Town full-back Leif Davis has heaped praise on fellow left-back Conor Townsend, admitting that the increased competition is keeping him on his toes.
Townsend is yet to start in the Premier League but played 45 minutes at Liverpool last weekend after Davis was unwell at half-time and unable to continue.
Since his arrival from West Bromwich Albion last summer to provide support for Davis, Townsend has impressed during his brief appearances in cup competitions prior to his display at Anfield.
Davis has equally been as pleased and says the pair’s differing qualities are beneficial to each other’s development.
"Conor’s a great player, he’s been here and played a few games now and I’ve been very impressed with what he’s been doing,” Davis said.
"Especially in training he works hard and never gives up, he’s one of them that’s a very good leader so if training is not good he’s the one who’s speaking.
"I know he hasn’t played as many minutes as he would have liked but he’s always helping me in the position and he’s taking bits of my game as well. He did very well against Liverpool when he came on with the cross for Hirsty [George Hirst] showed his quality.
"He’s got an incredible left foot and it’s good competition for me, it keeps me on my toes and keeps me more willing to work hard. Hopefully he gets more minutes.
"He’s an incredible player, that’s why he’s here. We’ve learned off each other, things I know I need to improve on he does well and things I do well are things he needs to switch into his game.
"It’s exactly the same situation as Greg Leigh when he was here – an incredible player and when he stepped in he done his job. Conor’s done exactly that.
"I’m just happy that I’m playing but he deserves to be playing with the way he trains every week. It’s not up to me, it’s up to the boss who picks the team.
"I’ve just got to go out there and do what I do at the weekend and try and do everything I can to impress.”
Townsend particularly impressed in the FA Cup tie against Bristol Rovers earlier this month, with Davis acknowledging that the starting XI that day showed the strength in depth the Blues have at their disposal.
He said: "We’ve got the players where everyone can step in at any time in the game. In the Bristol Rovers game the team done well, considering we were there two years ago [League One] I think we looked comfortable in the game.
"When we played them two years ago they were in the game a lot more, so it shows the team has come on a lot. We’ve got better players in that have helped the team, we just need to keep pushing.”
Up until half-time in last Saturday’s defeat at Anfield, Davis had played every minute of the Blues’ Premier League campaign so far, describing his sickness as the reason for his withdrawal on Merseyside.
"That’s why I came off,” the 25-year-old said. "I was spewing for a good 10 minutes at half-time which I didn’t need. I was poorly during the week as well but I wanted to go out and help my team and try and play through anything. That got the better of us this time and I was quite bad at half-time.
"I was gutted but it had to be done, I had nothing left in my body. I couldn’t go back out there in the second half and potentially be the man down.
"Conor came in and stepped in well, but it felt weird being on the sidelines for it. Hopefully there’s no more than that but the illness got over us last week.”
During the first half, Davis was directly up against the division’s top scorer Mohamed Salah. Having previously described Brighton and Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba as his toughest opponent, Davis admitted the Reds’ Egyptian winger has taken that crown.
He said: "I would have to say Salah, he’s been the best player I’ve played against and one of the best wingers in the world.
"I think Baleba is still one of the best players I’ve seen, he’s a young lad and I remember the game I watched against Man City when he came on at half-time and he changed the game. I said to a lot of people ‘I told you’. He’s one of the best players I’ve seen and he changed the game completely for them.”
Like many of his teammates, Davis is currently embarking on his first season as a Premier League regular and scored his first goal in the top flight during November’s home draw with Leicester City.
Reflecting on the season so far, he said: "It’s been very tough physically but that’s my game, I like to run hard and do everything I can to get the results we need and help the team score or get assists.
"My favourite memory is my first Premier League goal against Leicester. It’s tough, it’s the best league in the world and I’m just delighted to be playing in it.
"It’s good for me. All I want to do is play, improve every week and play as many minutes as I can. I didn’t expect to play this amount of minutes with Conor behind me because of the quality he has and how good of a player he is.
"I’m improving every week, I want to keep pushing and learning from playing against the best players and teams in the world and hopefully keep pushing on in my career.
"It’s tough but I know I can do it. I’ve got through it however many times this year so I know I can last the 90. I’ve just got to keep getting fitter and pushing to the final whistle.
"You’ve got to enjoy every moment of it. The [Manchester] City game at home is 6-0 but you’ve still got to enjoy it, you’re playing in the Premier League and it’s everyone’s dream to play in the Premier League.
"You don’t want to be enjoying a 6-0 defeat but you’ve got to enjoy the moment of being on the pitch playing in the Premier League and trying to shine and do what you do.”
Known for his creativity, Davis is once again towards the top of the chances created charts despite climbing another division into the Premier League.
Only Trent Alexander-Arnold ranks above the Blues’ left-back’s 41 chances created among the league’s defenders, a statistic that the former Leeds United man takes plenty of pride in.
He said: "That’s my game, I want to try and help the lads up top score and even myself score. The main thing for me out wide is to try and create chances like I have for the past few years and get the assists that I have done.
"But we’re playing against the best defenders in the world so it’s going to be difficult, but there’s still room to improve in that area especially in this league to get more assists.”
On his goal celebration, he added: "I don’t really think about it, it’s just in the moment I’ll think of something to do. The one against Leicester I didn’t know what to do, I just jumped in the air. I’d probably have to get stretchered off if I tried Omari [Hutchinson]’s!”
Last weekend also saw Wes Burns taken off on a stretcher, an injury that has now been confirmed as an anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] tear that will rule the winger out for the rest of the season.
"It’s a big blow for us and for him as well, he was starting to find his feet a lot more in the Prem and has been doing very well recently,” Davis said.
"I’m gutted because I’m close with him as well, I always have been since I came here. That’s why I stayed with him on the pitch because I could see it was quite serious, he’s not one that goes down easily.
"I’m close with him, I’ll support him through his recovery as well and hope everything is alright.
"He’s a positive lad and he’s strong mentally in the head as well. If we give him the support it will make him stronger and I know the lads will.”
While Davis has been a mainstay at left-back, the central defenders alongside him have often chopped and changed with both Cameron Burgess and Jacob Greaves having spells as the left-sided centre-back.
Asked whether a more settled defence next to him may help his game, Davis responded: "When Burge steps in I know how Cam plays and Cam knows how I play. For me and Burgess nothing changes, we know each other well and have played with each other for two years.
"With Greavesy it’s a bit different, we’re getting closer to knowing how each other plays. It takes time, it doesn’t just happen overnight. Greavesy’s a great player, a great defender, he’s good on the ball and everything he has is what a centre-half needs.
"Hopefully we can keep working together hard in training, that’s where the hard work comes and hopefully we can sort it out down our side.”
On the importance of set pieces, he added: "We don’t have a lot of the ball this year, especially against the big teams like Liverpool your big chances are going to come from set plays. We work on them a lot on a Thursday and Friday towards a game on a Saturday.
"We’ve got lads who can deliver a very good ball and with Charlie [Turnbull] and Huds [Mark Hudson] they work on it well and dial into it. We’ve just got to keep pushing in them areas because we’ve scored quite a few goals in the past two years from set plays.
"Hopefully we can score more, especially with Greavesy scoring a good header off Julio [Enciso]’s delivery at the weekend.”