Town full-back Ashley Young insists the focus ahead of the Blues’ home clash with Coventry City is solely on themselves and not their table-topping opponents.

Runaway leaders Coventry make the trip to Portman Road this weekend having won 11 of their last 12 matches, including the last five on the bounce, which has seen them build a 10-point lead at the top of the Championship.

The Sky Blues have lost just one league match all season and have scored a record-breaking 50 goals in 18 matches, becoming the fastest second-tier side to reach that total in 67 years.

While Coventry’s recent form may seem daunting, Young says that he is excited for the challenge and is pleased to be back on home soil after three successive away matches.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “But that’s any game that we go into. That’s not just myself, that’s everyone, we’re all looking forward to it. When you’ve got top of the table coming to town, of course there’s a little bit more to it. We’re taking it as it’s another game.

“We want to build on the last few games, obviously midweek was a bit of a disappointment although we got ourselves back into it. I felt like we should have definitely got the three points [against Blackburn].

“We’ve had a run of games now, we’ve been away from home so it’s nice to be at home and playing in front of the fans and looking forward to the game.

“Talking to me, you’ll find that I talk about the opposition and they’re doing well, but it’s what we do. I’ve always been that way, I’ve been brought up that way that you, of course, give credit to the other team, but it’s what we’re going to do in the game and how we’re going to beat them.

“I don’t want to talk too much about them, it’s what we do here at Ipswich. The main objective for us is to put on a performance and get three points.

“Of course, they have threats around the team — their forward line, middle of the park, defence, goalkeeper, all throughout the squad they’re going to have confidence. It’s about what we do, not what they do.”

Town are currently outside the play-off places and find themselves five points adrift of the top two, with this weekend’s opponents holding a 15-point advantage on the Blues as the halfway point of the season approaches.

When asked whether it is more difficult being the team hunting or the one being hunted, the experienced Young admitted he would much rather be in Coventry’s position at this stage while highlighting there is a long way to go in the season.

He said: “I think if you asked them, they’ll be happier they’re at the top and wanting teams to catch them. We want to be at the top and I’ve got every confidence in the team and the squad that we’ve got that we can get ourselves up there.

“We’ve shown it in different spells, it’s just about putting that run altogether now. When you’re playing teams at the top, you want to set a marker and show you’re the team that can be up there.

“I’ve got every confidence that we can be up there. After the game, hopefully we can get the three points and we’ll be looking further and further up the table.

“They’re catchable. You don’t look too far ahead, of course they’re on a good run, but it’s what we do and there’s so many points to play for.

“I’ve never known a team to get automatic promotion before Christmas. Until it comes down to April/May time, that’s when you start finding out where teams are going to be and where teams are going to finish.

“That’s when we’ll be looking and thinking about the table, until then it’s game after game. Our next game is Coventry and that’s the one we’re looking at.”

While the visitors’ record in front of goal this season has been staggering, the Blues’ number of goals is also among the division’s best with a total of 30 so far this campaign.

With that in mind, is Saturday’s match on Suffolk soil destined to be high-scoring?

“I think for people that are not attached to the clubs, they want to see a goal fest,” Young said. “For us, if we score one and they score none, that’s more than enough for us. The main thing for us is to go out there, put on a good performance and get the three points however that’s done.

“There could be times where things are not looking so pretty in football and it’s ugly football, and times where you play well and you don’t get the points. Whichever way it’s got to be done, you fight and work as hard as possible to get the three points.

“If there’s a lot of goals, hopefully it’s coming from our side and not theirs.”

The busy fixture list keeps coming, but Kieran McKenna’s side will be relieved for a return to Suffolk after the lengthy trips to Hull City, Oxford United and Blackburn Rovers in the past 11 days.

Following victory at Hull, Town claimed just one point from the subsequent two matches with the performance at Ewood Park on Tuesday far from the level that is required.

Young, who started his first match for six weeks in Lancashire, said: “We spoke before the game, we spoke at half-time and we spoke at full-time. It just didn’t look like a performance that we’ve produced this season.

“You’ve heard what the manager had to say, and us as players were truthful with each other and we said exactly the same. That was Tuesday night, we’re now looking forward to a game we have and that’s the main objective.

“We know that those performances are very rare here. Hopefully we won’t see another one of those performances again. We’ve worked on things during the week since the game on Tuesday.

“You look on the flip side of it, we had that performance on Tuesday but yet we still went to the end and managed to get a point and I think we’ll be able to look back on it as a massive point come the end of the season.

“We don’t want to have another performance like that, we’ve talked about things and we’ve got through things. As players, we were open and honest with each other and I think that’s the best way to be.

“Especially when you’re back in front of the home fans, it’s fantastic playing at Portman Road and that’s what you want.

“We’ve done a few miles there. There are a few tired bodies but sports science plays a massive part of that and even yourselves making sure you recover properly. Sleep as well is massive, I'm one that loves sleeping so I'm not finding that a problem.

“When you play game after game away from home, you’re always looking at when the next home game is coming. When you’ve got a team coming that are full of confidence and top of the league, you want to put your marker down and show everyone how good you are. That’s what we’ll be looking to do.”

Coventry’s flying start to the season has come under the guidance of popular head coach Frank Lampard, who recently celebrated his one-year anniversary in the West Midlands.

The Sky Blues’ boss is someone Young knows well from their days playing together internationally for England, and the Town man says he always felt Lampard would go into coaching.

“I know him very well, to be honest,” the 40-year-old said. “I probably could give you some stories, but I won’t give you any!

“We played at England together and he’s gone into the managerial side of things and he’s been doing really well. If you ask him, he’s going to be full of confidence in his team. He was a fantastic player when we played together, and he’s shown that as a manager as well, he’s doing well there.

“Him and Stevie G [Steven Gerrard], especially when we were around at England, you could tell the ones that were going to go on to be coaches or managers. It was definitely them two that stood out for me, they were going to be managers. He’s just got that type, I guess.

“I think if you ask anyone about me, you won’t have anyone say ‘he’s going to be a coach or manager, no way’! He just had that way about him that he was always going to go into the managerial side of things, and he’s doing well at Coventry.”

Young agreed with the suggestion that Lampard was always a nightmare to play against, with the pair regularly coming into battle during games between Chelsea and Manchester United.

He said: “Teams that I’ve played in have been on the end of a few goals that he’s scored. It’s different now and being on different sides as well.

“He’s a manager and I'm a player, so it’s not concentrating or worrying about what they’ve got to do and he’s got to bring, it’s what we’re going to do and how we go out and get three points.

“At times back in the day, it’s been said around that time and that era there were teams that would stick together when you met up with England. The Man United table, Chelsea, it happened.

“As a youngster coming into the squad, I was welcomed with open arms and Lamps was one of them to do that. We’ll give him a nice reception, but as long as we walk off with three points I’ll be happy.”

Photo: TWTD