Aiming to keep their top-two hopes alive and kicking, Ipswich Town will welcome West Bromwich Albion to Portman Road for a Championship clash on Saturday afternoon.
The Tractors Boys’ promotion aims were dealt a blow at Preston North End last time out, while the Baggies narrowly got the better of Birmingham City at The Hawthorns.
Ipswich Town have now suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in the 2023-24 campaign after coming out on the losing side of a five-goal thriller with Ryan Lowe’s Preston at Deepdale last weekend, although the visitors were close in the end to escaping with a point.
A woeful opening 40 minutes from the Tractor Boys saw them three goals behind in Lancashire, with an own goal from George Edmundson and a Will Keane double piling the pressure on Kieran McKenna’s men, and despite a late brace from Kieffer Moore, they were unable to avoid defeat.
Signing on loan from Premier League outfit Bournemouth until the end of the campaign, Wales international Moore will be aiming to fire Ipswich back into the top two, with Saturday’s hosts currently fourth in the Championship standings, two points behind second-placed Southampton.
With Russell Martin’s Saints currently enjoying a 23-match unbeaten run, it is going to take a lot for the Tractor Boys to gain automatic promotion to the top flight this term, but even a top-six finish would represent an amazing achievement for a side playing in the third tier last campaign.
Former Barnsley and Coventry City creator Conor Chaplin has been at the heart of the majority of the Ipswich’s stellar attacking play this term, with the 26-year-old bagging nine goals and providing six assists in 29 second-tier appearances, meaning he leads the club’s Golden Boot race
After hot-headed derby matches against local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tony Mowbray’s Birmingham, the big games continue to come for West Brom, whose top-six ambitions have taken a slight hit following league defeats to Swansea City and Norwich City since the turn of the calendar year.
Finding the net against the blue side of Birmingham, ex-Aston Villa attacker Andreas Weimann secured all three points for the Baggies last time out in the Championship from a game which was overshadowed by an off-field incident, with Blues midfielder Juninho Bacuna reporting racist abuse from the stands.
Following an inconsistent start to 2024, Carlos Corberan’s men currently occupy fifth in the second-tier table, four points ahead of Mark Robins’s Coventry City in seventh, with the Sky Blues losing just one match since the beginning of December.
A number of West Brom’s January signings made their debuts against Birmingham last weekend, with Callum Marshall and Mikey Johnston joining on loan from West Ham United and Celtic respectively ahead of the second half of a crucial season for the future of the Albion.
Ipswich Town Championship form:
D
D
D
W
D
L
Ipswich Town form (all competitions):
D
W
W
D
L
L
West Bromwich Albion Championship form:
W
W
L
W
L
W
West Bromwich Albion form (all competitions):
L
W
W
L
L
W
After representing Australia at the Asian Cup in Qatar, centre-back Cameron Burgess will return to the Ipswich squad to face West Brom on Saturday.
Moore is set for his first start as a Tractor Boy, especially considering that George Hirst is out of action until the middle of this month due to a hamstring injury.
Janoi Donacien is enduring an injury-riddled 2023-24 campaign, with the right-back missing due to a groin injury since late November.
West Brom are set to be without the services of midfielder Jayson Molumby for the remainder of the campaign after he picked up a serious injury.
Daryl Dike made a cameo off the bench against Birmingham following an injury scare, although the American should be in line for more minutes this weekend.
The Baggies remain without centre-back Semi Ajayi, who is currently on duty with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, with the Super Eagles set to face Ivory Coast in the final.
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Hladky; Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis; Morsy, Luongo; Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead; Moore
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Palmer; Furlong, Bartley, Kipre, Townsend; Yokuslu, Mowatt, Wallace, Swift, Fellows; Thomas-Asante
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