The Scottish winger is having to play catch-up with his North End team-mates in terms of fitness after moving to Deepdale on a season-long loan from Sunderland last week.

That's because the Black Cats started pre-season training almost a fortnight later than Irvine had his squad reporting back at Springfields.

But Wallace feels confident of making the Portman Road meeting after playing 67 minutes of the 2-0 win at Crewe last Saturday and having a full week on the training pitch.

He told the Evening Post: "It was great to be involved again at Crewe, and I really think there is a lot to look forward to at Deepdale this season.

"There is great optimism and the manager is obviously a very good coach.
"I'm maybe two weeks behind the rest of the lads fitness-wise because Sunderland started back later than Preston.

"But I felt comfortable in the Crewe game and we all know there is going to be big competition for places for the starting line-up at Ipswich."

Wallace, 23, hopes to draw on his top-flight experience at Sunderland and Celtic to help him make a major contribution at North End this season.

>> Click here to listen to our PNE pre-season special podcast featuring Barry Nicholson, Callum Davidson, Paul McKenna, Matt Hill and Chris Sedgwick.

He's no stranger to the Championship though, after playing a big part
in Sunderland's promotion campaign two years ago.

Said Wallace: "It was fantastic to play in the Premier League and at Celtic too, where I was around so many quality players.

"You learn so much from them, and hopefully that experience will benefit me at Deepdale this season. This is a new challenge though, and I'm looking forward to it."

It's likely that Wallace will get the nod against Ipswich, with Irvine looking for him to provide some much-needed balance to the midfield.

His only other alternative left-sided player is Lewis Neal,
although he has experimented with right-footers Simon Whaley and Chris Sedgwick on the left-wing during pre-season.

It could be that Whaley is required to play up front on Saturday, Irvine having used him in three of the friendlies alongside Neil Mellor
.
If Chris Brown fails to shake off the ankle injury he suffered against Everton more than a fortnight ago, Whaley is a definite option up front.

Other than the doubt with Brown – and Irvine is optimistic of him being involved in Suffolk – and the longer-term injuries to Neal Trotman and Liam Chilvers, PNE have a clean bill of health for the big kick-off.

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