Town winger Jack Clarke says he is relishing the opportunity to start back-to-back matches for the first time since August as the Blues travel to face Sheffield United on Saturday.

Clarke became Town’s top Championship goalscorer this season with a double against Bristol City on Tuesday, a brace that moved him on to 10 league goals for the campaign.

The forward is set to go again from the outset against the Blades this weekend after boss Kieran McKenna confirmed that Jaden Philogene will be absent with a knee problem.

Fellow left winger Philogene has also reached double figures for the season, with nine of those coming in the Championship and all of them coming at Portman Road.

Despite the pair battling it out to start regularly in their favoured position, Clarke does not see it as a competition for who can score more goals this term.

“I wouldn’t say so, it’s never really been like that,” he said. “The manager’s got a big emphasis on it doesn’t matter who scores as long as we’re scoring. That’s my mindset, if I can put one on a plate for him or somebody else, I’d much rather do that.

“Thankfully we’re the ones that are putting them away at the minute, but it doesn’t mean that there’s an internal battle going on, it’s just whoever scores and whoever can help the team.

“I’ve still been coming on and playing a lot of minutes, it’s just not been consecutive starts. I didn’t wish on someone’s downfall to play games of football, it’s a big loss for the squad and if we could have him fit we’d rather have him fit.

“But it opens a door for me to possibly make consecutive starts and if that is the opportunity I get, I’ll try and give the best version of myself and hopefully help the team.”

Both players have become somewhat known for their trademark finishes this season, as opposition defenders struggle to deal with the pair cutting inside from the left onto their right foot.

Clarke said: “When you’re an inverted winger, it’s just a natural thing to do and you always look to get back inside on your stronger foot. If the space opens up, it’s there.

“I don’t think mine go in with as much venom or anything like that as his does, but it’s just a natural thing. It’s the same for a left footer cutting in on the opposite side.

“I don’t know if you can prepare for it. I'm not a defender so I wouldn’t know how to stop it myself, but the space is going to open up eventually and it’s just about putting the chance away.”

Clarke is in his second season in Suffolk after joining from Sunderland for an initial £15 million ahead of the Blues’ return to the Premier League last season.

The Championship has proved to be a fruitful division, the 25-year-old having struck 25 times at that level for the Black Cats since they were promoted from League One in 2022.

With the winger being two-thirds of the way to his seasonal best of 15 goals, Clarke is optimistic he can surpass his record and complete the best scoring season of his career so far.

“I’ve not really sat down and thought about it, to be honest,” he said when asked whether he is playing better than he ever has been.

“In terms of that season in comparison to this, when I was at Sunderland, I felt like we still played good football but we probably weren’t as much of a dominant team as what we are here. We obviously get a lot more of the ball and create a lot more chances, I'm just the fortunate one who gets to finish them off sometimes.

“At Sunderland, we still had good players and tried to play good football, we just weren’t as dominating in games. I’d like to think I can get more than 15 this year, but if I don’t, I don’t, and if I do, I do.

“Before the end of the season, I'm going to have opportunities to play and score more goals and it’s just about taking them.”

Town’s ultimate objective is a simple one. Success will be measured by whether they can secure an immediate return to the Premier League and complete a third promotion in four seasons.

While last year was clearly a challenge for the newly promoted trio with Southampton and Leicester City also relegated alongside the Blues, this season’s top flight has looked slightly different.

Sunderland are the clear standout, sitting eighth in the table and remain unbeaten at the Stadium of Light since winning last season’s play-off final with virtually the last kick of the game.

Asked whether he is surprised by the Wearsiders, alongside another of his former clubs in Leeds United, Clarke said: “Yes and no. From experience when we made the jump up to the Premier League last year, you know how hard it is to compete in a lot of the games and how difficult it is to pick up points against all the teams that are really good now.

“Leeds, I left a while ago so I don’t know what their journey has been like since and what they’re doing, but at Sunderland I wasn’t really surprised. The owner and directors are very ambitious, it’s a massive club, there’s appeal to go and play there and they’ve been doing really well.

“I’m not too sure if it’ll continue or how long it will go on for but I’m not overly surprised with where they’re at.”

He added: “To be fair to ourselves, I think we were competitive in a lot of games. We probably just came out on the wrong side one too many times in terms of picking up points, whereas Sunderland have been really solid and come out on the right end of a lot of games.

“I think it gives everybody hope that when you get promoted, you can stabilise in the Premier League quicker than what people think. But just because one team has done it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody else is going to follow the same trajectory.”

Photo: TWTD