2 Ipswich Town vs 2 Aston Villa
Newly promoted Ipswich in search of maiden win as Villa clash nears.
Ipswich Town faces a challenging test against high-flying Aston Villa on Sunday, hoping to avoid a fourth successive draw and their worst start since 1982.
Ipswich Town
After two opening defeats, Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town are now unbeaten in three league games, having earned three draws in a row. Ipswich, who are just above the bottom three, picked up a 1-1 draw with fellow newly-promoted Southampton last weekend in a bottom-table clash.
A sterner test awaits against Villa at the weekend as Ipswich Town return to Premier League duties. Ipswich have won just one of their 10 Premier League games against Aston Villa, a 1-0 away win in March 1994.
Failure to win here would leave the club with six opening games without a victory for the first time since 1982-83. However, a draw would leave the Tractor Boys with four successive draws for the first time since they last did so between February and March 2017 in the Championship.
A 4-2-3-1 formation with Liam Delap in attack is anticipated for this fixture. Kieran McKenna could be without as many as three players, while Janoi Donacien is ruled out.
Aston Villa
After a 2-1 win in the EFL Cup third-round clash against Wycombe, Villa will be looking to continue in familiar strides when they take on Ipswich Town. Unai Emery’s side swept Wolves aside in a 3-1 win last time out to remain in 3rd place on the Premier League table.
Having picked up 12 points after five opening games (4W, 0D, 1L), Villa could earn a fourth successive victory (WLWWW), having won the last three. They last had a longer winning run between March and April 2023, when they went five games in a row.
‘They are playing very well,’ Unai Emery said in the pre-match press conference ahead of the weekend’s trip against Ipswich Town. ‘They’re not getting points like they deserve, but they are being competitive. My expectation for Sunday is that they will play very well, and we have to compete to adapt to them and stop them because they’re aggressive in their high press and their duels,’ he added.
A 4-2-3-1 formation with Ollie Watkins in attack is expected against the Tractor Boys. John McGinn is ruled out of the weekend’s clash. Meanwhile, Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara both returned to full training and could feature in the coming days.
‘They are training very well. They started to be with us 100% during training sessions last week,’ Emery said. ‘After the break, they will be available should everything go well to be with us,’ he added.
Team form
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Team Comparison
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