Conor Chaplin believes Kalvin Phillips can help to fill the big void left by suspended skipper Sam Morsy ahead of Ipswich Town travelling to Arsenal on Friday (8.15pm, Amazon Prime).
The 33-year-old had successfully avoided a fifth yellow card for nine straight matches before finally triggering a one-game suspension with his caution in the second half of Saturday’s 4-0 home defeat to Newcastle United, having put in a from-behind challenge on Bruno Guimaraes.
It will be only the second Premier League game Morsy will have missed, having been ruled out of the 4-3 defeat at Brentford due to a hamstring issue.
And Chaplin, who is likely to carry the captain’s armband in his absence, admits it will be keenly felt as well as backing out-of-favour England international Phillips to grasp his chance, if it comes his way.
"Skip’s massively important for us. In the way that he plays, his desire and the competitive nature that he’s got, and what he brings to the team,” he said.
"He’s obviously going to be a huge miss, but we know every single season there’s going to be times where lads get injured or lads are suspended.”
Put to him that someone like Manchester City loanee Phillips could come back in and show his qualities to help fill the void, he replied: "Exactly that.”
The player who won the fan-voted 2020/21 BT England Men’s Player of The Year award in a campaign which culminated in The Three Lions reaching the delayed UEFA 2020 Euros final on home soil, made his return off the bench in the Newcastle game, replacing Swedish international Jens Cajuste.
Phillips had not featured following an ankle injury and subsequent search for fitness since the 1-1 home draw with Leicester City in which he earned a one-match suspension for a red card seven games ago.
But manager Kieran McKenna confirmed in his post-match Newcastle press conference that the 29-year-old, who has eight appearances including seven starts in the Premier League this season, is back up to full speed ahead of the trip to north London later this week.
However, he did not rule out the more attack-minded Jack Taylor - who memorably scored the last-gasp winner at Wolves - or even Massimo Luongo from being in contention to play against Mikel Arteta’s side.
"He’s had a better week this week,” he said of Phillips. "It’s the first week this week since he had his injury when he’s been able to train uninterrupted all week, so that was a positive and good for him to get 30 minutes.
"He and Jack Taylor are both ready and available, Massimo’s had some illness, so we’ll have to check on him over the next couple of days. We’re missing important players at the moment and that’s challenge for our squad.”
One big positive is the return of striker Liam Delap who will provide a physical presence up front that was missing during Saturday’s defeat, despite Ali Al-Hamadi’s introduction off the bench at half-time for Omari Hutchinson having a positive impact in that regard.
Town go into the game against Arsenal second bottom in the Premier League table, only via goal difference from Wolves, but crucially still just two points from safety after Leicester City lost 3-0 to the Old Gold, who were playing for the first time under new head coach Vitor Pereira,
Looking ahead to facing the third-placed Gunners, Chaplin feels the Blues’ game-management needs to be much better, dismissing the idea that perhaps setting up to be more hard-to-beat away from home could be something that suits them in the wake of a big home defeat.
"No. I think we know we’re going to have to show those qualities at home as well,” he said.
"I think we’re a humble enough group to know and understand that at times, regardless of whether we’re at home or away, we’re going to have to grind through games or grind through moments in certain points of the game. I think that’s normal. I think it’s expected.
"So, yes, we need to be better at game management. We’re a very, very humble group, and I feel like at times [on Saturday] we weren’t at the levels where we should have been.
"But the running back, the commitment to stay connected to each other, I think that was at the level at certain instances. And, yes, that needs to be fixed.”
He added: "We knew there was going to be good days and bad days [in the Premier League]. And we had a good day last week [at Wolves]. It’s a very bad day today. So, it’s not about getting too low on these days.
"It’s about taking the learning, sticking together as a group and also believing in what we can do next as well.”
Town are set to be big underdogs in both of their next two festive fixtures, with second-placed Chelsea visiting Portman Road on Monday (December 30th, 7.45pm).
But asked if that would suit them, Chaplin felt it would be nothing they have not been used to already.
"We’ll see,” he said. "I think we have been [big underdogs] probably every game this season, and rightly so as well. So, yes, it’s not new territory to us and we know exactly what that entails.”