Town travel to Stoke City on New Year’s Day aiming to end the busy Christmas spell, as well as start 2024, on a high note.
The Blues go into the match without a win in four, having followed up the 2-2 East Anglian derby draw with Norwich with a 4-0 away defeat at Leeds, then home draws with leaders Leicester, 1-1, and QPR, 0-0.
The Town squad has been impacted by illness and injury during the last few days with four regulars - plus suspended skipper Sam Morsy - sidelined for the West Londoners’ visit.
McKenna admits the frequency of matches this time of year isn’t how he would have planned the season.
"Four games in nine days, the calendar and the way it sits, it doesn’t quite site right, to be honest, in terms of the space that we have in the second half of the season and why one of those fixtures couldn’t have been in that window,” he told TownTV.
"But, I get it. Playing on New Year’s Day is great, playing on Boxing Day is great and these are occasions which are in the fabric of English football.
"I get that, but, of course, the turnarounds have been really quite and it takes its toll, but we’ll be ready to go.
"We utilised the squad the other night, there will be changes again on Monday to make sure we have enough freshness in the team.
"We’ll be looking to finish off this period with a good performance and we’re coming out of the a long December, I think a December in which we can be happy with so many of the performances. We can be happy with the points that we picked up and we’ll look to finish off this block well now.”
Stoke are currently 19th in the Championship and have won just one of their last 11, the 3-1 victory at Birmingham on Boxing Day.
However, conversely, they are currently unbeaten in five having drawn four in addition to the win at St Andrew’s. Prior to that, they had lost four in a row.
That form led to Alex Neil’s sacking and his replacement with former Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher 10 days ago.
At home, the Potters haven’t won since a 1-0 victory over Leeds on October 25th. Their home record this season reads won four, drawn three, lost five.
Only four teams have scored fewer than Stoke’s 25 goals this season, while they are the joint-lowest home goalscorers on 10 alongside QPR.
They have been better at the other end, conceding only 32, the joint-ninth fewest in the division and one fewer than the Blues. Only five teams have conceded fewer than the 13 they’ve let in at home.
McKenna and Schumacher know one another well from the new Potters boss’s time with the Pilgrims over the last couple of seasons.
"We faced each other a lot over the last 18 months, so it should be a really good game,” the Blues manager continued.
"They were a good side anyway but they recruited heavily and well in the summer. Steven’s a good manager and a good coach and he’s putting his stamp on the team and, of course, it’s a big club and a big stadium and a game to look forward to.
"We’re ready to go and attack it. We know we’re going to have to respect the opposition, but we’re going do everything we can to go out and finish off this block with a really good performance.”
The Blues will again be playing in front of a sold out away end, as they did throughout their brilliant 2023.
"It feels like the end of a block, but it’s also the first game of 2024,” McKenna continued.
"The support’s been fantastic and they’re travelling in good numbers again on New Year’s Day and no matter what the circumstances, we’re going to do everything we can to go up there and deliver a performance to finish off this block well and start the new year well as well.”
McKenna still expects to be without most of those who were absent for the QPR match with striker George Hirst not likely to be back for at least a few weeks due to his hamstring injury. Town expect to know more on his situation this week.
Wes Burns and Nathan Broadhead missed out through illness - the latter having been taken unwell in the warm-up - and appear unlikely to be ready to return.
That might suggest that Leif Davis is the player who McKenna hopes could return, the left-back having been unavailable on Friday due to a calf problem, which was being monitored day to day. If not, Cameron Humphreys will probably continue having impressed in the role on Friday.
Harry Clarke, who joined the Blues from Arsenal in January having spent the first half of 2022/23 on loan at Stoke, dropped out of the QPR match as he is managing an achilles problem but could return at right-back at the bet365 Stadium with Brandon Williams dropping to the bench.
McKenna will again have to decide between Axel Tuanzebe and Luke Woolfenden at the heart of the defence alongside Cameron Burgess, playing his final game before joining up with the Australia squad ahead of the Asian Cup. Hehind them, Vaclav Hladky will continue in goal.
In midfield, Morsy will return and may well be partnered by Jack Taylor, Massimo Luongo and Dom Ball having started against QPR.
McKenna’s options in the three ahead of the midfield pivot are limited if Burns and Broadhead remain sidelined.
Hutchinson and Harness could again start in the wider roles with Chaplin, who has started every league game this season, in the central position, although a first start of the season for Sone Aluko is another option if McKenna feels one of the trio needs a rest.
Kayden Jackson is an alternative for one of the wide roles but may be handed a start as the number nine, although Freddie Ladapo was replaced just after the hour mark on Friday, perhaps with a view to making another start against Stoke.
Centre-half Elkan Baggott, a late call onto the bench against QPR following Broadhead’s injury, is not expected to make the trip as he is due to join up with the Indonesia squad’s training camp in Türkiye ahead of the Asian Cup on New Year’s Day.
For the Potters, midfielder Mehdi Leris could be back having missed Friday’s 1-1 draw at Watford due to concussion protocols.
Fellow midfielders Lynden Gooch (calf) and Josh Laurent (ankle) are both set to miss out, while striker Dwight Gayle is sidelined with a rib issue.
Forward Tyrese Campbell and defender Enda Stevens are expected back in training within the next couple of weeks. You can read more on the Stoke side in a TWTD Blog here.
Historically, results have been evenly matched with Stoke having won 29 (25 in the league) games between the sides, Town 29 (27) and 21 (19) having ended in draws.
Town have never won at the bet365 Stadium in eight attempts, a 1-0 success in March 1997 when Mauricio Taricco netted the goal at the Victoria Ground, the Blues’ only win on Potters turf in 35 years. Home and away, Town have won just six of the last 25 games between the teams in that time.
In August at Portman Road, Town hit the top of the early-season Championship table after goals from Woolfenden and sub Jackson saw them to a deserved 2-0 victory over Stoke City in their home opener, their first victory over the Potters in nine matches.
Woolfenden nodded the Blues into the lead in the 23rd minute, then Jackson confirmed the three points on 81.
The teams last met at the bet365 Stadium in December 2018, a goal in each half from Tom Ince and Joe Allen saw Stoke to a 2-0 victory over the Blues.
Ince’s injury-time goal was harsh on Town after an evenly-balanced first half but Allen sealed the three points for the home side on the hour.
New Year’s Day’s referee is James Bell from Sheffield, who has shown 60 yellow cards and three red in 14 games so far this season.
Bell was the official set to referee April’s game at home to Charlton before being replaced after it emerged he is a supporter of Sheffield Wednesday, then vying with the Blues for promotion from League One.
Prior to that, he was in charge of the disastrous 2-0 FA Cup defeat at Barrow in December 2021 in which he booked only Morsy, who had come on as a half-time sub.
Bell’s only previous Town match before that was the 3-0 defeat at Northampton in April of the same year in which he booked only one home player.
Squad from: Hladky, Walton, Williams, Clarke, Davis, Tuanzebe, Woolfenden, Burgess, Edmundson, Morsy, Luongo, Taylor, Ball, Humphreys, Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Aluko, Hutchinson, Ladapo, Jackson.