LuaLua fit for Blues clash as Rea comes back into contention for Town

The 29-year-old had started Town’s three games over the Christmas period, plus the 2-1 defeat at Preston, making it four starts from five league encounters, also scoring in the 3-3 draw with Fulham.

He was then named on the bench for the FA Cup third round tie at Bournemouth last weekend, pulling out of the clash just moments before kick-off.

However, the former Brighton and Newcastle player he should be fine to feature against the Blues, although fellow attacker Callum McManaman is still a doubt as Jones said: “Kaz is fine, Callum's going to be touch and go, but Kaz has trained well which is good news as he's been in good form, so I'm pleased about that.”

Dan Potts, Izzy Brown and Martin Cranie are all missing once more, but fit-again Glen Rea could be contention for a place in the match day squad after completing his first 90 minutes for the Hatters since December 15, 2018 at the Vitality Stadium.

Jones added: “I was really pleased, I sort of undervalued his performance a little bit until I looked back at it and certainly off the ball he's got this urgency, got this understanding with the two centre halves.

"He's always attached and he's an expert defensive midfield player who hasn't played in the Championship before, we have to take that into account.

"But when I reviewed the game on Sunday I was very, very happy with his performance."