Ipswich Town’s five games with Fleetwood Town have all been packed with sub-plots.

There was Joey Barton questioning whether Paul Lambert’s team of 2019/20 were mentally strong enough to maintain their stunning start. He was ultimately right to ask that question.

Then, the following March, Barton oversaw a 1-0 victory at Portman Road which brought an ‘end of days’ feel in regard to the former Town boss’s reign. Lambert, perhaps aided by football’s Covid suspension, limped on for a further year.

Paul Cook’s Town were awful at Highbury in March of last year, as their play-off hopes were given a slap in a 2-0 defeat, before the final day clash between the two in May proved to be the final fling for loyal servants Luke Chambers and Cole Skuse. They deserved to go out to the applause of supporters, rather than eerie, empty, stands.

This year’s game between the two in Suffolk brought Bersant Celina’s dramatic late winner, in front of the watching Brett Johnson, and there’s plenty of intrigue heading into this weekend’s clash in Lancashire, too.

It’s another game the Blues need to win as they continue their game of catch-up, chasing the League One play-offs, but there’s also the prospect of coming face-to-face with a pair of former friends.

Town have come up against Ellis Harrison before, but it’s another of Paul Hurst’s summer signings from 2018 who is in firm focus heading into this game.

Toto Nsiala left the Blues for Fleetwood in January, bring an end to an Ipswich career best described as ‘rocky’.

The defender himself acknowledged as much upon his departure, insisting ‘some things are best not talked about’ when asked about his Ipswich exit during his first interview as an Ipswich player.

He said: “There’s a lot to be said about how it went at Ipswich but some things are best left not spoken about and move on. I can’t really tell you how it went, some people would say it went well and some wouldn’t. Good luck to them, I hope they do well.”

Nsiala’s probably right to say reviews will be mixed, following his three-and-a-half years in Ipswich blue.

We know he’s capable of imperious performances, such as the one against Leeds on the final day of the 2018/19 season, but we have also seen him substituted during the first-half or at the break in games where he’s been bullied by opposition strikers.

He’s enjoyed good runs of consistency, like during the first half of 2021, while also going through spells when he’s made a succession of mistakes to cost his side at big moments.

And that’s why facing him this weekend is so intriguing. Which Nsiala will Town come up against? Will they even come up against him? He’s been a regular in the Fleetwood side since moving in January but dropped to the bench for the loss of Wigan on Tuesday night.

If he does play, the reception he gets from the Ipswich supporters will be interesting.

There were times when Nsiala, a kind, good-hearted man who did plenty of unseen work to engage with supporters at Portman Road, was something of a cult hero on the terraces. There were others where his emotions maybe got the better of him, with the clash with the fans at Charlton in December the notable example of that.

He’ll have to handle jeers if he doesn't control a ball or plays a loose pass, while Ipswich supporters will be urging their attackers to test him inside the box in a bid to force a ‘nibble’ and ultimately a penalty. Town certainly have players capable of forcing errors in that regard.

If James Norwood gets on the field in this game, he’ll surely enjoy the chance to work his former team-mate – in every sense.

Norwood took the Ipswich No.10 shirt from Harrison in the summer of 2019, after Lambert ditched the Welsh striker just a year after Hurst signed him from Bristol Rovers.

Injuries didn’t help Harrison during his single campaign at Town, in which he made only nine league starts, but he showed flashes of ability which would surely have been useful to Town following their drop into League One.

Lambert didn’t like the forward’s attitude and allowed him to join Portsmouth in a transfer which, rather than proving a financial gain to Town, only served to pay off the remaining balance on his initial move to Suffolk. He jumped ahead of Oli Hawkins in the Pompey pecking order, only for Lambert to sign the latter 12 months down the line. Not a great look.

Harrison faced Ipswich twice as a Portsmouth player, winning both games, notably at Fratton Park in December of 2019 when he bullied Nsiala into submission and was the most physical of pests in his side’s 1-0 victory. He left Chambers flat on the floor just a handful of seconds into the match before forcing Nsiala into a booking which, as the half went on, became too big a risk for Lambert to take as he hauled his centre-half off before he saw red. That’s what he can do.

He’s at Fleetwood now, signing for the club just a few weeks before Nsiala, and made a superb start as he scored on his debut to beat Doncaster, but hasn’t netted in his last six. He has started every game since he signed, though, and appears to be a real favourite of manager Stephen Crainey.

Town’s back three of Luke Woolfenden, Janoi Donacien and George Edmundson have handled strikers of his mould well of late, but it should still be a fascinating battle.

They could also have been facing a second former Ipswich striker, had Joe Garner not been sent off for scrapping with James McClean of Wigan on Tuesday night, ruling him out through suspension.

Former Ipswich youth goalkeeper Harry Wright, he of the many facial tattoos, is also at Fleetwood but has yet to make the bench in a league game, having joined in the summer.

Then there’s Donacien and Wes Burns, two men who were at Fleetwood last season, coming up against their former clubs. The latter is in the background of all of our pictures of Chambers and Skuse embracing after their final Town game – the past and the present.

A minor mention goes to Anthony Pilkington, a man Town came so close to signing under Lambert, who has three goals already in 2022 for Fleetwood.

Sub-plots galore.

Town will be hoping all these stories add up to three more points as they bid to make a late dash into the play-off places.