Town host Bristol City on Tuesday evening aiming to climb back to second in the Championship table.

The Blues, who took their winning run at Portman Road to six in a row via Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Blackburn, remain third in the table, two points behind second-placed Middlesbrough and eight off leaders Coventry, but with a game in hand on the top two.

A win against the Robins would put the Blues second for at least 24 hours with Boro not in action until Wednesday when they travel to face Stoke City, who are seventh. Coventry host fourth-placed Millwall on Tuesday.

Town will be looking to extend their winning run to five matches on the bounce for the first time since a run of six in February and March 2024 during the promotion season, a streak which ended with a 4-3 home victory over the Robins.

Kieran McKenna’s side have won their last three in the Championship and dispatched League One Blackpool in their third round of the FA Cup.

Bristol City are ninth in the division, seven points and six places behind the Blues, Austrian Gerhard Struber having taken charge in the summer following Liam Manning’s ill-fated move to Norwich City.

Their recent form has been inconsistent, winning three of their last six in the Championship - plus the 5-1 FA Cup hammering of Watford at Ashton Gate - drawing one and losing two. At the weekend, they drew 0-0 at Oxford United.

On their travels this season, the Robins have won five, drawn four and lost four, the eighth-best away form in the division, having taken 19 points from their 13 away games, three more than the Blues have from their 12.

Only five sides, including Town, have conceded fewer goals on the road, all 13, than the 14 City have shipped. They have scored 15 times away, the 11th most in the division.

McKenna is anticipating a tough match, the teams having drawn 1-1 at Ashton Gate in September at a time when the Blues were very much finding their feet after the changes which took place during the close season.

“I think they’re a good side,” McKenna said, speaking after Saturday’s match. “It was a good game, I thought we probably played pretty well in the away game, to be honest.

“But it was never going to be easy and it won’t be easy here. I think they’re one of the teams in the category that have built a team over the last few years in the Championship.

“They have built a good team that have been together for a few years, the core of that team, and then have added some good players to it like they did last summer and have had good managers there and kept the system and a lot of the style of play pretty similar with the last couple of managers.

“You can see clearly why they’ve done well, why they’re doing well this year and they’ll be a good challenge.”

McKenna believes the Robins will view themselves as a side which will be in the promotion shake-up come May having been beaten in the play-off semi-finals last season after finishing sixth.

“I think there’s no doubt that they’re one of the teams that can finish at the top end of the table,” McKenna continued.

“It’s really, really tight, but they finished there last year and they’ve added to that team and got another very good manager this year.

“I think it’s obvious that they’re one of the teams who could be, want to be and will try to be right at the top end of the table, so we’re expecting a tough game on Tuesday, but there aren’t many that you wouldn’t put in that category.”

Turning to his team selection with the Robins match the second of three in eight days, McKenna says he and his staff will discuss what personnel changes might be required.

“Let’s see,” he said. “We’ll make the judgements. We know this is going to be a physical week because Blackburn, Bristol City and Sheffield United as well, three physical teams and three teams that run a lot.

“It’s going to take a real good effort from the group this week, so whether we rotate from the start or whether we need big impacts from the bench, we’ll make those judgements over the next couple of days.

“But I think it’s certainly a week where different people are going to have to step up at different times.”

The Team

Christian Walton will continue in goal having picked up his eighth clean sheet in 16 starts on Saturday.

Darnell Furlong and Leif Davis appear certain to be the full-backs with skipper Dara O’Shea and Cedric Kipre the centre-halves.

Azor Matusiwa will be at the heart of the midfield, having avoided that 10th booking which would see him banned for two matches for the last seven games. Jack Taylor may again get the nod ahead of Jens Cajuste alongside the Dutchman.

McKenna is likely to make changes to his front four with Wes Burns perhaps handed his first Championship start since returning from injury against his old club on the right.

Jaden Philogene limped off on Saturday with a knee issue, which is set for a scan, and seems unlikely to be involved with Jack Clarke coming into the XI.

Sammie Szmodics was bright from the bench against Blackburn, scoring his first Portman Road goal for Town against the club from whom he joined the Blues, and perhaps could get the nod as the number 10. Otherwise, Marcelino Nunez will continue.

McKenna may feel George Hirst isn’t up to two games in four days having just returned from his groin problem and so Ivan Azon could start.

Chuba Akpom will be unavailable due to a groin problem, while Kasey McAteer also missed the Rovers match with some muscle tightness but was set to be assessed ahead of Tuesday’s match.

The Opposition

The Robins are waiting on skipper Jason Knight, who suffered a ligament issue in the FA Cup win against the Hornets and missed the stalemate at the Kassam Stadium.

“He has a ligament problem from the FA Cup game against Watford,” manager Gerard Struber told Bristol Live, speaking on Saturday.

“He was not involved in the training session this week, and we hoped that he was maybe ready in this game, but this was too close.

“Now it's the next step - Ipswich - and it’s important for us that he is, in the end, maybe involved in this game.

“I think tomorrow and Monday will show us a better picture and then we look forward, hopefully, in a good direction with Knighty on Tuesday.”

Winger Mark Sykes has been out with a quad injury for just over a month but is in with a chance of returning to the squad on Tuesday. Keeper Radek Vitek was back in the side at the weekend after knee surgery.

Forward Fally Mayulu is out with a quad issue, while Max Bird is a long-term absentee with a calf problem and central defender Luke McNally has been out since February last year with an ACL injury.

Scott Twine is fine despite being withdrawn at half-time against the U’s, George Earthy, who recently rejoined on loan from West Ham, having replaced the former Swindon, Waterford and MK Dons man in what Struber explained was a tactical move.

Midfielder Joe Williams and defender Ross McCrorie were handed three-match bans by the FA following a melee in December’s 2-1 defeat at Millwall and both remain unavailable.

Forward Yu Hirakawa is in the process of joining Hull City on loan for the rest of the season, while another attacker, Harry Cornick, has moved to Stevenage.

History

Historically, Town have the edge over Bristol City, winning 31 (29 in the league), losing 23 (23) and drawing 15 (15).

The Blues are unbeaten in four against the Robins, two wins - a double in the promotion season - and two draws, however, prior to that the West Countrymen had won three in a row against Town, two of those at Portman Road, 3-1 and 3-2 victories over Mick McCarthy’s side.

In September at Ashton Gate, Clarke’s second penalty of the season secured the Blues a 1-1 draw.

Rob Atkinson gave the home side the lead against the run of play in the 18th minute before Akpom was tripped by McCrorie, who was fortunate not to have already been dismissed, in the area seven minutes after the restart and Clarke found the net from the spot. Both sides had chances to win it, Hirst heading over late on for the Blues.

In March 2024, promotion-bound Town came from behind twice to beat Bristol City 3-2 in a topsy-turvy rollercoaster classic at Portman Road, the sixth win of the second-placed Blues’ winning run as they closed in on promotion.

The Robins took the lead on 54 via Anis Mehmeti, before sub Ali Al-Hamadi levelled with his first home goal for the club.

Bristol City restored their lead on 77 through sub Tommy Conway, but Conor Chaplin equalised again in the 80th minute before Al-Hamadi saw a penalty saved and Davis won it in the penultimate minute with his first goal of the season.

Familiar Faces

Former Blues skipper Sam Morsy will be making his first return to Portman Road having left the club in the summer. The Egypt international, who captained Town to back-to-back promotions, joined the Robins earlier in the month and has so far made two starts and one sub appearance.

For Town, having been signed from Middlesbrough by his Wigan and Chesterfield boss Paul Cook on deadline day in the summer of 2021, Morsy made 161 starts and four sub appearances, scoring 11 goals. He was named Town Player of the Year in 2023/24.

Blues winger Burns came through the youth system at Bristol City and went on to make six starts and 48 sub appearances for the Robins, scoring five times.

Szmodics was at Ashton Gate during the 2019/20 season but having made only two starts and two sub appearances in the first half of the campaign moved to Peterborough in the January and then joined Posh on a permanent basis the following summer.

A number of Town’s off-field staff moved to Portman Road following the Gamechanger 20 Ltd takeover including chairman and CEO Mark Ashton, COO Luke Werhun and director of performance Andy Rolls.

City winger Josh Stokes, who is currently on loan at Stockport, was born in Shotley and was with the Town academy until he was released at 16. He had a spell with AFC Sudbury, before a stint at Aldershot led to his move to Ashton Gate in January 2024.

Midfielder Knight was viewed as an alternative to his Ireland teammate Taylor by the Blues in the summer of 2023 while protracted negotiations continued with Peterborough, with Knight subsequently moving from Derby to Ashton Gate later in the transfer window.

Officials

Tuesday’s referee is veteran official Dean Whitestone, his assistants Andrew Fox and Nigel Lugg, and the fourth official Josh Smith.

Northamptonshire-based Whitestone, who in addition to refereeing is an officer with the Metropolitan Police, has shown 44 yellow cards and one red in 15 games so far this season.

Whitestone was at Portman Road in November for the 0-0 draw with Wrexham in which he booked Matusiwa, Kipre and three of the visitors.

Before that, his most recent Town match was as a 55th-minute replacement for the injured James Bell in the Blues’ 2-1 victory at Coventry City in April 2024 which took McKenna’s side to within a point of promotion back to the Premier League.

During his time on the field, Whitestone booked then-Town skipper Morsy and one home player.

Prior to that, Morsy again fell foul of Whitestone in the Blues’ December 2023 2-0 win at Middlesbrough, the Egypt international shown a harsh yellow card for what the official saw as kicking the ball away, then was later banned for one match by the FA for “acting in an improper manner and/or using abusive words and/or behaviour towards a match official in or around the changing rooms”, apparently for remonstrating about the caution.

Luke Woolfenden and Dominic Ball were also yellow-carded during the game along with one Teessider.

Whitestone’s last Town match before that was the 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Fulham in September 2020 in which he kept his cards in his pockets throughout.

He also refereed the 1-0 FA Cup third round defeat at Accrington Stanley in January 2019 in which he booked Flynn Downes and no one else.

Whitestone was in charge of the Middlesbrough game at Portman Road in February 2012, which was abandoned after 37 minutes due to a frozen pitch with the score at 0-0.

Earlier that season, he was in in the middle for the 2-2 draw at Cardiff City in which he booked two Bluebirds, Michael Chopra and Keith Andrews.

Whitestone also refereed the 2-0 home defeat to Plymouth Argyle in March 2010 and the 1-1 draw at Reading in November 2009, again issuing no cards on each occasion.

In November 2008 he awarded both sides a penalty as Town drew 1-1 at home to Sheffield United, both goals coming from the spot, booking only David Norris and Alan Quinn.

Squad From

Walton, Palmer, Button, Furlong, Johnson, Young, Davis, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Kipre, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Taylor, Nunez, Clarke, Walle Egeli, Burns, Philogene, McAteer, Szmodics, Hirst, Azon.

Photo: TWTD