Town’s now regular starting XI looks set for changes when Crystal Palace visit Portman Road on Saturday afternoon. Central defender Ibrahima Sonko is a doubt with a hamstring injury, while manager Paul Jewell says one or two other unnamed players have minor niggles.

The Blues have named the same side for the last six matches — their longest unchanged streak since 1991/92 - but are unlikely to take too much of a risk with a hamstring injury with Sonko probably replaced by either Damien Delaney or Ívar Ingimarsson.

The Irishman has been Town’s regular central defensive option from the bench and may well get the shout ahead of the Icelander with Danny Collins moving to the right-sided role.

Ingimarsson’s only appearance for Town so far came on the opening day of the season at Bristol City with a thigh injury subsequently keeping him out for around a month. Since then the ex-Reading man has played only a couple of reserve games and Delaney is almost certainly closer to full match fitness.

There could also be changes elsewhere in the side with Jason Scotland having looked “jaded”, according to Jewell during the Portsmouth match and having had a minor hamstring problem himself. Nathan Ellington could partner Michael Chopra up front with Scotland dropping to the bench.

Whether there are any other changes depends on whether the mystery players recover from their knocks, otherwise the Blues boss is likely to stick with the rest of his usual side with David Stockdale in goal, Aaron Cresswell and Carlos Edwards the full-backs and Jimmy Bullard, Keith Andrews, Lee Bowyer and skipper Grant Leadbitter in midfield.

The Blues and Palace are both in the play-off zone at present, in sixth and fifth respectively, and Jewell expects the usual tight Championship match: “If you look at the teams in this league and any of them have got the potential to finish in the top six or the bottom six, it really is that tight.

“I was speaking to a Premier League manager the other day, just having a chat, and he was saying what a tough league the Championship is. I said to him that it’s not as tough as yours but it really is tough because it’s so equal.

“Crystal Palace are ahead of us in fifth in the league. They struggled last year but now they’re on a roll. I think it’s the confidence to have the belief to go into games thinking you’re going to get something out of them.

“If you’re not at your best, you’re not going to win matches at this level. We weren’t at our best [football-wise] the other night but what we had to do was to be at our best determination-wise, effort-wise and defensive-wise, and we did that.”

The Town boss is pleased with the current form after the difficult start but says there’s a very long way to go: “We must be the only team in Europe who are in the top six with a minus goal difference. It’s crazy.

“We are looking forward to games at the moment, but we want to temper that with a bit of realism. Whether we win Saturday or whether we lose, there’s still an awful long way to go and nothing’s going to be decided until the death.”

He says his Palace counterpart would say much the same regarding their progress: “I would think he’d be saying ‘hang on a minute, we’ve still got three quarters of the season to go yet’. We have to be careful, no one gets paid out in October.

“They’ve always had the ability to get young players through there. There’s a lot of pace in the team and what Dougie’s done is blend that youth and exuberance and pace with some experienced players. He’s just settled them down and he’s seeing the benefits of that at the moment and they’ve got some really good results.”

Jewell is clear who he sees as the Eagles’ biggest threats: “They’ve got good players, they’re quick and pacy, they’ve got Sean Scannell and Wilfried Zaha, who have caused problems for the opposition so far this season.

“They’ve got a good goalkeeper and are a decent team. Again it’s a test and I’m sure it will be a terrific atmosphere on Saturday.

“They’ll come here full of confidence, we’ll go into the game full of confidence, so hopefully it will be a decent game with the right outcome for us.”

Palace manager Dougie Freedman says that if his side defend well they have enough going forward with the likes of Scannell and Zah to test any team at this level: “With the attacking players we have in the side we'll always have a chance if we can keep it tight at the back, and I'm happy with the way things are shaping up.

“We'll need to keep it tight again at Ipswich this weekend but we travel to Portman Road with no pressure on us to get a result at all.

“Last season we went there and put in a good display but were unfortunate to come away with nothing, so I'm looking forward to going back there this weekend to see if we can get something this time.

“Ipswich are doing well this season but they have invested heavily on the team so they will expect to be where they are or even higher in the table. We know it won't be an easy game but go there in good spirits and will do everything we can to get a result.”

Former Blue Owen Garvan is pushing for a return to Dougie Freedman’s 16 after a month out with a knee injury, while midfielder Alex Marrow is not yet ready for inclusion after an ankle injury and full-back Lee Hills is definitely out with a knee problem.

Selhurst Park became a home for Town old boys during former Blues boss George Burley’s brief tenure last season with Garvan, David Wright, who is set to sign a new deal with the Eagles, Darren Ambrose and Lewis Price all still amongst the playing staff.

Former Town academy schoolboy Stuart O’Keefe also joined the Eagles from Southend last summer, while Palace midfielder Andy Dorman, spent time training with the Blues back in 2005 when a New England Revolution player.

By contrast, only Mark Kennedy from Paul Jewell’s current squad has played for Crystal Palace, while goalkeeper-coach Malcolm Webster was on Burley’s staff at Selhurst Park.

Town have the edge over the years, winning 31 games between the sides (29 in the league), drawing 23 (23) and losing 24 (24).

In April, Josh Carson’s first two senior goals saw the Blues to a 2-1 victory over Palace at Portman Road. The Northern Irishman netted in each half before Paddy McCarthy pulled one back for the Eagles.

Back in the opening month of 2010/11, Town picked up their second away win of the season as Roy Keane’s side beat George Burley’s Eagles 2-1 in an ill-tempered clash at Selhurst Park, both teams ending the match with 10 men.

Grant Leadbitter netted a penalty just after the break, Claude Davis having been sent off for a foul on Jon Stead, then Carlos Edwards added the second, prior to loanee Andros Townsend making an early exit for a wild challenge on Palace keeper Julian Speroni and Neil Danns pulling a late goal back for the home side.

Town are expecting a crowd of around 24,000 for Saturday’s game with the club running a ticket promotion with adult seats available for £10. Saturday’s match programme is available in an online electronic version here as well as at the game.

Saturday’s referee is David Phillips from West Sussex, who has shown 26 yellow cards and two red in nine games so far this season. Phillips’s only previous Town match was the 3-0 victory over Sheffield United in February in which he sent off Blades Rob Kozluk and Lee Williamson in the final moments having already booked the latter, in addition to two of his team-mates but no Town players.

Squad from: Stockdale, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Cresswell, Wabara, Collins, Sonko, Delaney, Ingimarsson, Bullard, Andrews, Bowyer, Leadbitter, Emmanuel-Thomas, Chopra, Scotland, Ellington, Murphy.

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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