Promotion-chasing Ipswich Town will go in search of an eighth successive victory when Wycombe Wanderers visit Portman Road on Friday afternoon.
The Tractor Boys sit two points outside of the automatic promotion places in League One, while the Chairboys find themselves eighth – 16 points shy of Ipswich.
Match preview
© Reuters
Ipswich Town's hunt for automatic promotion is well and truly back on track following a run of seven straight wins, with a 2-0 victory coming at Derby County last weekend.
Having spent the majority of the campaign inside the top two, Kieran McKenna's boys dropped to third after picking up a solitary victory in six outings across December and January, but they have been almost unstoppable since then.
Not only have the Tractor Boys won each of their last seven matches, but they have also kept seven consecutive clean sheets, scoring 18 goals in the process.
Better still, Ipswich are currently enjoying an 11-game unbeaten streak in League One, having picked up eight wins and three draws since their last loss, with nine clean sheets coming during that period.
Having lost just one of their 19 home league matches this season – securing 12 wins and six draws along the way – Ipswich will be confident of extending their unbeaten run at Portman Road to 13 games on Friday.
© Reuters
Wycombe Wanderers notched five successive wins across January and February to set themselves up for a playoff push, but the recent departure of long-standing manager Gareth Ainsworth has negatively impacted the team.
Ainsworth was appointed all the way back in 2012 and guided the club to two promotions during his time at Adams Park, but he left for Queens Park Rangers in February after 550 games in charge.
Since then, Wycombe have managed to pick up just two wins in eight League One matches under new boss Matt Bloomfield, recording three draws and three losses to leave them two points outside the top six.
After suffering a 1-0 home defeat to Barnsley, the Chairboys registered back-to-back draws with Charlton Athletic and MK Dons, meaning that Bloomfield's men head into Friday's clash on a three-game winless run.
It is not all doom and gloom for Wycombe, of course, as they remain within touching distance of the playoff places, but there is a sense that Ainsworth's departure has scuppered the club's chances of promotion.
Team News
© Reuters
Ipswich Town will be without the injured duo of centre-back George Edmundson and forward Tyreece John-Jules for the remainder of the season.
On a brighter note, Dominic Ball is back in action following a lengthy layoff due to knee surgery, with the defensive midfielder coming off the bench in each of the previous two games.
Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton will go in search of his 19th League One clean sheet of the campaign on Friday, while Conor Chaplin will aim to score his sixth goal in eight outings.
Wycombe Wanderers are still without long-term injury absentees Dominic Gape and Curtis Thompson, while Sam Vokes, Jordan Obita and Garath McCleary have also missed the past few matches.
Having chalked up eight goals and four assists from midfield this term, Lewis Wing will continue to operate behind David Wheeler, who bagged a brace in last weekend's 2-2 draw with MK Dons.
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Walton; Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Leigh; Morsy, Luongo; Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead; Hirst
Wycombe Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Stryjek; Grimmer, Forino-Jospeh, Tafazolli, Jacobson; Wing, Scowen; Campbell, De Barr, Wheeler; Halan
We say: Ipswich Town 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers
We expect Ipswich Town to extend their run of clean-sheet wins to eight matches with a comfortable victory over Wycombe Wanderers, whose struggles look set to continue following the departure of Ainsworth.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Morris
