Leicester City will welcome Ipswich Town in a battle at the top of the Championship table. Last Saturday, Ipswich stopped a protracted winless streak to reduce the gap on the Foxes while Leicester suffered a setback.
Preview (Leicester City vs. Ipswich Town)
Even though it looked like Leicester was coasting to promotion, they had a small setback last Saturday in their derby against Coventry City. Enzo Maresca’s team led at the half but lost 3-1 as a result of Abdul Fatawu’s costly red card. Their Italian manager’s emotions also ran high when he received a warning. It means he won’t be watching this game from the sidelines. The Foxes’ nine-game winning streak of 11 games without a loss came to an end with that. They are still leading the Championship by a comfortable seven points. They are still strong favorites to win the championship this year. In large part because of their performance at home, where they have won 12 of their previous 14 games.
It hasn’t been very successful for them to play teams fighting for promotion, though. Eight of the 16 points Leicester have lost this year have come from teams in the top six. They would lose to Ipswich in a league season for the first time since 2009–10 if they were to repeat their two-point draw with the team earlier in the campaign in the reverse encounter. Ipswich will be relieved to enter this matchup with some momentum following a terrible 2023 season. The Tractor Boys’ five-game losing streak, four-drawing record, and 4-0 thrashing against Leeds United cost them dearly in the automatic promotion fight.
However, Ipswich will start this game outside of the top two after Southampton’s victory over Swansea City on the road on Saturday lunchtime. Ipswich knows they need at least a point to finish the weekend back in the automatic spots due to their lower goal differential, and their victory over Sunderland last week might help boost confidence. In all likelihood, though, this is their greatest opportunity to chase down leaders Leicester. They lead the division by seven points and are currently playing at their best.
Team News
Due to his red card at Coventry last week, Fatawu will be suspended for this game. It will increase the number of attacking players missing from Leicester. Due to injuries sustained during the Africa Cup of Nations, Jamie Vardy is also uncertain. Patrick Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho are also absent. While Wilfred Ndidi is missing due to injury, Harry Souttar is traveling with Australia for the Asian Cup. This week, Chelsea summoned up Italian midfielder Cesare Casadei from his loan. Nevertheless, Leicester hopes to bring in Stefano Sensi from Inter Milan, a fellow countryman, to take his place.
For this match, Ipswich will be without their usual midfield pairing of Sam Morsy and Maximo Luongo. The Australian is injured, and the Egyptian is suspended after receiving ten yellow cards. George Hirst, Jayo Donacien, and Lee Evans are all sidelined due to injury, while Luongo’s countryman Cameron Burgess is overseas representing Australia at the Asian Cup. Due to the absences of Morsy and Luongo, Blackburn Rovers loanee Lewis Travis got his first start for the team last weekend in the victory over Sunderland. Jeremy Sarmiento has also joined from Brighton & Hove Albion, but he has only made two appearances off the bench thus far.
Leicester City 2-1 Ipswich Town
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