Town boss Kieran McKenna has confirmed that midfielder Jack Taylor is fit for tomorrow’s final-day showdown against QPR at Portman Road with everyone aside from long-term absentee Conor Townsend having trained this morning.
The Blues go into the match knowing that a win will confirm their return to the Premier League, regardless of results elsewhere.
"We’re in a really good spot,” McKenna said when asked about the fitness situation. "I think everyone in the squad trained, apart from Conor Townsend, who has been injured all year, but I think everyone else has trained.”
Asked whether West London-born Taylor was available, the Irish international having missed the game at Southampton on Tuesday with a swollen knee, McKenna added: "Yes.”
Quizzed on how tough a side it will be to select given the number of players available and how much freshness comes into it, with the match the eighth in 27 days since the final international break, McKenna said: "It’s always a difficult team to pick. I don’t know how many teams in European football at the moment have, in essence, have no injuries going into the last day, apart from Conor, who has had an ACL and been out for the season.
"That’s a really good spot to be in. That’s a credit to the lads, that’s a credit to the staff here for how they’ve managed the group through the season, but it also makes it a really difficult team and squad to pick because there are players over the last couple of weeks, who nowhere near deserve not to be in a matchday squad or not playing. But that’s just the situation at the moment.
"We’ll pick the team we think is best for tomorrow. For me, tired legs don’t come into it tomorrow. Minds is where the bigger challenge is, not just because of what it is tomorrow but the fact that we’ve had a really, really busy run of games.
"But coming back to our home stadium for the last league game, I’ve got no concerns around energy levels or the physical output that we’ll be able to put into the game.”
One of those who is currently missing out is Norwegian forward Sindre Walle Egeli, McKenna confirming that the record Championship purchase, the Blues having paid £17.5 million to Nordsjælland for the 19-year-old in August, had been suffering with a minor injury.
"He’s OK, he did have a little knock, but he’s OK,” he said. "He’s in that category that of players who by no means don’t deserve to be in the squad at the moment but with the numbers and the fact that Kasey [McAteer] has really hit his peak form in the season, Wes [Burns] has come back and has done what Wes can do and is such an experienced player now in these big moments, the big games at the end of the season.
"I’ve spoken before in terms of Sindre’s development and it’s been a really positive season for him and he’s grown over the course of, and he’ll be much stronger for it and an off-season now and coming back next season.
"I think he’ll be in a really strong place for everything he’s been through this year and the ups and downs.
"But he’s had a big, big part in getting us to this place, so him among a few others who are missing out at the moment will be a really important part of the day tomorrow and if we are successful as a team, he will have been a big, big part of it.”
McKenna confirmed that Ashley Young, who announced he will retire in the summer yesterday, won’t be in the squad with the Blues boss sticking with the defenders who have recently been on the bench.