Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna issued mixed injury updates on attacking duo Sammie Szmodics and Conor Chaplin as this afternoon’s pre-match press conference.
Szmodics has missed the last five games with an ankle issue, while Chaplin (knee) has been unavailable for the last six with a knee problem.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Championship club Coventry City, McKenna said:
“Sam Szmodics will be in the squad tomorrow – he’s trained today with the group. Conor Chaplin is not training yet.
“It’s good to have Sam back. He’s been an important figure with his goals, but also he’s a different type to the forwards we’ve had playing for the last couple of weeks. He’s also an older player for what has been a really young unit.”
Providing an update on Wes Burns, who suffered a bad knee injury in the 4-1 defeat at Liverpool last month, the Blues boss said: “He had surgery to repair his ACL and thankfully it all went well. There wasn’t too much damage to the other parts of the knee, so it was as positive as it could be.”0:05
On keeper Christian Walton, who is sidelined with a groin strain, he said: “Christian is looking at in and around eight weeks. Of course we’ll monitor as we go along – sometimes it can be longer, sometimes quicker. We’ll get him back as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, the Blues boss confirmed he will, once again, be making wholesale changes to his team for cup action.
“There will be changes in the team,” he said. “That’s how we’ve approached the cup competitions in the last few years and it’s been a really important part of our success.
“We’ve always tried to carry a deep squad where every player feels like they’re competing for minutes and are trusted to play minutes. When different players come into the team during the run-in it shows if they’ve felt valued throughout the season.
“You also know, with changes, that there’s a chance that maybe it won’t always be as fluent as it is with a settled side.
“In the last round the team showed how well we’re working behind the scenes as a group with the performance we were able to produce against lower league opposition (Bristol Rovers).
“The challenge is to do that again now against a really good Championship side. It’s a chance to show the strength and depth in our group.”
Potential line-up: Palmer; Godfrey, Woolfenden, Burgess, Townsend; Phillips, Taylor; Philogene, Szmodics, J.Clarke; Hirst.
