TOP-TWO RACE
Let’s begin with some table talk on what’s at stake. Kieran McKenna and the players are understandably attempting to ignore it, but the rest of us cannot.
Good Friday could not have gone any better for Ipswich Town. The Blues lead the Championship table after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Blackburn Rovers, while Leicester City, Southampton, and Leeds United all dropped points.
Town has won eight of its last nine games. If they win their last seven games, they will have earned back-to-back automatic promotions to the Premier League. Surprisingly, this is the scenario heading into Easter Monday.
However, the top is tight. Leeds are only a point behind. Leicester behind by two goals but have one game in hand. Southampton are 10 points behind, but they can trim the gap to one if they win at Portman Road this afternoon and take maximum points from their two games in hand.
There will almost certainly be many more twists and turns to come.
Five of Town’s remaining fixtures are against teams in the top ten. Does this fit Kieran McKenna’s guys, who enjoy to compete in open football games? Is a record of seven points from a potential 24 versus the current top six teams grounds for concern on that front?
Who will feel the pressure most – a group of newly-promoted players who are now within touching distance of something they would not have dreamed of just a few months back, or the trio of sides expected to return to the top-flight? Recent form would suggest the latter, but time will tell.
Leicester host Norwich at lunchtime today (I’ll let you discuss which outcome would be better), while Leeds host Hull at 8 p.m.
One thing is certain: whatever happens, this exceptional bunch has accomplished something special.
For comparison, 84 points equals the number scored by John Lyall’s second-tier title winners in 1992/92. One more would equal the average tally required to secure a top-two berth in the Championship over the previous decade. Three more would match the 87 points scored by George Burley’s promoted side in 1999.
Four more would break the club record for points in a 46-game season at second-tier level, while five more would break the record for most points secured by a newly-promoted Championship club (Southampton, 88pts, 2011/12).
Sing loud and sing proud. Teams like this don’t come along very often.
GOALFEST INCOMING?
This campaign has seen some high-scoring thrillers at Portman Road. Ipswich Town has won 4-3 twice (Blackburn and Rotherham) and lost once (Leeds). There have also been 3-2 victories over Cardiff, Wolves, Plymouth, Swansea, and Bristol City.
Sheffield Wednesday were defeated 6-0 the last time they played in Suffolk. The Blues average three goals per game on Suffolk soil. This season ticket is currently the best value for money available.
Southampton have also been involved in plenty of goalfests too. The south coast side have scored three or more goals on 12 occasions. They’ve also conceded three or more in eight different matches. March scorelines for them included a dramatic 4-3 win at Birmingham and 4-2 home victory against Sunderland.
Hold on tight, we could be in for another wild night.
WHO PLAYS?
Leif Davis – 15 assists for the season from left-back now – was ‘struggling to breath’ during his 70 minutes on the pitch at Ewood Park. He was one of a number of Town players to be affected by illness last week.
Welsh international striker Kieffer Moore – six goals in 11 games since joining on loan from Bournemouth – has just played 184 minutes for country and club in the space of four days.
Will the key duo be ready to go again? Harry Clarke and Ali Al-Hamadi look next in the line to play those roles.
Cameron Burgess was rested at Blackburn having only just returned from international duty in Australia. It’s likely that he’ll replace George Edmundson at centre-back.
The likes of Jack Taylor, Lewis Travis, Jeremy Sarmiento, Marcus Harness and Kayden Jackson are also options to freshen things up for a second game in four days. There’s the small matter of an East Anglian derby coming up on Saturday for McKenna to consider too, remember.
SAINTS’ SEASON
Ipswich won 1-0 at St Mary’s last August courtesy of Omari Hutchinson’s tackle finish.
It was a night that proved newly-promoted Town were ready to mix it at this level. It was also clear that the freshly-relegated Saints, while packed with individual talent, were going to need to get through some teething issues as they adapted to new boss Russell Martin’s obsession with possession playing style.
A 3-1 home win against Leeds at the end of September proved the start of a club record 25-game unbeaten run (W18 D7) for Southampton. There were thumping home wins against Blackburn (4-0), Swansea (5-0) and Sheffield Wednesday (4-0) along the way.
Surviving a scare against Huddersfield in February (coming from 2-0 and 3-1 down to win 5-3) proved the prelude to a major blip though. They subsequently suffered defeats to Bristol City, Hull and Millwall before exiting the FA Cup at Liverpool.
Wins against Birmingham and Sunderland got things back on track, though Martin wasn’t happy with the goals his side conceded in those games. On Friday, they conceded a 90th minute equaliser to draw 1-1 at home to Middlesbrough.
“I’m really annoyed with both the chances we missed and the rubbish one conceded,” fumed Martin afterwards. “I’m really looking forward to the Ipswich game now. We go toe-to-toe with anyone. It won’t change.”
Marauding right-back Kyle Walker-Peters, one of the best players in the division, returned to action on Friday following an injury absence. The fact that Ryan Manning, Jan Bednarek, Joe Aribo, Joe Rothwell, Ryan Fraser, David Brooks, Sekou Mara and Sam Edozie were all on the bench for that game speaks volumes of the Saints’ squad depth.
FAMILIAR FACES
Flynn Downes joined Ipswich’s academy at the age of eight and went on to make 100 appearances for his boyhood club.
The all-action midfielder, who wore the captain’s armband at 20 and earned caps at England youth level, handed in a transfer request when Crystal Palace showed interest and eventually moved up the pyramid when joining Swansea for £1.5m. One outstanding season there saw him move to his beloved West Ham in a £9m deal.
After playing a bit-part role for the Hammers in 2022/23, he signed for Southampton on loan last summer, reuniting with his former Swans boss Martin. Once again, he has starred in the Championship. The team’s win rate when he starts is 69%.
Tricky winger Ryan Fraser was a real hit at Portman Road during a season-long loan from Bournemouth back in 2015/16, while full-back James Bree had a spell at Ipswich on loan from Aston Villa in the latter stages of the relegation season of 2018/19.
