Town boss Joe Royle has no new worries ahead of the Boxing Day clash with West Ham at Upton Park. Georges Santos, John McGreal and Richard Naylor all trained on Christmas Eve but Royle admits that's Blackburn's recall of Alan Mahon has forced him into a rethink.

All three central defenders had been slight worries, Santos with a knock sustained against Norwich, Naylor with a swollen ankle and McGreal with a minor knee problem. All three will be available for selection.

Of the longer term injuries, Chris Makin is already walking after his thigh surgery but the club are yet to receive the surgeon's report on how the operation went.

Drissa Diallo is continuing his recovery and will be back training with the squad next week, and is likely to be available for a recall around the end of January once he has got a few reserve games under his belt.

Royle sees the trip to east London as a big fixture: “It's a terrific match. We felt slightly aggrieved to have lost here and we have a chance to make it up now.

“Everybody expected West Ham to be clear by now and they've found it hard to adjust. But, if you look at their team, there's a wealth of attacking talent there. We'll have to defend properly but when we're at our best we fear nobody.

“Let's not forget despite the last game and the Millwall game we are the leading goalscorers in the league, and we're quite proud of that.”

Royle says that Alan Mahon would have been in his eleven had he not returned to Blackburn: “It's a bit of a blow. Alan would have started on Friday. We knew it was always a possibility, but I was quietly hoping that it wouldn't happen. I was expecting it to happen a month ago, so it didn't come out of the blue.

“There's nothing we can do about it at the moment. I'd like him to come back but that would depend on so many things; our continued success, fundraising, things like that.

“Someone else coming in is a possibility and there's a number of people we've discussed. At the moment we haven't made a positive bid for anybody but enquiries have been made.”

After the defeat to Norwich City on Sunday Royle intimated that he would make a few changes and he says that adjustments are still a “definite probability”, although he is keeping his cards close to his chest.

The Hammers have Jermain Defoe available despite his recent spate of red cards, however Christian Dailly is out with pleurisy.

Hammers' boss Alan Pardew says that his side are better when up against fellow promotion challengers: "We've been playing all the top teams for the last six weeks and we still will be over the next few, but we've done well against them. I think our record is second only to West Brom's in terms of playing the top teams.

“There's so many involved in the chase, it won't thin out until March, but it will be difficult for the top two to pull away because things are so tight, and that's good for us."

Friday's referee is Barry Knight from Orpington who previously officiated in Town's 1-1 draw at Leicester in 2000/01, when he sent off keeper Matteo Sereni, a red card which was later rescinded.

Knight was also the referee in Town's 1999/00 Division One play-off semi-final victory over Bolton Wanderers at Portman Road when he red carded two of the visitors and awarded the Blues three penalties.

So far this season Knight has shown 47 yellow cards and four red in 10 games.

Probable Town squad: Davis, Abbey, Wilnis, Richards, Santos, Naylor, McGreal, Magilton, Bart-Williams, Wright, Westlake, Miller, Reuser, Kuqi, Bent, Couñago.

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls