Preview: Coventry Vs Town

Town start the New Year with a trip to the Ricoh Arena to take on Aidy Boothroyd's Coventry City.

Town' haven't played since the 3-0 win against Leicester City on the 18th of December with the games against Watford and Doncaster called off, but Town have still suffered injuries despite not playing. Brian Murphy and Shane O'Connor are out, Gareth McAuley, Connor Wickham and Luke Hyam are doubts. Andros Townsend and Gianni Zuiverloon have ended their loan spells at Town.

Town manager Roy Keane: "It's not ideal, we didn't want both games called off, one might have been okay but not two. We've got to look at the plusses though and it's not as though we have not done the training work in preparation.

"The players have not had their feet up on holiday and while it's been a busy time for the clubs that did play, they have had enough time to recover so it's not going to be an advantage.

"It's been nightmare time since we last played against Leicester. We have lost Gianni (Zuiverloon) who has gone back to West Brom. He's a talented boy and was just starting to settle in so that's been a blow to us and then we've lost Murph (Brian Murphy) and Shane (O'Connor) to injury."

"It will be a tough game, just like it was down here, they punished us for two mistakes - both goals coming from set-pieces, the second one a penalty.

"I watched them against QPR and they played reasonably well and were unlucky not to get a result. Like every game in the Championship, particularly away from home, it's going to be tough.

"Looking at where we are, we should have more points on the board than we have and we certainly need to improve our League form over the second half of the season."

The Sky Blues will be missing both Gary McSheffrey and Aron Gunnarsson through suspension.