Town boss Kieran McKenna says skipper Sam Morsy has trained all week and is raring to go following his recent hamstring problems, while fellow midfielder Idris El Mizouni is also back involved after an achilles injury.
Morsy was forced off during the games against Lincoln and Portsmouth, and was only considered fit enough to be among the subs ahead of last week’s 1-1 draw at Oxford United before playing his part in the second half.
However, manager McKenna says the 30-year-old has had a good week on the training field.
"Sam’s good. I said last week was a little bit touch and go,” he said. "We could have taken a chance on starting him but we felt that was a little bit of a risk, so we decided that any time from half-time onwards he would give us a good burst in the game, which he managed to do and came through unscathed. He’s had a good full training week this week and is raring to go.”
El Mizouni has returned to the group this week after suffering a problem in training recently.
"Idris is another one who is back,” McKenna continued. "He only joined us in the middle stage of this week. He was very unfortunate that he picked up a very deep cut on his achilles, actually a very unusual injury that he picked up in training and he had quite deep stitching and leave it completely free for a couple of weeks.
"He’s just joined us on Wednesday in training, so it’s good to have another body, good to have a versatile player who can fill in in a few different positions and obviously a good player. It makes the squad a little bit stronger for the rest of the year.”
However, the Blues will still be without Lee Evans, who is on the way back from a knee problem, George Edmundson (ankle), Kyle Edwards (quad) and Kayden Jackson (hamstring).
"Of the long-term absentees, all is as it was. Lee Evans unfortunately not in full training with the group,” McKenna added.
"On the other hand, we’ve been carrying quite a few niggles, Sam Morsy has had his little issue, James Norwood had a little hamstring for a few days last week.
"We’ve had quite a few little things like that over the last few weeks where players have been playing through little bits of injuries and not quite at 100 per cent and we’ve had this week where we’ve trained well but also recovered well and the players who are fit are going into the game pretty fresh and without too many injury concerns.
"I think we should be in a good place physically with the players that we do have fit to go and put in a performance of good intensity.”
Right wing-back Wes Burns has been one of those who has had a few issues having been on the end of one or two overzealous challenges in recent games.
"We had that little spell where we had a few knocks and niggles. Wes has had a few little issues over the last couple of weeks, but nothing major, nothing that you don’t get over the course of a season,” McKenna continued.
"We’ve carried a few over the last few weeks but this has been a good week for settling all that down and apart from the longer-term injuries, the players that are fit are in a good condition.
"Wes has proving to be, touch wood, pretty robust for us at the moment, delivering pretty consistently in terms of his performances and dealing with some rough treatment at times, but he knows that that’s part and parcel of the game.
"I think in Wes’s position and with his profile, you can only take it as a compliment if the other team targets you a little bit and get back on your feet straight away and go again. That’s what he did last week and he got his reward in the second half with getting in for the assist, but it came from perseverance from the type of run and the type of threat he was providing from the first minute really.”