Ipswich Town v Palace

Portman Road, Tuesday 7.45pm

Owen Garvan

Team news

Midfielder OWEN GARVAN has returned to training after a spell out with a knee injury but won't be fit to face his former club.

Paddy McCarthy (groin) and Alex Nimely (hamstring) are still out. Darcy Blake is available for selection after recovering from a knee problem.

Striker Aruna Dindane is waiting for clearance to play and Kevin Phillips could get a start with Palace finding goals a problem of late.

Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy will check on the fitness of five players. Loanee Jay Tabb (knee) and Michael Chopra (calf) went off injured in their defeat to Hull last time out.

Winger Lee Martin has recovered from illness but since turned his ankle in training, on-loan striker Aaron Mclean hurt his toe in training, while Patrick Kisnorbo has a virus.

Quotes

Mick McCarthy

“I’d want revenge even if we hadn’t been beaten [5-0] at their place. Get your retaliation in first.

“I’m not bothered about the first game. We’re a different side to the one that played at Selhurst Park when we were beaten by five. We are far stronger and harder to beat now. That was very early on in the development of the team and we’ve come a long way since.

“We were rock bottom with seven points when I arrived. It didn’t look a very healthy position. And even now, with 53 points, it’s looking precarious.

“It’s a lot better than what it was though. If I’d have been offered this position with four games to go when I first came here, and I think if everyone in the club had been offered it – from Marcus (Evans) down – then we’d have all taken it.

“I think 56 points will stay up, but that’s only me thinking and assuming. I do think that’s what will happen though. Fifty-six – I’d take it now.

“That doesn’t mean I’ll be celebrating wildly if we beat Palace, because it still won’t be guaranteed. While it’s still mathematically possible to go down I won’t be dancing on the pitch with my draws in the air, I’ll be preparing for Sheffield Wednesday (away) on Saturday.”

Owen Garvan

"Mick has done fantastically because they looked dead and buried when he took over. He went in there and has steadied the ship to keep them safe, but I think next year they'll want to crack on and be in contention for promotion.

"I'm going to go to the game as I've got a few friends up there, so I'll be sitting with them to watch. And it will be quite funny as I'll be cheering on Palace and they'll all be cheering for Ipswich.

"No one is really safe from relegation this year so they'll need the points as much as us. Every game we play, teams have something to play for.

"I'm back working with the fitness coaches now and it's like starting a mini pre-season at the moment with a lot of running.

"The plan is to get back training with the lads by Sunday, so hopefully it goes well and maybe I can get an U21 game under my belt to step up my match fitness.

"The Leicester game will be touch and go, but if I don't make that, I'd like to make Blackburn away at the end of the month."

Joel Ward

"Ipswich have always been a good team – they had a bad start to the season but Mick McCarthy has gone in and done a good job. We're going to go there and expect a hard game like all of them are in the Championship.

"If we work hard, we'll go in there all guns blazing and come away with three points. We can build from the match against Barnsley and take the clean sheet and good performance to Portman Road."

Ipswich Town - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
17th	42	14	11	17	53

Full league table

Ipswich Town - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
8	4	2	2	7	3

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
06/11/2012	League	Crystal Palace	5 - 0	Ipswich Town
14/04/2012	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 1	Ipswich Town
22/10/2011	League	Ipswich Town	0 - 1	Crystal Palace
09/04/2011	League	Ipswich Town	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
21/08/2010	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Ipswich Town

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 5-0 Ipswich Town

Tuesday November 06 2012

Palace: Speroni, Ramage, Ward, Delaney, Garvan (Moritz, 69), Dikgacoi, Bolasie, Jedinak, Parr, Murray (Easter, 69), Zaha (Moxey, 87)

Subs not used: Appiah, Price, O'Keefe, Blake

Goals: Bolasie (24), Murray (pen 50, pen 55, 63), Moritz (90)

Bookings: Dikgacoi, Zaha

Ipswich Town: Henderson, Chambers, Higginbotham, Cresswell, Reo-Coker, Martin, Wellens (N'Daw, 82), Drury (Smith, 70), Edwards, Murphy (Emmanuel-Thomas, 70), Campbell

Subs not used: Chopra, Scotland, Loach, Mohsni

Bookings: Reo-Coker