Boss Paul Jewell will be weighing up whether to stick with his diamond formation or make a change to his system when the Blues take on Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday. Town are again without central defenders Ibrahma Sonko and Damien Delaney and striker Daryl Murphy, but midfielder Lee Bowyer and frontman Nathan Ellington are both fit again.

Sonko is still sidelined with his hamstring injury and Delaney is out having undergone foot surgery, while Murphy is back in training after straining his hamstring but isn’t expected to be fit enough to be considered for inclusion in the squad.

Lee Bowyer is over his back and hamstring issues and Nathan Ellington has recovered from the calf strain which kept him out of the squad prior to the international break.

Jewell may be looking at switching things around with the Blues having fallen to three successive defeats after previously going on a decent run. The diamond formation which saw Town beat the likes of West Ham and Brighton has been less successful more recently and the Blues boss could look at a change.

In the 3-2 defeat to Doncaster last time out, Jewell brought on widemen Lee Martin and Josh Carson, which he says led to a better second half display: “I think the way we so flat in the first half we could have brought Mickey Mouse on and he might have made an impact.

“Those lads gave us a little bit of width. Josh obviously scored the goal and Lee had a couple of opportunities. They improved us in the second half, there’s no doubt about that. It’s something I’ve looked at and I’ll decide on Friday what we’re going to do.”

Whether he moves to that more traditional 4-4-2 remains to be seen, while a return to the 4-5-1 formation used earlier on in the season could also be a possibility.

Whatever Jewell decides, David Stockdale will be in goal with Aaron Cresswell at left-back and Danny Collins and Ívar Ingimarsson at the centre of the defence.

Carlos Edwards could return at full-back depending on how he has been affected by his games for Trinidad and Tobago and his travelling to and from the Caribbean. If not, Reece Wabara will keep his place.

It’s in midfield where Jewell has to make most of his decisions. He could stick with the diamond in which case Lee Bowyer is likely to replace Colin Healy in the quartet alongside skipper Grant Leadbitter, Keith Andrews and Jimmy Bullard.

Alternatively, two of those four — perhaps Bowyer and Bullard — could be left out to allow Martin and Carson to start in wider roles. However, with Town having been so susceptible to counter-attacks, Jewell may be reluctant to switch to a formation which may leave them even more vulnerable.

Michael Chopra is likely to start up front, probably with Jason Scotland alongside him unless Tamás Priskin’s goals for Hungary have convinced his manager to give him a second start in two games, as long as he has managed to get a flight to the UK in time.

If Jewell switches to a five-man midfield, Chopra is likely to be up front on his own with three of Andrews, Leadbitter, Bullard and Bowyer in the centre and Carson and Martin wide.

Jewell sees similarities between the Blues and their weekend opponents, although he feels they have done rather better in recent seasons: “I think over the last few years they’ve had a bit more success at the top end of the table, they got to the play-off semis and Blackpool and Swansea beat them.

“In the last two years they’ve been pretty close to getting out of the league and into the Premier League.

“They’ve got some good players and it’s a club that’s a similar size to us with a lot of history and tradition to it and they will have aspirations of getting to the Premier League, like 18 other teams in this league, so it’ll be tough.”

He says Steve McClaren’s exit after only 102 days came as a surprise but may well prove to have been the right decision for all parties: “I was shocked and I’m not sure what went on but maybe it wasn’t what Steve thought it might be or maybe vice versa.

“If it’s like that it becomes tiresome where every question every week after a defeat is about your job.

“So maybe it’s best to say ‘it’s not working out for either of us, it’s time to move on’. Whether they and Steve have made the right decision only time will tell.

“Steve McClaren has managed England and has won a championship in Holland, so he’s obviously a quality manager.”

Jewell says striker Michael Chopra is doing well after his spell in the Sporting Chance Clinic and feels that it’s part of his role as a manager to look after players when they have such off-field problems: “He’s worked hard, he seems to be in good shape and looking forward to matches.

"He scored against Doncaster, maybe he should have scored a header beforehand, but getting a goal can give a striker confidence.

“If a player comes to me and he’s got a problem and I can help him, that’s my job. My job is to try and get the best out of the players on a Saturday and if that means getting involved in something off the pitch which I or the club can help with, whoever that player is, we want to do it. If anyone needs help we’ll help them.”

Jewell sees the club as an extended family and says supporters are doing their bit to aid Chopra’s recovery, even while the team’s performances on the field remain frustrating: “I think the fans want Chopra healthy and fit and scoring goals, just the same as I do. The fans have been fantastic with Chops, as they have with all the players.

“Some of the performances we’ve put in at home this season have been dreadful. People aren’t happy, but it’s not as if your car is being turned over outside. The supporters here are desperate for success.”

Forest manager Steve Cotterill has no new injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s game with Chris Gunter and Greg Cunningham having returned from international duty without picking up any knocks.

Striker Dexter Blackstock (knee) and midfielders Garath McCleary (knee), Paul Anderson (hamstring) and George Boateng played in a reserves friendlies during the international break but are unlikely to be seen as ready for a first team return.

Frontman Ishmael Miller is still recovering from a hernia operation, while Chris Cohen (knee) is also sidelined.

Cotterill, whose side sit in 20th, five places and three points behind the Blues, says he’s not taking Town lightly despite their recent run of three defeats and has closely worked on counteracting their midfield system: "Ipswich are a good side with some talented players and a very experienced manager, so we know what we are up against.

"They are typical of the kind of side you meet in the Championship. On their day they are capable of beating anyone but that's what you get in what I believe to be one of the toughest leagues in the world.

"We can't underestimate them, that's for sure, and we have done some work on the training ground on how they play. They operate with a diamond system and we've taken a good look at that.

"But the important thing is that we play to our strengths and if we do that I'm hopeful we can get the right result."

Having taken over from Steve McClaren a month ago, Cotterill’s side fell to a defeat to his old club Portsmouth when they were last in action, however, he says the overall performance was worth better and he would have liked to have had a game sooner than Saturday: "After Portsmouth, where we played very well and felt we deserved something from the game, we would have liked to have played on the following Tuesday night.

"We were a bit sore after that match but got working again and soon put the disappointment behind us. The break has also given us the opportunity to have a great couple of weeks on the training ground."

Lee Martin, who is currently sporting a moustache, presumably relating to the Movember charity campaign, was on loan with the Tricky Trees in 2008/09 and is the only player in either squad to have represented the opposition. Forest’s George Boateng spent time training with the Blues in the summer, while Town also targeted fellow midfielder Guy Moussi before he signed a new deal at the City Ground.

Historically, the visitors very much have the upper hand, winning 31 of the games between the two sides (28 in the league), 14 (13) ending in draws and Town winning 18 (17).

The sides last met at Portman Road in January in ex-Forest player Roy Keane’s last game in charge of the Blues. Damien Delaney’s own goal just before half-time was enough to see the visitors to a 1-0 victory over a Town side which was reduced to 10 men in the final moments when Grant Leadbitter was red-carded for a studs-up challenge on Forest midfielder Paul Anderson.

At the end of October last year, the Blues were beaten 2-0 at the City Ground. David McGoldrick put the home team in front and Lewis McGugan’s thunderbolt freekick increased their lead before the break. Jack Colback’s shot against the bar was the closest Town would come to a goal.

Saturday’s referee is James Linington from Newport Isle of Wight, who has shown 59 yellow cards and one red in 18 games so far this season.

Linington’s most recent Town match was the 4-1 defeat at Swansea in April in which he booked Damien Delaney and David Norris and one Swan. Prior to that, his only other Blues fixture was the 3-1 defeat at Peterborough in February 2010 when he again issued three cautions, coincidentally to Norris, Delaney and one Posh player.

Squad from: Stockdale, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Wabara, Cresswell, Collins, Ingimarsson, Smith, Bullard, Leadbitter, Bowyer, Andrews, Healy, Carson, Martin, Emmanuel-Thomas, Chopra, Scotland, Priskin, Ellington.

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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