Town boss Kieran McKenna says new signing Jaden Philogene will be in the squad for Sunday’s home game with Manchester City, despite having had a back problem, while Axel Tuanzebe and Sammie Szmodics are both close returns following their injuries.
Philogene, 22, whose lengthy move from Aston Villa was finally completed on Wednesday evening, made only four starts and 11 sub appearances for the Villans following his summer switch from Hull City, the most recent 31 minutes from the bench against Southampton at the start of December, and has also had a minor fitness issue.
Asked whether the England U21 international will be ready to be involved against Manchester City on Sunday, McKenna said that would be determined over the weekend.
"We’ll decide that over the next 24/48 hours,” the Blues boss said following the 2-0 defeat to Brighton. "He’s missed a little bit of training because he had a knock on his back as well over the last week, but he’s OK now.
"He trained today [Thursday] just by himself this afternoon, he’ll train with the group for the first time [on Friday]. He’s a naturally very fit lad as well, so that will help.
"He’ll be in the squad on Sunday. How many minutes we use him for, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Omari Hutchinson was a surprise starter against the Seagulls following his groin problem and McKenna says how the former Chelsea man came through Thursday’s match will also be evaluated.
"Again, we’ll have to judge it,” he said. "He does tend to recover really well, Omari, so he’d recovered well from the little strain that he had and felt really confident and he felt fine in the game. Of course, he’ll have to be assessed over the next 24 hours to see how he is for Sunday.”
Defender Axel Tuanzebe is nearing a return following his hamstring injury but McKenna says the DR Congo international is more likely to be available for the trip to Liverpool next week rather than this weekend.
"We’ll have to, again, assess it in the next 24 hours,” he continued. "It’s probably going to be too soon, but it’s going to be a fairly close call, so that’s good news. He’s not to far away, but we think this Sunday will possibly come too soon.”
There has also been good news on Sammie Szmodics, who hurt his ankle at Fulham a fortnight ago, with the forward also nearing a return.
"He had a scan on his ankle and he’s not too bad,” McKenna said. "He’s not trained with the group or anything like that yet, but he’s not too far from it. We’ll see how he is in the next few days.”
Town will be without Kalvin Phillips on Sunday with the England international ineligible against his parent club, while Conor Chaplin (knee) and Chiedozie Ogbene (achilles) remain sidelined.