Town host French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice at Portman Road in their final game of pre-season on Saturday afternoon (KO 12.30pm).
The Blues go into the match following last Saturday’s impressive 1-0 victory over Bundesliga club Hoffenheim at the Kufstein Arena in Austria.
Manager Kieran McKenna is looking forward to another tough workout against the team which finished fifth in Ligue 1 last season and like Hoffenheim qualified for this season’s Europa League.
"A really good fixture for us, a really good side,” McKenna said, speaking after the victory in Austria. "I watched a fair bit of them last year.
"Of course, they’ve got a new manager [former Lens boss Franck Haise] but they’re in a good style in pre-season, they’re a good team and will bring some of the same aspects we’re going to face in the weeks to come and after that.
"A great chance to finish off the pre-season fixtures in our home stadium and I think we can all really look forward to the next few weeks.”
Nice, whose season proper starts next Sunday when they host Auxerre, have played four friendlies so far.
They started with back-to-back home 2-2 draws with Swiss top flight side Lausanne and La Liga Leganes, before another stalemate with the same scoreline against Turkish side Rizespor in Slovenia. Last Sunday they won 3-2 away against Italian Serie A side Lecce. Details regarding the Nice squad can be found in a TWTD Blog here.
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Blues boss McKenna seems likely to field a starting XI close to the one which will line up against Liverpool in the club’s first Premier League match in 22 years next Saturday.
Fitness-wise, Nathan Broadhead (hamstring), George Hirst (knee) and Cameron Humphreys (thigh) are all sidelined, while Harry Clarke (achilles) and Ali Al-Hamadi (adductor) are still recovering from surgery early in the summer.
Wes Burns was fit enough to come off the bench against Hoffenheim last week after rolling his ankle in the 2-1 defeat in the Blues’ previous pre-season friendly against Fortuna Düsseldorf a fortnight ago and may well be included from the start this weekend.
Aro Muric looks set to be in goal with McKenna having to choose between Ben Johnson and Axel Tuanzebe at right-back.
The former Manchester United man is also an option for right centre-half along with Luke Woolfenden, while new signing Jacob Greaves is likely to be the left-sided central defender. Leif Davis will be at left-back.
Skipper Sam Morsy will be partnered by either Massimo Luongo or Jack Taylor in the centre of midfield.
Burns could start on the right of the three ahead of the pivot with Conor Chaplin in the middle and Omari Hutchinson perhaps again on the left with Marcus Harness another option, the former Portsmouth man having impressed in pre-season. Liam Delap will be the lone central striker.
Many of the rest of the squad are likely to have some involvement from the bench in the second half.
Saturday’s referee is James Bell from Sheffield, who was the official set to referee the April 2023 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.