Birmingham manager Gary Rowett insists his side must ignore their derby showdown with Aston Villa and focus on beating Ipswich.

Blues head to Portman Road on Friday evening ahead of travelling to Villa Park in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.

The rivals have not played each other in four years and City beat Villa en route to winning the League Cup in 2011.

But, with his side two points behind fifth-placed Ipswich in the Sky Bet Championship, Rowett wants their full attention on the Tractor Boys.

FL72 Live

He said: "We haven't mentioned the Villa game but of course they'll be talking about it. There's a lot of anticipation about. We have to put it to the back of our minds.

"I don't think they'll be many players thinking 'if I play well here I'll play against Villa'. We want to win at Ipswich, we want to look a good team again.

"The Villa game will take care of itself, it's a self-motivating game, I almost don't have to do a team talk."

Live Capital One Cup Football

Rowett, who could hand a start to Andy Shinnie, admires the work Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy has done in the Sky Bet Championship having won promotion with Wolves and Sunderland before taking Ipswich to the play-offs last season.

"Mick has done an amazing job," said the boss, who has no fitness concerns.

"He is the type of manager who, when people meet him, you respect him straight away because he's such a great guy. He's full of character and always helps younger managers. He's one I look up to and respect what he's achieved in the Championship."

Ipswich beat Leeds 1-0 on Tuesday to recover from their 5-1 mauling at Reading last Friday and have Kevin Bru and Teddy Bishop available following hamstring injuries along with Cole Skuse after a knee problem but Ryan Fraser is a doubt following a kick at Elland Road.

McCarthy - ahead of Ipswich's trip to Manchester United in the Capital One Cup next Wednesday - is happy to make changes after resting top scorer Freddie Sears at Elland Road in mid-week.

"I've got good strikers. It's not like before when I had Murph (Daryl Murphy) and Didz (David McGoldrick) and, with the greatest respect, not a lot else," he told the East Anglian Daily Times.

"Now I've got Murphy, Didz, Brett (Pitman) and Freddie - they're all top strikers. If one of them has got a problem I don't need to be wheeling them out and getting the best out of them for 60 minutes. I've got options, it's great."