Town host Premier League Fulham at Portman Road in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night aiming to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010/11.

The Blues, second in the Championship, have already beaten one Premier League team in the competition, Wolves, who they came from behind to defeat 3-2 in the previous round, and a second top flight scalp would add further gloss to what’s already been a very impressive first few months of the season.

Reflecting on the run so far, in which Town have also knocked out League One pair Bristol Rovers and Reading, assistant manager Martyn Pert said: “I've enjoyed the games. I haven't really thought too much about the run until you actually get to the next game and you think, ‘Oh yeah, we've won three games already’. 

“It's been really good for the players that have played in those games because a lot of the league games have been similar types of teams.

“It's been really good for everyone to get minutes and they have also been minutes that have been successful on the pitch, so it's been really good in that respect.

“And, of course, you're looking forward to a Premier League team coming to Portman Road on a Wednesday night, which is exciting.”

Asked whether the manner of the victory over Wolves, overturning a two-goal deficit to beat a Premier League side, gave the Blues confidence, he added: “Obviously, you don't plan to go 2-0 down in the game and they scored two quick goals, but actually we'd started the game OK.

“I think the confidence was from the fact that we'd actually started the game OK, but with the quality they have, they scored from a set piece and they scored another goal, and you're 2-0 down. 

“But I think the lads still believed in themselves at that point and there was a long enough period to come back into the game, and then Omari [Hutchinson] gets the goal and then it took off from there.

“I felt like the second goal was definitely coming and the confidence was in the group. It was 2-2 going into half-time and then Jack Taylor scores a great goal to win it. 

“It was a tight second half, to be fair. They put a lot of pressure on us, but we played well, and Jack scored a great goal.”

Looking ahead to Wednesday’s game, he added: “I'm really looking forward to Fulham. I worked there in 2009 for a short period of time, so it's always nice to play against teams that you haven't really faced that often recently.

“It's nice to play them and they've got a lot of good players coming to Portman Road. It'll be a challenge for us, but one we're looking forward to.”

Fulham finished 10th in the Premier League last season, their first campaign in the top flight following their romp to the Championship title in 2021/22.

Quizzed on whether the Cottagers are an example to clubs at the top of the Championship that they won’t necessarily struggle in the Premier League, Pert said: “I think they're slightly different in they had previously had a really good spell in the Premier League and they've sort of bounced up and down between the Championship and the Premier League over the last sort of 10 years.

“And then obviously they had the really successful season under [current manager] Marco Silva when they were the best team [in the Championship] by a good distance.

“They're slightly different to us, but going up they were strong in the Championship and I felt they were going to be alright last year, and they had a really good season. So they've got a strong group of players and a really good coach.”

Town have made wholesale changes for all their Carabao Cup ties so far but without any discernible drop in quality or performance.

Pert says that’s down to the team themselves: “I think it's the players. They’re training really well every day.

“The standards that they set in terms of what they put out on a daily basis on the training pitch gives them the foundation to then go into a game even if they haven't played for two or three weeks.

“So I think it's obviously us putting the training plan in place, but the players' application is top drawer here and that's what gives them the chance to go and perform.”

Pert says boss McKenna is yet to select his XI for Wednesday: “I don't think the manager's gone that far yet. He's just gone through the prep in terms of how he thinks Fulham will play in terms of their style of playing and then we'll get down to naming the team and picking the team at some point.”

The Blues assistant boss says he’s not thought about the potential meeting with bigger Premier League side should they defeat Fulham.

“I think this is a big game, so I'm just looking forward to this one,” he said. “Fulham are a good-sized Premier League team with some really good players and I'm looking forward to playing them and not thinking too much about outcomes.

“Just thinking about delivering a performance and seeing what happens after the end of the game.”

Similarly, he’s not considered the prospect of the Blues being in the quarter-finals of the competition.

“That's probably the first time I've thought about it,” he said. “But I just think we just take each game as it comes and then really get excited for the prep and the planning and going into the game, and take it head on and then you worry about the outcome once the game's over.”

McKenna is all but certain to make the wholesale changes he has for previous games in the competition, particularly with three Championship games in eight days coming up, starting with the trip to Birmingham on Saturday.

Christian Walton looks set to make his first appearance of the season in goal having recovered from the plantar fascia tear he suffered in pre-season.

In front of him, Axel Tuanzebe is likely to make his Town debut at the centre of the defence, probably alongside Cameron Burgess, who was left out of Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Plymouth.

Harry Clarke will probably be at right-back with Janoi Donacien perhaps starting on the left of the back four.

Dom Ball could partner Jack Taylor in the centre of the midfield with Kayden Jackson, Marcus Harness and Cameron Humphreys perhaps the three behind striker Freddie Ladapo. Town are likely to name a strong bench, as they have done in previous matches in the competition.

Fulham currently sit in 14th in the Premier League having taken 12 points from their first 10 games. On their travels, they have won one, drawn three and lost two.

In the Carabao Cup, they beat Tottenham 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage in the second round, a game in which Blues loan striker Dane Scarlett came on as a half-time sub, meaning he is ineligible for Wednesday’s tie.

The Whites then defeated Norwich City 2-1 at home in round three to set up their visit to Portman Road.

Fulham boss Marco Silva has been hugely impressed by the job his Town counterpart McKenna has done with the Blues.

“All the credits for them for what they have been doing,” he told the Cottagers’ club site. “A team that was promoted to the Championship, and the way they have been playing, not just the results they've been achieving which have been great for their football club, but the way they have been doing it is really impressive.

“All credit for the players, for the staff, for Kieran as well, because it's not easy. I know the competition and I know really well what it means to be so consistent in a competition like the Championship, and they have been showing that.

“Even in the Carabao Cup, the way they have beaten a Premier League club in the last round showed their quality, showed how they have been playing.

“Their confidence is probably as high as possible, and it’s going to be tough for us, but our run in the Carabao has been really good. We have been a really serious and ambitious team.

“We had two different games against Tottenham at home, where we did it really well, and against Norwich [it was] a proper Carabao Cup game, a tough game to play against Norwich where we did well.

“We want to keep in the competition. It’s going to be tough and we have to do our best to go through.”

Having drawn 1-1 at Brighton on Sunday and with a home game against Manchester United on Saturday, Silva admits he will have to utilise his squad for the trip to Suffolk.

“It probably can happen,” he continued. “It’s not something new for us, if you look at the last two games that we played in the Carabao Cup, we did it.

“We look at the competition as a really good competition for us to always do our best to go through.

“It’s a slightly different scenario this week because we played last Sunday, we're going to play on Wednesday and [then have an] early kick-off on Saturday. It’s slightly different, and we are going to prepare the team as best we can.

“We have to look at some players that have some risk of injury or something like that, because the time between games is really, really short.

“In some positions we can rotate because we have the solutions. Unfortunately, in the other [positions], because of some injured players we don't have so many solutions and we need to be careful about some players.”

Centre-halves Issa Diop (foot) and Tosin Adarabioyo (groin) are currently sidelined, while winger Adama Traore is back in training but not ready to be involved at Portman Road.

Right-back Kenny Tete and forward Carlos Vinicius could be among those to come into the team as Garcia makes changes.

If the match is level at 90 minutes, as at Reading earlier in the competition, it will go straight to a penalty shootout.

The draw for the quarter-finals, which the Blues last reached in 2010/11 when they eventually made it to the semi-finals before losing 3-1 to Arsenal over two legs, will take place live on Sky Sports following the round four tie between Manchester United and Newcastle United on Wednesday evening. Quarter-final ties will be played in the week commencing 18th December.

Historically, the Blues have been victorious on nine occasions in games between the teams (six in the league), Fulham on 13 (11) and with eight (six) games ending in draws.

The Blues and the Cottagers last met in the Carabao Cup at the second-round stage in September 2020 when Aleksandar Mitrovic’s 38th-minute goal was enough to see Premier League side to a 1-0 win.

The Serbian headed home his 50th goal for the Cottagers from Kenny Tete’s excellent cross from the right and their victory was never under any serious threat.

The teams also met in the League Cup in the 1996/97 season when the first leg at Craven Cottage ended 1-1 with the locally-born Simon Milton netting a stunner for Town.

At Portman Road, the Blues ran out 4-2 victors with Alex Mathie scoring twice and Danny Sonner and Steve Sedgley (pen), who also conceded an own goal, once each.

The teams also faced one another in the competition in 1973/74 when initial tie in London ended 2-2 - Trevor Whymark and Clive Woods the Town scorers - and the replay at Portman Road 2-1 to Bobby Robson's side with Colin Harper and Colin Viljoen on target.

Blues forward Sone Aluko was with Fulham between 2016 and 2017, making 53 starts and one sub appearance, scoring nine times.

Central defender Cameron Burgess joined the Fulham academy in 2011 and went on to make his senior debut for the Whites on the opening day of the 2014/15 season against Town at Portman Road in a game the Blues won 2-1.

Assistant boss Pert spent six months working as a conditioning coach with Fulham in 2009.

Head of analysis Charlie Turnbull was with the Whites until he moved to Portman Road in December 2021. Turnbull was U23s assistant coach and analyst with the Cottagers having joined them from Spurs in 2016 and having progressed through from working with the U13s and U14s.

Former Town midfielder Brian Talbot is the assistant director of football at Craven Cottage, where he briefly played late on in his career.

Tuesday’s referee is Lewis Smith from Wigan, who has shown 68 yellow cards and three red in 16 games so far this season.

Smith’s only previous Town match was the second-round Carabao Cup tie at Reading, which the Blues won 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Smith booked Edmundson, Lee Evans, Cameron Humphreys and two home players. Wednesday’s game will be the first time he has refereed a Premier League club.

Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Clarke, Donacien, Williams, Davis, Tuanzebe, Burgess, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Baggott, Morsy, Ball, Taylor, Luongo, Humphreys, Jackson, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Aluko, Hutchinson, Ladapo, Hirst.

Photo: TWTD

Radlett_blue added 17:05 - Oct 31 Fulham seem to have taken the League Cup quite seriously so far, which is exactly what a mid ranking PL club should do as it is far & away their best chance of a trophy (or even a Wembley final).I don't expect them to make 11 changes so they will be a tough proposition. However, I also expected Wolves's 2nd string to be too strong for ours, so with the confidence running through Town right now, who knows? Better to have a winnable tie like this than a day out against one of the really big boys.

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dirtydingusmagee added 09:01 - Nov 1 With yet another storm approaching ive had fears this match could be postponed.Hopefully it wont be too bad in this evening. Safe journey all travelling tonight. COYB
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IpswichT62OldBoy added 09:07 - Nov 1 Something is happening, I see the BBC have written a piece about KMcK and us. Last time that happened was 20 odd years ago.
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Ebantiass added 15:55 - Nov 1 Best of luck for tonight lads, lets do this Im sure we can.
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