Midfielder Lee Evans has been ruled out of Saturday’s big third-v-first clash with Sheffield Wednesday at Portman Road with the knee injury he suffered at Cambridge last week with Town as yet unsure how significant the problem might be, while manager Kieran McKenna will make a late call on Wes Burns and former Owl Massimo Luongo, who are back in training having missed the trip to Burnley in midweek.

Evans was subbed at half-time at the Abbey Stadium having picked up the knock during the first half.

“Lee is not going to be available, he got an issue with his knee during the Cambridge game, so he’s not available tomorrow,” McKenna said.

“We don’t know the severity of it yet. We’ll have that assessed again over the next few days.

“Massimo and Wes have trained with the group and we’re going to have to make a judgement call on their availability for tomorrow.

“They’ve missed a little bit of time, so we’ll have to make a decision regarding tomorrow with, of course, Tuesday [when Town travel to Bristol Rovers] coming round in quick succession as well.”

McKenna says he usually picks his team the day before a match but that that can change if players are touch and go for inclusion.

“I think usually on the Friday, but sometimes when you have a two-game week and you have a few players with injury issues you want to give them as long as possible, so sometimes you wait the extra 24 hours,” he said.

“But the typical process is to decide on a Friday but we always give ourselves that little bit of extra time with any injury doubts if we feel like they’re going to have an important impact on the game.”

Meanwhile, forward Tyreece John-Jules is edging closer to returning to training with the Blues having undergone hamstring surgery in November.

“He’s not been back yet, we’re hoping he’ll be back with us soon,” McKenna added. “He’s just getting his last bits cleared and finished at Arsenal and then we look forward to having him back.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Blue7583 added 15:03 - Feb 10 If rumours are true that's his season done
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MaySixth added 15:11 - Feb 10 Terrible news - he is our best player.
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TimmyH added 15:12 - Feb 10 Good ol' sicknote Evans...consistently injured every season for years! he was the same at Wigan and Wolves you can guarantee he'll be out for at least a month every season. (he's already been out for a spell before this). Saying that I should think Humphreys or possibly Aluko (playing more forward than Morsy) will deputise well.
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OliveR16 added 15:30 - Feb 10 MaySixth - while I understand your point, I think his obvious proneness to injury means he will never be any team's best player. Basically the best players are available for nearly every game (as well as playing well in them) - he is only available for half of each season.
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VitalSigns added 16:07 - Feb 10 Im happy to have Humphreys and Morsy in midfield though I suspect the latter could do with a rest. The issue is looking ahead for the rest of the season. Much of our midfield is injury prone. Has Luongo started and finished a game yet ? We bought Ball and Camara when both were injured (maybe Ball was recovering) and it's unclear if either will be fit to return before the end of the season. Evans has a history of getting injured. All good players in their own right but that's of little consequence if they are unavailable. It's a high risk strategy to have so many injured / injury prone players in the same position. Fingers crossed a few get back to match fitness quickly.

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Cakeman added 16:39 - Feb 10 The team that played at Burnley did well so play them. There has been too many games with lots of changes but now is the time for a settled team.
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Suffolkboy added 17:12 - Feb 10 It's only too easy to see the downsides ,and to be disappointed ITFC should be deprived of a full field to pick from . This, however,is the constant challenge faced by most Managers and surmounting difficulty to produce winners and promotion contenders is absolutely the norm; trust in KM ! COYB
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jas0999 added 19:52 - Feb 10 Very bad news. But he appears very injury prone sadly.
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BlueRuin69 added 20:06 - Feb 10 Hmmm…has played 24 games this season so not that injury prone, big loss, good player. Get well soon Evo. Coyb
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TimmyH added 21:35 - Feb 10 Well he missed 11 league and cup games (EFL included)...and looks to have another lengthy spell out, last season in total only a few more than what he has played now and other seasons worse...that show tell you everything. He is injury prone!
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TimmyH added 21:50 - Feb 10 'that tells you everything'...
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johnwarksshorts added 07:57 - Feb 11 We've got one of our own in Humphreys who is more than capable. What a story that would be if he slotted in the winning goal. COYB.
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