Sheffield United 3 v 1 Ipswich Town
EFL Championship
Saturday, 24th January 2026 Kick-off 15:00

Town Without Philogene, Nunez and Akpom For Sheffield United Trip
Thursday, 22nd Jan 2026 15:07

Town will be without Jaden Philogene and Marcelino Nunez for Saturday’s trip to Sheffield United with Chuba Akpom also still on the sidelines and another unnamed player having picked up a knock in training this morning.

Philogene, who scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 hammering of the Blades at Portman Road in September, suffered a knee injury in the 3-0 victory over Blackburn and Nunez limped off in the 2-0 success against Bristol City with an ankle problem.

“Neither available for the weekend,” manager Kieran McKenna said. “Marcelino we’re still assessing. Had some scans yesterday, so we’re still waiting for the full report on his ankle injury and not available for the weekend.”

Quizzed on the timescales for their returns, McKenna added: “Nothing definite. Jaden, as I said after the game the other night, not super-serious, but no chance for this weekend.

“For the next block of games after that, we’ll have to wait and see. Marcelino definitely not this weekend, but we’re waiting for a specialist report to see beyond that.”

Philogene suffered a knee problem at Chelsea last season and Nunez joined the club from Norwich with an ankle injury but McKenna says the knocks aren’t directly related to those issues.

“Jaden’s thankfully is not, it’s a similar mechanism but it’s nowhere near as serious,” he said. “They can happen, it’s not on the same scale as that by any means.

“And Marcelino’s ankle, he got a heavy tackle on it which caused a roll, it’s not an uncommon injury. I’m pretty sure it’s on a different ankle than it was at the start of the season, so it’s not an ongoing injury or anything like that, just a challenge that’s caused a roll on his ankle.”

Regarding Akpom, who has missed the last two games with a groin problem, he said: “Not training yet, so we’ll have to see.”

Asked whether there are any other injury problems, the Northern Irishman added: “What else have we got? We had one little issue in training today that we’re going to have to make an assessment on in the next 24 hours.

“We’re generally still in a pretty good position, but always frustrating when you get a few injuries in the same area of the pitch together. Hopefully we’ll have a clear day tomorrow and the group that we have will be ready to go to Sheffield.”

McKenna says having three players from the attacking unit out hasn’t changed his January transfer thoughts.

“I don’t think so,” he reflected. “It’s just a reminder of why you need to have a deep squad. I’ve said all year that I don’t think we have an excessively deep squad by any means, we’ve just had a fantastic record with our record with our injuries.

“But you can’t afford to be much more shallow than that, so it’s probably a good reminder to get before the window shuts that we need to keep a deep squad because the games come thick and fast and our record in the first half of the season was pretty unusual.

“None of the injuries are hopefully that serious that they would make us go out and do anything different, all those boys will be back to play a big, big part in the remainder of the season.

“But probably a useful reminder to everyone of why you need a deep squad to be successful in the division and why we’re going to need one for the last four months of the season as well.”

Photo: MI News via Reuters Connect

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RetroBlue added 15:16 - Jan 22 Well thats the guile gone from the squad now then... got away with injuries by and large but not good now as we enter a phase of 5 away games is it?
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dazza added 15:19 - Jan 22

Hopefully the injuries don’t disrupt the current roll we are on and this is where rotation brings benefits is ensuring a wider pool of players are match ready and able to step in. Whilst Jaden is on fire and is a big loss, jack is doing the business in his absence. On this basis the bigger loss is Nunez as he has been critical in terms of adding an additional threat in the centre. Hopefully Taylor can replicate what jack has done in terms of filling the gap seamlessly.

OldFart71 added 15:22 - Jan 22

The Championship is a slog rather than a sprint. Fortunately we have some tough guys at the back.But with no Nunez and Clarke now having to fill in with no Philogene it suddenly makes us a bit short up front.
I don't know if any players incoming are imminent, we could do with someone in today or tomorrow. But they would need to be match fit and able to do a job and that's a big ask.

Linkboy13 added 15:26 - Jan 22

Nunez will be a massive loss not only for his skill but his incredible work rate. I thought on Tuesday he looked a bit leggy after Saturday's game. This is the reason why McKenna rotates the team to prevent injuries . If he played basically the same team every game by the end of the season we wouldn't have much of a squad left. Nunez is such a crucial player for us it's difficult to leave him out.

Gforce added 15:33 - Jan 22 A chance for Smodics to finally step up in the 10 role.
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Bazza8564 added 15:36 - Jan 22 With Azon and Hirst, Clarke, Szmodics, Burns, McAteer and Egelli, thats 7 players to cover 4 roles for one game, witha. full recovery week after. Nunez and Philogene haven't been so good away from home, and Akpom hardly contributing, this is no big deal. Get them all back and fit for PNE please
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ElderGrizzly added 15:42 - Jan 22 Egeli to play 10?
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prebbs007 added 15:47 - Jan 22

We need additions NOW !! what happens if god forbid Clarke & one other now get an injury, we can't just put Jaden or Nacho in. Burns & McAteer are not at the level of the others and although they can come in and do a job we would 100% be weaker. MA is always saying "we will be active" and "get our business done early" yet while our rivals bring in players we have done absolutely nothing and now it is going to hurt. Boro have 4 of next 6 at home while we have 5 away games in a row coming up and we all know how hard it is to win away games in the championship. Come on MA pull your finger out, I'm sure you're trying but we need the deals done.

Lord_Mac added 16:18 - Jan 22 Just hope the "unnamed player" isn't Clarke!
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AJW1971 added 16:31 - Jan 22 Sheffield utd are short a number of key players due to injury and suspension. This is as good a time as any to play them at Bramall lane. Even with our injuries our squad should be strong enough for the win COYB !!
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jas0999 added 16:34 - Jan 22 We have a good squad, with lots of talent, which should be more than good enough against a poor Sheffield side.
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Jugsy added 16:42 - Jan 22 Bazza8564 - Nunez has scored all of his goals (3) away from home and half of his assists (4/8) also away from home. I'd say he's pretty effective wherever he plays!
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armchaircritic59 added 18:04 - Jan 22 Bloody ironic the day after I post that the lack of a " finisher " and injuries/suspensions could still derail our season. It is what it is, it was going to happen at some point. Non of them sound much to worry about past short term. As mentioned above, the Blades are not without their own problems, so no excuses at the weekend.
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TimmyH added 18:05 - Jan 22 Philogene won't be much of a miss as he goes a bit AWOL away from Portman Road but Nunez will be...maybe McK might put Egeli in the No.10 and Burns in his usual position.
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Cafe_Newman added 18:07 - Jan 22

We'll be fine. Kieran's just reminding the money men about strength in depth and all that, just in case it may have slipped their minds.

It's also worth pointing out that the reason we have such a good injury record and have good players who can step in when needed is precisely because of squad rotation. All talk of Kieran "not knowing what his best team is" is bobbins. He's managed the squad brilliantly for 60% of the season and we're the most in form team in the league going into the run-in... and third in the league.

slobfeatures added 18:08 - Jan 22

All the other teams buying lots of players?
Middlesbrough's have signed two 20 year olds playing l1 &l2 football
Coventry a 19 yo and 20 yr old who are not playing regularly in PL
Watford an unattached player who hasn’t played in a while
Hull have signed a player from fellow promotion chasers Bristol C
All the other transfers are teams in bottom half of table and those fighting relegation
No one is setting the transfer market alight because there are no good players (particularly strikers) available. We still as we keep being told by other managers have the best squad in the championship

tractorboybig added 18:32 - Jan 22 boy will we miss akpom
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blueboy1981 added 19:03 - Jan 22 Reality sets in …. !!!
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armchaircritic59 added 19:15 - Jan 22

slobfeatures, we are indeed being told that, usually by managers of a team we have just beaten, can't think why they'd say anything like that! However in this case, they most certainly happen to be right. Still needs some tinkering with though. Cafe Newman has just informed us that KM hasn't managed the squad brilliantly for 40% of the season, so it's a true miracle we are where we are, and with " strikers " who don't strike.

TedEJBrown added 19:16 - Jan 22 Jaden isn’t too much of a loss with our Feb fixtures being away from home, as long as Clarke stays fit. Nunez is a bigger hit but looking forward to seeing Egeli smash it in the 10 role.
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dirtydingusmagee added 19:28 - Jan 22 Im praying this and the bunch of away fixtures isnt going cause the wheels to come off now. I wouldnt be a bit complacent about Blades. We have made hard work of similar games at times. beware the banana skins .
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Kickingblock added 00:18 - Jan 23 Cafe Newman, your post seems positive. To be clear, are you saying that the other 40% of the season is yet to be played?
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virginblue added 10:04 - Jan 23 Are you really suggesting we need cover for Clarke @Prebbs? Bizarre. And did you not watch the performance by Wes on Tuesday? We do not need cover in wide areas, that’s plain for nearly all of us to see. The over reaction to a couple of short term injuries is staggering.
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BobbyBell added 11:39 - Jan 23

Contrary to most on here I say well done to KM for ensuring that we have a large squad of quality players for exactly this type of situation. We also have versatile players who can play in different roles. This also means that those with niggling less serious injuries don't have to risk making things worse by playing when less than 100% and can miss a game or two to ensure complete recovery.