Ipswich Town will look to extend their unbeaten run to three matches for the first time this season when they travel to mid-table Accrington Stanley on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides enter the match in contrasting form, with Ipswich running out 6-0 winners over Doncaster Rovers in midweek, whilst Accrington were beaten 5-1 by Oxford United.
Match preview
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Having to wait until mid-September for their first victory of the campaign, Ipswich had held hopes of pushing for a promotion spot this year, yet their early season form saw them languishing in the relegation zone up until their last match.
Blowing away the bottom-placed side Doncaster, Ipswich hit six in a match for the first time since they beat Bristol City 6-0 back in November 2007, when the Blues were a Championship side.
The result backed up an impressive 1-1 draw with title contenders Sheffield Wednesday and their maiden victory of the campaign against Lincoln City – a win that had ended Ipswich's run of six matches without one.
Despite their poor league performances, Paul Cook's side have managed to score in each match this season and should back themselves at scoring against an Accrington team who have registered only one clean sheet in their past five League One matches.
After a strong start to the season, which saw the 'Owd Reds win three of their opening four matches, Accrington are now four games without a win, leading to John Coleman's side dropping from second in the table to 12th.
Unlike their opponents on Saturday, Accrington do not hold hopes of promotion to the second tier, instead, their focus will remain on securing a fifth consecutive season in League One.
Having been promoted to the division in 2018, Accrington have comfortably avoided relegation ever since, finishing above 17th in each of the previous three seasons.
In the midst of their longest post-World War Two stint in the third tier, Accrington will be looking for their first win in three matches against Ipswich when the two meet at the Wham Stadium.
Losing both of their encounters last season, Accrington have only beaten Ipswich in one league meeting – that victory coming back in October 2019.
Ipswich are looking to extend their winning streak to four matches against Accrington, yet they will need to show an improvement on their away form from this season, with the Blues having won only one of their fixtures on the road.
A win for Ipswich would take them level on points with Accrington in 12th, whilst a home victory could see them as high as seventh by the end of the weekend.
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Team News
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Ethan Hamilton scored his first goal for Accrington since arriving from Peterborough United in the summer last time out, and the former Manchester United youth player looks set to make his sixth consecutive appearance for the club.
On loan Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford has started all but one of Accrington's matches this season and the 18-year-old will be looking for his first clean sheet since mid-August this weekend.
Matt Butcher has scored three goals from midfield for Coleman's side since joining on a free transfer from Bournemouth and the 24-year-old will likely start against Ipswich.
Joel Mumbongo featured in six of the first seven matches since arriving from Burnley on loan, yet has sat the previous two out and will be eyeing up a return to the starting lineup.
Since joining Ipswich from Wigan in the summer, Lee Evans had failed to score in his first seven matches for the club, before netting a hat-trick in their 6-0 demolition of Doncaster.
Macauley Bonne has led the line for Ipswich this season scoring seven times, and the Zimbabwe international could add to his tally on Saturday afternoon.
Bersant Celina registered two assists for Ipswich in their win over Doncaster and the Kosovan winger will likely cause an issue for the Accrington defence at the Wham.
Accrington Stanley possible starting lineup:
Trafford; Amankwah, Sykes, Nottingham, Sherring; O'Sullivan, Hamilton, Conneely, Butcher, McConville; Bishop
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Hladky; Penney, Burgess, Edmundson, Donacien; Evans, Morsy; Burns, Fraser, Celina; Bonne
We say: Accrington Stanley 0-2 Ipswich Town
Ipswich have had to wait some time for their season to kick into gear and they look like they are finally on the right track.
Accrington will prove a stern test for the Blues, not least because they are currently above them in the table, yet a fourth consecutive win against the Lancashire club should be on the cards for Ipswich.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Ipswich Town win with a probability of 40.86%. A win for Accrington Stanley had a probability of 33.48% and a draw had a probability of 25.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Ipswich Town win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.74%) and 0-2 (6.85%). The likeliest Accrington Stanley win was 1-0 (8.47%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.16%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 7.8% likelihood.
