Ipswich Town vs Manchester City Preview

Premier League GW22

Whilst you can break down the reasons why a draw against Brentford (A) is a good point to take, even with the mistakes at the end of the match, against Ipswich Town you won’t be able to do that. Manchester City needs to pick up a win. Especially when you look at the run of games to come after, Chelsea (H), Arsenal (A), and Newcastle (H) just to name a few.

Previous Results:

• Manchester City are unbeaten in their last four Premier League matches, the most recent loss came against Aston Villa (A). They are sitting 6th in the Premier League and have been out of the top four since the loss to Manchester United in December.

• Ipswich Town have won only one match in their last five Premier League games, coming against Chelsea (H). In that run, they’ve lost to Newcastle (0-4), Arsenal (1-0), and Brighton (0-2). Drawing against Fulham (2-2). They are sitting in 18th and haven’t been out of the relegation zone since game week 7 (11th October).

Notable Injuries:

• Manchester City are without Rodri, Stones, Bobb, and Dias.

• Due to injury, Ipswich Town is without Chiedozie Ogbene, Conor Chaplin, Axel Tuanzebe, and Samuel Szmodics. Kalvin Phillips will also miss out as he’s unable to face his parent club.

Interesting Ipswich Town Stats:

• Only Leicester City (1) have kept fewer clean sheets than Ipswich Town (2) this season in the Premier League.

• Ipswich Town have given up the joint most penalty kicks (5) along with Chelsea and Wolves this season.

• Only Nottingham Forest (64.1%) have launched more of their goal kicks than Ipswich Town (59.1%).

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Ipswich Town

Here is how Ipswich Town lined up in their latest Premier League match, losing to Brighton. Kalvin Phillips will be out of the team since he can’t face his parent club, Szmodic is out injured as well so the main threat will come from Delap and Hutchinson. The latter was able to drag Kovacic out wide in the lead-up to their goal at the Etihad earlier in the season.

Jack Clarke (24) made the move to Ipswich Town in the summer, performing well in the Championship after a move to Spurs didn’t work out. For Sunderland last season Clarke scored 15 goals and provided 4 assists. Led the league for successful take-ons (148), progressive carries (306), and carries into the penalty area (176). Yet to find his feet and starting spot in the Premier League.

Jaden Philogene (22) was also excellent in the Championship last season, with Hull City, and made the move back to Villa in the summer but after that has not worked out he joined Ipswich after only six months. He could make his debut for the club against Manchester City. Even if both the attackers start the match on the bench, Ipswich have plenty of options late in the match to push for a goal should they need to.

One to Watch - Liam Delap

This season in the Premier League Liam Delap has scored eight goals for Ipswich Town, that’s 42% of their goals in the league this season. Also provided two assists, no other player in the squad has more. In their win against Chelsea, Delap scores a penalty and sets up Hutchinson for the first goal. In their win against Spurs, Delap provides an assist for Szmodics and scores himself. When Ipswich Town win, it’s got Liam Delap at the center of it all. Manchester City will miss not having Ruben Dias there to match up against him, and Delap will be a handful for Akanji/Ake to deal with.

Manchester City

I don’t think Guardiola has any significant or obvious reason to change the lineup, without new signings bedded in or injured players returning. Now, where changes may be considered is if Guardiola is looking ahead to the game on Wednesday night and remembering how Savinho finished the match against Brentford. In which case either Jeremy Doku or Jack Grealish could come in.

Although I doubt it would happen, I’d like to see Nico O’Reilly start in midfield. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Matheus Nunes continue at RB either, a good performance against Brentford apart from the chance he missed in the first half, considering it was his first.

One to Watch - Erling Haaland

Off the back of the contract extension news, this is the opportunity for Erling Haaland to put in a performance that caps off the weekend. Against Brentford, we saw that Manchester City will create plenty of chances, that if taken will mitigate some of the defensive issues they can’t solve until new players arrive. Just as the focus for Ipswich is on their number 9, it’s the same for Manchester City.

Final Predictions

Predicted Lineup:

Predicted Score: Ipswich Town 1-3 ManchesterCity