Blues boss Paul Lambert says one or two of his players have knocks and few others have been suffering with a virus going into Saturday’s home game against Sheffield United, the first match of the busy Christmas period during which time the Town manager confirmed he will rotate his squad.
"We’ve got one or two knocks, one or two of the lads have had a virus that they’re still recovering from so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how everybody is,” he said.
On-loan midfielder Tayo Edun remains back at his parent club with an eye problem: "He’s still back at Fulham, his eye is still giving him problems, so Tayo won’t be around for a few weeks anyway.”
The 20-year-old hasn’t featured for the Blues since the Leeds match in October, Paul Hurst’s final game in charge, but Lambert is yet to make a decision on whether to send the England U20 international back to Craven Cottage in January.
"I don’t know yet what we’ll do,” he said. "We need to try and get people in before I’ll let people out.”
Lambert says Myles Kenlock, who only recently returned from an ankle injury, is among those to have been ill.
"He’s been off, Myles is one of the ones that was off with a virus but he’s just back today,” he said.
"I think Myles is a good player, he’s only a young kid, 21 years old. He’s a good player, I know he’s played some game but his match fitness is just a little bit down.”
Regarding Ellis Harrison, who made an impression from the bench at Stoke having recovered from his ankle injury but wasn’t in the 18, last week, Lambert added: "We’ve got to balance the bench out. Ellis did well when he came on at Stoke.
"Kayden Jackson was unwell at Stoke and Ellis was on the bench and did well and then I thought Kayden might have been appropriate for the Wigan game. So I’ll just pick and choose what I think is going to benefit the team on that day.”
Lambert says he will use the full extent of his squad with the Blues facing four matches in 11 days over Christmas.
"Yes, we’ve too many games I think as well, so it’s something we’ll have to look at, that’s normal,” he added.
He says players who have been left out of the 18 have reacted to that in a professional manner.
"They’ve been great,” he said. "Not one problem, they’ve all done really well in training but I can only pick 18.
"But over this period of time, I’m pretty sure everybody will get a run at it. We need everybody and to be fair to the players, they’re a very close group, they get on really well, that’s half the battle really, they get on really well.”
He added: "That’s the beauty about this club, it’s got really good guys and everybody’s in it together and there’s not been one minute of any day when I’ve been given a problem.”
Cole Skuse remains out with his knee problem, while long-term absentees Emyr Huws (knee) and Tom Adeyemi (achilles) are expected back in the new year.