Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna to make changes for Carabao Cup tie at AFC Wimbledon and provides update on Ali Al-Hamadi and Cieran Slicker’s futures

Boss Kieran McKenna has revealed his Ipswich Town side will show ‘a lot of changes’ in tonight’s Carabao Cup second-round clash at AFC Wimbledon (7.45pm).

The Blues travel to the Cherry Red Records Stadium following a 4-1 defeat at Manchester City and with his team looking to record their first Premier League points of the season against Fulham on Saturday (3pm), McKenna is likely to make alterations to his starting line-up against the Sky Bet League Two outfit.

The Town manager admitted the cup provides an opportunity to embed some of his new signings into the fold, with the likes of Jens Cajuste, Kalvin Phillips, Jack Clarke and Dara O’Shea all likely to be involved against the Wombles.

“We are in a position where we've made a lot of additions to the group and we feel like that's going to really help us over the course of the season,” said McKenna, speaking in his pre-match press conference.

“Quite a few of them have been in recent weeks as well, so it's really important we get the squad up to speed as much as we can, both in terms of match minutes but also getting on the pitch together and playing together.

“For sure, there'll be a lot of changes from Saturday, that is important. We'll try and be as organised as we can as a team, but we also know the challenges of lots of new players coming together.”

While new arrivals are likely to feature tonight, McKenna is also set to field players who have spent the first two games of the season on the substitute’s bench.

Striker Ali Al-Hamadi could be handed a rare start against his former club, who he joined Town from in January, as well as third-choice goalkeeper Cieran Slicker, and the Blues manager spoke about both players’ futures in his press conference.

“The focus at the moment is on Ali being with us and impacting every session and every game,” he said.

“At the moment (in the club’s striking options), we've got Liam Delap, who is 21 years old and in his first season in the Premier League, coming back from a major injury at the back end of last year and still working up to full fitness, and Ali.

“Of course, there’s Freddie (Ladapo), who is more of a senior striker, but we're not deep in that position by any means at the moment.

“There's always the possibility that things could change over the next 72 hours, that can happen in the last week of the transfer window.

“But at the moment, our focus and Ali's focus is on working with him to get him ready for the next session and for the next game, which is coming up pretty quick.”

On Slicker, McKenna said: “Cieran’s going to stay will us. That decision was made pretty early into the pre-season in conversations with Cieran.

“He’s developing really well here. We feel like he’s improving all the time with the group, with his work with Rene (Gilmartin), (goalkeeper coach), with his work with the group and it’s a really important season for us in the Premier League and we want to have three strong goalkeepers.

“He’s very much part of that, he’s also got some important international matches coming up and he’s still getting some game exposure with that.”

The draw for the third round of the Carabao Cup will be made following tonight’s tie between Nottingham Forest and Newcastle, and will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football.