Town boss Kieran McKenna has confirmed that winger Chiedozie Ogbene is almost certainly out for the season having undergone surgery after tearing his achilles at Brentford last week, while skipper Sam Morsy, Omari Hutchinson, Ben Johnson and Massimo Luongo are all back in training.
Ogbene was stretchered off in the first half at the Gtech Community Stadium after suffering the injury in the build-up to the Blues’ second goal.
"Chieo had a surgery yesterday, it was an achilles tear,” McKenna said. "The surgery went well, he’s a really positive guy, he’s in good spirits but, of course, with that type of injury, it means that it’ll be unlikely he’ll play any or much football this season.
"A lot of it now will be preparing for next season and anything beyond that would be a bonus.”
Morsy missed last week’s match with a hamstring injury picked up in the Everton match but the Egyptian international was on the grass this morning.
"He’s trained today, so we have to make a judgement,” McKenna continued. "He’s missed since the Everton game really. He’s done one session, so he should be available for the squad, but in terms of minutes, we’ll have to make the judgement call with him and that conversation will be later on today.”
The Blues boss had praise for Jens Cajuste, who replaced Morsy against the Bees having not long returned to training himself following a knee problem.
"Jens has come through OK,” he said. "A fantastic effort from him, I have to say, great pride in how he performed but more so how he pushed his body more than that in the circumstances would have been ideal.
"Big, big credit to him, shows his commitment to the cause, showed his quality as well and hopefully he can stay fit now and if he can we think he’ll be a really important player for us.”
Right-back Johnson has also returned to training after a thigh problem, welcome news with Axel Tuanzebe (hand) and Harry Clarke (one-match ban) unavailable this weekend.
"Ben trained a little bit today as well and did some set plays yesterday, so again we’ve got a judgement call to make with that one,” McKenna said.
"He’s been out for quite a while, limited training. It’s going to be an intense game, but also he’s in a position where we need support at the moment.
"So, we’re going to make that call later on chatting to those players, who have had the session.”
McKenna confirmed that Hutchinson is OK having been ill last week - "Omari’s OK” - and that Luongo is in training after his ankle issue.
"Massimo’s trained today, so it’s not impossible that he could be involved before the international break,” he said.
Tuanzebe, Jack Taylor and Jacob Greaves (both hamstring) are all expected back after the international break: "Very likely so.”