Ipswich Town are back on the road this afternoon, making the long journey down to Home Park to face Plymouth Argyle. Alex Jones previews the action.
Pilgrimage to the Pilgrims
Ipswich are preparing for their longest away trip of the season, and it’s certainly a familiar one.
The Blues have made the trip to Devon in each of the last three seasons, making this four in a row. Around 328 miles separates Portman Road and Home Park, which, as many Town supporters will know, takes a little over five and a half hours each way on a good day.
There are clear pros and cons when it comes to this one. On the plus side, it isn’t a Tuesday night and the match hasn’t been rescheduled for Sky Sports coverage like it was last season (making it a 12:30pm kick-off). Kieran McKenna’s side didn’t have a midweek fixture either, so they’ve had a plenty of time to refresh ahead of this clash.
The only real negative is the fact that the last away trip was to Swansea and the next one will be to Cardiff - with a testing home match against Bristol City coming up on Tuesday night too. Ipswich are certainly racking up the mileage.
Five on the bounce for the first time?
The last time Town won five on the bounce was at the end of last season. Their run started with a 6-0 thrashing of Charlton Athletic and ended with a 6-0 thrashing of Exeter City. Rather poetic, isn’t it?
McKenna’s men are yet to achieve it in the Championship, however. They managed a run of four consecutive wins in September, October and December, but were stopped from reaching five by Huddersfield Town, Birmingham City and Norwich City respectively.
Ipswich head to Plymouth on the back of another four-game win streak, having beaten Millwall, Swansea City, Rotherham United and Birmingham City in February. Is this the moment they make it five? The last time they managed that in the Championship was at the start of the 2003/04 season - more than 20 years ago.
As it stands, the only teams to achieve that feat this season are Leicester City, Leeds United and Preston North End.
Keeping up the pace
The Championship promotion race is relentless. Ipswich are finding that out the hard way.
The Blues have done incredibly well to accrue 72 points from 34 games. Their current total would have seen them finish fifth in last season’s table. Sheffield United, who secured automatic promotion last season, had just 64 points at this stage in the campaign.
The Blues are on course to break the record points total set by a newly promoted side, but they’re still the underdogs to secure a top-two finish, listed at 2/1 behind Leicester [1/25] and Leeds [2/5] on Sky Bet.
Odds may reflect the likelihood of something happening, but beyond that, they mean very little. Nobody expected Town to be here at this stage of the season, sandwiched between three sides who played top-flight football last season. Keeping up the pace will be difficult, but there’s no reason why they can’t do it.
Leeds and Southampton have both been on lengthy unbeaten runs this season, but the former sit level on points with Ipswich while the latter are now five points behind. On the flip side, McKenna’s men have lost the fewest games in the division, but even that hasn’t been enough to get them back in the automatic promotion places.
It’s unlikely that you’ll see four teams performing to this standard in the Championship any time soon.
Another tricky test
Plymouth can be a tough nut to crack. The Blues know that from first-hand experience, as their last two trips to Home Park have ended in 2-1 defeats.
Ryan Lowe was managing the Pilgrims during the first game. Steven Schumacher, who guided them to promotion last season, took charge of them for the second. Now, for their third meeting, Town will be facing an Ian Foster side.
Relegation fears began to deepen after a 3-0 defeat at home to West Brom on February 20. At that point, Plymouth had lost four of their previous five games in all competitions, leaving them five points above the drop zone in 17th.
They then made the long trip up to Middlesbrough, claiming all three points in a dominant 2-0 win. They’re not out of the woods yet, but they’re back on track just in time for the visit of Ipswich.
Once again, animosity on social media has built up. It should leave to a fiery encounter at Home Park.
Who could play?
This is where things get complicated.
Wes Burns, Nathan Broadhead and Conor Chaplin all came off with injuries in the 3-1 win against Birmingham. The latter is back in training after suffering 'a bad gash' below his knee, but the first two will miss out with muscle strains. McKenna will have to decide on the appropriate replacements.
Omari Hutchinson is the easy choice to replace Burns on the right. The Chelsea loanee has bagged a goal or an assist in each of his last five games, and there’s a good chance that he would’ve made the starting line-up regardless.
On the left, things get a bit more complicated. Jeremy Sarmiento might seem like the most obvious pick, especially given the fact he scored last weekend, but it’s clear that he hasn’t been as good when he’s started. Does McKenna reward him for his goal, or does he take a more cautious approach? Marcus Harness seems like a safer option - he hasn't had much game time in recent weeks, but he's a reliable figure who can have the occasional run of red-hot form.
Alternatively, Ali Al-Hamadi could be given his first start. The 21-year-old worked to the left of Omar Bugiel during his time at AFC Wimbledon and could do the same with Kieffer Moore at Town. Perhaps this is the right time to get him in the line-up.
Elsewhere, the big dilemma comes in defence, where Harry Clarke should be fit to return to action. Axel Tuanzebe put in a Man of the Match performance at right-back against Birmingham, but it remains to be seen whether he remains in that position, moves to centre-back ahead of Luke Woolfenden or drops out of the team entirely. McKenna can’t squeeze everyone in, so one of the three will have to miss out.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel