Boss Paul Jewell says there’ll be no meaningless games between now and the end of the season despite Town’s campaign already appearing certain to end in another mid-table finish. The Blues face Leicester City at Portman Road today with the play-offs eight points away and seemingly out of reach.

Despite this, Jewell says he will insist his players give their all in the final five games of the season: “While there are paying customers and while we’re getting paid, there’s no such thing as a meaningless game.

“I know what’s meant by that, but for me every game counts and I want that to be the case for the players.

“We owe it to ourselves and more importantly we owe it to the people who come and watch us.”

Pre-season favourites Leicester sit in ninth in the Championship on 59 points, six places and three points above the Blues. Despite their season not going to plan, the Town manager says they still present a significant threat: “Every game’s tricky in this league, I think that’s why it’s such a tough league.

“They’ll still think they’ve got a chance of getting in the play-offs and I still think that on paper they’ve probably got the best squad in the league. They’ll be coming to our place with all guns blazing.”

Jewell, who has a fully fit squad, seems likely to tweak his side for the second of two Easter fixtures in three days and said on Saturday that he planned to assess the condition of his squad yesterday: “I keep on saying there will be changes and then when I get to naming the team I don’t. We’ll have to see how everyone is on Sunday.”

Whatever the Blues boss decides, there are unlikely to be changes at the back. Arran Lee-Barrett will continue in goal with Aaron Cresswell at left-back and skipper Carlos Edwards on the right. Tommy Smith and Damien Delaney will be in the middle of the defence.

In midfield, Jewell could switch Andy Drury for Lee Bowyer with Grant Leadbitter likely to keep his place, while Josh Carson may come into his thoughts for one of the wide roles, probably Daryl Murphy’s position on the left rather than Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s on the right.

Jewell may be considering giving Ryan Stevenson a first start in Lee Martin’s role behind the lone striker but will probably stick with the ex-Manchester United man.

Michael Chopra has had a quiet couple of weeks and hasn’t scored for four games, while Jason Scotland was again impressive from the bench at Derby and the Trinidadian may have done enough to win a start against the Foxes.

Leicester strikers Darius Vassell (knee) and Martyn Waghorn (hamstring) aren’t yet ready for a first team return, while midfielder Neil Danns is suspended for his red card against Hull City.

Foxes assistant boss Craig Shakespeare believes Saturday’s 4-0 home victory over Doncaster means they can still make the play-offs: "That win keeps us in with a shout. It seems like one week we are saying we are totally out of it and the next week we say we could be in with a chance.

"We know we are running out of games and understand what we have to do. We have to take each game as it comes. I know it is an old cliché, but it is true. I still think there will be one place available come the last game.

"It is difficult to put your finger on why we have been poor away from home [having won five, drawn six and lost nine]. We have spoken about being inconsistent before.

"We have to go to Ipswich, take the game to them and play on the front foot, and we have to come away with a result."

Foxes manager Nigel Pearson, who was interviewed for the job as Town boss in 2006 but lost out to Jim Magilton, may also look to utilise his squad with one or two unspecified players having minor knocks from the weekend.

Defender Sean St Ledger, who was close to joining the Blues in January, may be amongst those who could come into the reckoning having been on the bench on Saturday.

Town have had the upper hand historically, winning 26 games between the sides (26 in the league), drawing 18 (17) and losing 22 (20).

In December, Lee Bowyer netted his second goal for Town as the Blues stretched an unbeaten run to three games with a 1-1 draw at Leicester.

Michael Chopra had already missed a penalty by the time Bowyer scored in the third minute, Paul Gallagher converting a Foxes spotkick for handball against Jason Scotland in the second half.

Unusually, Foxes striker David Nugent wasn’t on the scoresheet, the former England frontman having netted eight goals in nine games against the Blues. Ominously he has scored in every match he has played at Portman Road.

Last time the Foxes were in Suffolk was in December 2010 when first half goals from Scotland (2) and David Norris saw Roy Keane's Town to a 3-0 home victory over Leicester and ended a six-game league losing run.

Heavy snow started to fall around an hour before kick-off and continued throughout the game with the players taken off for a 14-minute spell in the second half while the pitch was cleared.

Town defender Damien Delaney is the only player in either squad to have played for the opposition, the Irishman spending two years with Leicester, who he joined for £50,000 from hometown club Cork City in October 2000, making seven starts and four sub appearances.

Today’s referee is Tony Bates from Staffordshire, who has shown 86 yellow and no red cards in 34 games so far this season. Bates’s most recent Town match was the 2-0 victory at Cardiff in March 2011 when he booked only Lee Martin. On the opening day of that season, he was in charge of the Blues’ 3-1 win at Middlesbrough.

Squad from: Lee-Barrett, Wright, Edwards, Cresswell, Smith, Delaney, Sonko, Ainsley, Drury, Hyam, Leadbitter, Bullard, Bowyer, Stevenson, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Carson, Martin, Chopra, Scotland.

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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