
"By the time we’ve sorted it out, it’s usually a coach, you’re sat on it for six hours, it could be more than that depending on how you get through certain spots, Cambridge, then we get up on to the M6, Manchester. It’s a long old trip, so a flight is brilliant, we’re all looking forward to it.”
In addition to McGoldrick, midfielders Andre Dozzell and Emyr Huws are both out for the season with knee problems, Teddy Bishop with a hamstring injury and keeper Dean Gerken having undergone hip surgery.