Ipswich Town v West Brom:UNDER-FIRE Ipswich manager Roy Keane has been left with no choice but to field a young side for tonight's Carling Cup quarter-final with West Brom.
A dire run of eight losses in 12 games, the most recent a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of fierce rivals Norwich on Sunday, has seen Keane’s position come under scrutiny.
Keane is aware that his first cup quarter-final as a manager could be one of his most important fixtures to date and would ideally like to field a full-strength side against Roberto Di Matteo’s Barclays Premier League side.
But injuries, suspension and the loss of four loan signings mean the former Manchester United captain will have to hope that his young guns can pull off a desperately needed win at Portman Road.
He said: “I’ll be going with a young team, once again. I haven’t been too pleased about that, over the last month or two, because we have been playing too many young players at the same time. But I don’t really have any choice for tomorrow night.”
Keane is without defender Damien Delaney, who was sent off at Carrow Road on Sunday, while right-back Gianni Zuiverloon is on loan from Albion and barred from facing his parent club.
Goalkeeper Marton Fulop is a doubt with an ankle injury, Connor Wickham has a thigh problem and loanees Rory Fallon, Jack Colback and Jake Livermore are all unavailable.
One player who could feature is Argentinian winger Luca Civelli, who has been out of action since injuring his knee against Burnley in March 2009.
Civelli was an unused substitute at the weekend but Keane could be tempted to throw him in against the Baggies.
He said: “It’s good to have Luca back in the group. We felt he needed something different from the reserves so he has been involved and he has a chance for tomorrow night.”
West Brom midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu is suspended for the tie quarter-final with Ipswich at Portman Road.
Mulumbu will start a two-game ban after being sent-off for two bookable offences during Saturday’s 4-1 win at Everton.
He has to serve an extra one match suspension – against Newcastle on Sunday – as it was his second red card of the campaign.
Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo has made many changes in the previous rounds of the competition and is likely to adopt a similar policy once more.
Venue:Portman Road
Kick-off:7.45pm
On TV:BBC 1, 11.55 (highlights)
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE: City looking to advance
MANCHESTER City manager Roberto Mancini can pick from a near full squad for the home Europa League match against Red Bull Salzburg tonight.
Pablo Zabaleta, suspended for the game at Stoke City, can play, and Yaya Toure is back after missing the 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium with a migraine.
Striker Emmanuel Adebayor is expected to recover from a groin problem and left-back Wayne Bridge is fit again.
Victory over Salzburg would almost guarantee City a place in the last 16. City lie second in group A behind Lech Poznan, who beat them 3-1 in their previous Europa League match, with both clubs on seven points. A win would secure City a place in the knock-out phase if Lech Poznan beat Juventus, a result which would also put the Polish champions through.
City, who are fourth in the Premier League, are at the start of period of 10 games over the next six weeks, including a final Europa League group match against Juventus in Turin on December 16th. But Mancini said City were fully focused on the match against the Austrian side, who are bottom of the group and will be eliminated if they do not win.
“This month will be very important for us as we have some difficult games against strong teams,” he said.
“During this spell we can understand what we must do for the future. It will be very tough because we play every three days. But first we must try to beat Salzburg and go through to the next stage.”
