The 9 players set to miss Sheffield United v Ipswich Town on Saturday - Marcelino Nunez features | OneFootball

Marcelino Nunez highlights a joint injury list between Sheffield United and Ipswich Town ahead of their battle at Bramall Lane this weekend

Ipswich Town are starting to hit their stride in the Championship now, and are looking to make it five straight league wins when they travel to Bramall Lane to take on Sheffield United, who have lost their last two.

After poor starts from both sides, it was a 5-0 thrashing in the reverse fixture at Portman Road in September, which ultimately turned the tide, giving Ipswich their first win of the season on their fifth attempt, and subsequently being the final blow in Ruben Selles' short reign as Sheffield United boss.

Since then, the Tractor Boys have kicked on and are two points off the top two, with a game in hand. However, despite improving under the returning Chris Wilder, the Blades are still only four points ahead of the relegation zone following back-to-back 1-0 away defeats across the week against Charlton Athletic and Southampton.

That being said, there's still plenty of quality set to be on show, even with the following nine people set to be absent.

Tyler Bindon

Starting with the hosts, the latest name on the absentee list is Tyler Bindon, after the Nottingham Forest loanee was withdrawn at half-time of the 1-0 defeat at the Valley against Charlton last Saturday through illness.

When questioned about his availability, Wilder, in his pre-Ipswich press conference, simply answered, "He's unavailable until next week."

The 20-year-old had started making true inroads in the Blades squad, starting five straight Championship games before this current layoff, and is a big miss for Chris Wilder.

Japhet Tanganga

The Bindon illness is made even worse when Japhet Tanganga, who had been forming a pretty solid partnership with the New Zealand international, is also out for this weekend's clash with Ipswich, as he serves the second of a three-match suspension.

The Sheffield United captain was the second man to see red in the 1-0 defeat against Charlton last weekend, after he caught Sonny Carey with a leading elbow during an aerial challenge.

Tanganga will miss a return to his former club, Millwall, next Saturday, before returning to action in the first week of February in the rearranged game against Oxford United.

Djibril Soumare

Also serving the second of a three-match ban this weekend is Djibril Soumare, after his poor challenge on Harvey Knibbs saw the Charlton man forced off on a stretcher, and the red card followed.

The 23-year-old was starting to work his way into Chris Wilder's side more regularly, starting five of the seven games up to and including the Charlton visit, but also won't be seen again until the Blades take on Oxford on February 3rd.

Jairo Riedewald

No positive update was given on Jairo Riedewald's recovery, which would indicate that the hamstring injury he sustained the day before the trip down to the Valley last weekend hasn't recovered in record-quick time.

The 29-year-old has arguably been the most important player at Sheffield United since Chris Wilder made his return for a third spell in the Bramall Lane dugout.

The Blades have won nine of the 12 games Riedewald has been involved in since the free agent signed on in October, and on the flip side, have picked up just one point in the four games he's been absent for.

The initial diagnosis saw him said to be out for "a couple of weeks," so Sheffield United will be hoping for good news next week ahead of the game against Millwall.

Jamie Shackleton

Chris Wilder mentioned in his pre-Ipswich press conference how unlucky his side had been in terms of availability over the last week, stating that "it's amazing that this time last week before the Charlton game we had everyone available for selection apart from Jamie Shackleton."

The 26-year-old has been limited to just 21 minutes of action in three separate Championship bench appearances this season and suffered yet another setback on his road to recovery.

Questions were floated about him potentially going out on loan this January, but Wilder insisted that the focus primarily was on getting him back fit again.

Jaden Philogene

Onto Ipswich now, and manager Kieran McKenna gave an update on his three more recent absentees in his pre-match press conference, and ruled them all out.

First, star man Jaden Philogene, who was subbed off with a knee injury in the first half of Ipswich's 3-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers last weekend, will still be missing, after being absent from the midweek win over Bristol City.

"Jaden, as I said after the game [vs Bristol City], it's not super serious. He's got no chance for this weekend. Whether he'll be available for the next block of games after that, we'll have to wait and see," McKenna said.

Luckily enough, his deputy, Jack Clarke, netted both in the 2-0 win over the Robins, taking his goal tally above Philogene's to 10 for the season.

Blades fans will be relieved to see him absent, though, after he scored a hat-trick in the reverse game at Portman Road in September.

Marcelino Nunez

Marcelino Nunez was subbed off in the final 20 minutes against Bristol City with an ankle injury and will also be missing for the trip to Bramall Lane.

"Marcelino, we're still assessing. He had some scans yesterday, and we're still waiting for the full specialist report on his ankle," the Ipswich boss said.

Nunez has had the attacking midfield spot on lockdown for the past couple of months, with seven assists in his last 12 starts. But he won't have the opportunity to add to that on Saturday.

Chuba Akpom

Chuba Akpom has had a difficult time breaking into the Ipswich Town starting 11 this season, and he's been completely absent from the last two games with a groin issue.

"Chuba is still not training yet," said McKenna.

Akpom would probably be first in-line to replace Nunez in the number 10 role, but he'll miss out on that chance this weekend, with that position likely going to Sammie Szmodics instead.

Conor Townsend

And while an update on Conor Townsend wasn't issued by McKenna in his pre-Sheffield United press conference, there's an expectation that the 32-year-old won't be featuring again this season, and if he does, it'll be towards the final few weeks.

The left-back suffered a serious ACL injury in pre-season and underwent surgery in August, and still remains out of action for the foreseeable future.