Town have made one change from the team which opened the season at Birmingham nine days ago for this afternoon’s live-on-Sky home clash with Southampton with Jaden Philogene making his first appearance of the season (KO midday).
The former Hull City and Aston Villa man, who had been out with the ankle injury he suffered at Auxerre in the final friendly, comes into the team for Chieo Ogbene, who drops to the bench. Philogene looks set to start on the left with Jack Clarke switching to the right, Sammie Szmodics the number 10 and George Hirst the out-and-out striker.
Azor Matusiwa makes his home debut in the centre of midfield alongside Jack Taylor, while Ben Johnson, skipper Dara O’Shea, Jacob Greaves and Leif Davis are again the back four with Alex Palmer in goal.
Jens Cajuste is on the bench for the first time since returning to the club, but there is no place for Chuba Akpom, who had felt some muscle tightness in training in the week.
Ali Al-Hamadi drops out of the 20-man squad with youngster Leon Ayinde on the bench for a league game for the first time.
Southampton, with a 100 per cent record under new boss Will Still, make two changes from the team which beat Wrexham 2-1 on the opening day with England defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who returned from injury in the 1-0 Carabao Cup victory over Northampton in the week, and the West Ham-linked Mateus Fernandes coming in for Ronnie Edwards and Yuki Sugawara, who are among the subs.
Also on the bench is highly rated youngster Tyler Dibling, who had looked set to join Everton, while Damion Downs and Ross Stewart are absent due to illness.
Former Blues midfielder Flynn Downes starts alongside ex-loanee Ryan Fraser with one-time Town loan keeper Alex McCarthy on the bench.
Town: Palmer, Johnson, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Davis, Matusiwa, Taylor, Clarke, Szmodics, Philogene, Hirst. Subs: Walton, Kipre, Woolfenden, Chaplin, Cajuste, Young, Ogbene, Humphreys, Ayinde.
Southampton: Bazunu, Fraser, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens (c), Quarshie, Welington, Downes, Charles, Fernandes, Robinson, Armstrong. Subs: McCarthy, Manning, Edwards, Wood, Sugawara, Archer, Brereton-Diaz, Matsuki, Dibling. Referee: Bobby Madley (West Yorkshire).