Jonas Knudsen will return to the Ipswich Town side at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday having recovered from the back injury which forced him off at Newcastle and saw him miss the 2-2 home draw with Rotherham last weekend.

“He’s a tough boy, he’s very durable,” said manager Mick McCarthy. “He had a really bad back, it went into spasm and we had to take him off and he had a reaction to it last week, but he’s all right, he’s trained today and he’s back at his competitive best.”

That means that academy graduate Myles Kenlock, 19, will drop out of the team after impressing during the game against the Millers.

“That back four had been playing and has served us well,” he said. “When we had five clean sheets in seven that was the back four that played regularly and they’ve served us so well, and they deserve their credits for that.

“But Josh (Emmanuel) and Myles have done exceptionally well and I know I can rely on them, everybody knows that now. They are trusted as first-team players now by the other first-team players.

“I think that is the acid test – when they get to the stage where they’re accepted by first-teamers. They come in and play and whatever happens, nobody’s worried about them. They’re really solid, trustworthy first-team players.”

Luke Hyam (knee), Tommy Smith (back), Brett Pitman (ankle) and Giles Coke (knee) remain sidelined.

Meanwhile, McCarthy says every club in the Championship would sign West ham striker Ashley Fletcher if he was made available for loan in January.

Asked whether Fletcher was the reason for his trip to watch the West Ham youngsters beat West Brom 2-1 at Dagenham and Redbridge on Monday, McCarthy said: “I just went to go and watch the game. I haven’t seen West Brom play and it’s a nice, handy game to go and watch.

“But if anybody wasn’t watching Ashley Fletcher to see how he performed – as a kid who had a great season last year with Barnsley and had two Wembley appearances – playing at Dagenham and Redbridge in the Under-23s... Let me tell you, I think every team in our league would take him if they’d let him out.”