Back to FA Cup action this weekend and it’s a return to the place where Town all but clinched promotion to the Premier League as they make the away trip to face Coventry.

This is a Coventry side that faced play-off penalty heartache in 2022/23 but saw a play-off challenge fall away last year with four losses in their last five games.

A poor start to this season saw them part company with well-loved manager Mark Robins and replace him with Frank Lampard.

Lampard, who scored his first international goal at Portman Road, returns to the Championship for the first time since he left Derby County and they’ve won four out of their last five games following a switch to a back three which has had success and seen them climb up to 11th in the table. The only blip in that run was the 2-0 defeat to Leeds on Wednesday night.

Goalkeepers

Goalkeeper was an area that Coventry looked to strengthen over the summer with Oliver Dovin signing from Swedish side Hammarby IF. The 22-year-old has started the most league games, 19, but has yet to properly claim that number one spot with Bradley Collins starting eight and the experienced Ben Wilson making three starts.

Dovin has started the last five including the penalty shoot-out victory against Sheffield Wednesday in the last round and looks to be Lampard’s man.

Defenders

With the switch to a back three, Lampard has been consistent with his wide defenders but changed around the man in the middle.

On the right, the versatile Joel Latibeaudiere has been filling the space. The Jamaican defender has found stability and recovered from last season's injury issues to make 23 appearances so far and is perfect for that role.

On the other side is Liam Kitching, another 25-year-old who’s in his second season with Coventry after signing from Barnsley in 2023. Unlike Latibeaudiere, he was struggling for starts before the switch to the back three as he’s one of only two left-footed central defenders.

The other is Luis Binks. The 23-year-old came through Tottenham’s academy before moving to Italy with Bologna. He joined Coventry on loan last season and made that move permanent at the start of this one. He’s made 18 starts but has lost his place to Bobby Thomas in recent times.

Thomas completes the youthful centre-back department. Like the others, he’s also been at the club for two seasons having joined from Burnley in July 2023. He’s arguably the best of the lot with 26 appearances so far and has won 60% of his ground duels.

Milan Van Ewijk has been one of the best right-backs in the Championship since his move from SC Heerenveen. The 24-year-old Dutchman is another signed in 2023 and the switch to wing-back seems to be getting the best out of him although he needs to work on his end product. His 3.94 expected assists have only provided one so far this season but he does have two goals to his name.

One the other side, Jake Bidwell is a far more stable head and a rare man of experience in a young backline. The 31-year-old is more defensive than his Dutch counterpart and has 415 Championship appearances across spells with Brentford, QPR, Swansea and Coventry.

If a more attacking option is needed at left wing-back then Jay Da Silva is a reliable back-up. The 26-year-old Welshman is another who joined in 2023 on a free transfer from Bristol City. He made 36 appearances last season and is another with plenty of Championship experience having made 189 appearances in total.

Midfield

The switch to the three at the back has allowed Lampard to stack the midfield with three central midfielders, this is partly due to the injury issue to Ben Sheaf, who formed a formidable partnership with Josh Eccles last season. Eccles has started 20 games but has had to make do with time off the bench recently.

In the place of that pairing has been a midfield three of Victor Torp, who joined in January of last year and announced himself with a piledriver in this competition, Jamie Allen, who has been captaining the side in Sheaf’s absence, and Jack Rudoni, who was signed from relegated Huddersfield having been one of the few bright sparks in the Terriers season, scoring five goals and contributing three assists. He already has three goals and eight assists so far this season and is flourishing with better players around him.

They’ve also added to that midfield in January with the signing of Matt Grimes from Swansea. Grimes is a pass master and has completed the most passes out of all players in the Championship this season, as he did two seasons before, with last year being the exception because of the possession-based play of Leicester and Southampton.

Coventry have completed the eighth most passes in the league this season to Swansea’s third and Grimes should help them move up that chart to control possession against the teams below them.

Forwards

Coventry’s top goalscorer is still Haji Wright with seven goals, despite the American having been injured since 9th November. He’s unlikely to be fit for this one but in his absence former Town target Ellis Simms and summer signing from West Bromwich Albion Brandon Thomas-Asante have been leading the line as a pair.

Simms has four goals in 27 games (14 starts) and Thomas-Asante has four in 29 (12 starts). Five of those eight goals have come in the last five matches with the pair clearly playing better as a sum of their parts. They’ll certainly cause problems for Town’s defenders in this one.

Twenty-year-old Belgian Norman Bassette is another summer signing in the striking ranks but is still more of a raw prospect.

Then there are wingers Ephron Mason-Clark and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto. Mason-Clark, signed from Peterborough, had a good start to the season with four goals but has been out injured since December and skilful Japanese winger Sakamoto has three goals and three assists but with the switch of formation will struggle to get starts until Mason-Clark is also fit again.

The Teams

There is a whole week between this game and Town’s next game against Aston Villa but despite that it seems likely that Kieran McKenna will rotate his squad for this one.

The addition of Alex Palmer on transfer deadline day is a short-term plaster to Town’s problems in the net. The 28-year-old won the Championship Golden Glove last year and has already kept 11 clean sheets this season. He’s likely to come straight in for this one to get up to speed with Town’s backline.

Loan signing Ben Godfrey is likely to come in at right-back and a pairing of Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess could be start at te centre of the defence with Conor Townsend at left-back. Given Sam Morsy and Jens Cajuste played against Southampton, we could see a midfield of Kalvin Phillips and Jack Taylor once again in the cup.

Further forward, Jaden Philogene has left a lot to be desired so far but has looked better on the right-hand side than the left, so it could be a good opportunity to give him game time there.

Jack Clarke seems likely to start on the left with George Hirst up front, but the number 10 spot in behind is the position where there are the most question marks.

Should Conor Chaplin or Sam Szmodics recover from their injuries then it will be a good opportunity to get them minutes.

For Coventry, there may be some rotation given they played Leeds in midweek but they are limited due to the depth of their squad so it’s unlikely to be a host of changes.

Prediction

This is a step up in terms of opposition from the Bristol Rovers game. Coventry have a very talented squad that have largely been together for the best part of a season and a half now.

They’ll still believe a play-off push is on but will also be looking to progress here, so it could be a tricky fixture. I still think Town will just about have enough to deal with that and will come through with a 1-0 win.

ad_wilkin added 13:03 - Feb 7 Enciso is apparently cup tied so it could be another outing for Mass with Taylor in the 10
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blues1 added 13:44 - Feb 7 Love to know why you think Alex Palmer is a short term plaster? Dont think wed be signing some1 on a 3.5 year contract as a sticking plaster.
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