Ipswich Town vs Manchester City

Downtrodden Premier League champions Manchester City take a must-win trip to Portman Road to take on relegation-battling Ipswich Town.

After a spectacular 2-0 triumph against Chelsea to round off 2024 at Portman Road, Ipswich Town wasted a decent chance to post back-to-back home wins in the Premier League for the first time since 2002 as Brighton toppled them 2-0 during midweek. It was Ipswich’s third scoring blank across their last five league outings, hence the club’s decision to splash the cash on the acquisition of prodigious winger Jaden Philogene from Aston Villa earlier this week. Philogene’s arrival is supposed to address the Tractor Boys’ shortcomings in the front third after they scored the division’s third-lowest 20 goals at the end of the last round. It’s also worth noting that they’ve lost four of their five home league matches since the start of December (W1), netting just once on those four occasions.

In the meantime, Manchester City’s woeful title-defending campaign suffered another setback a few days ago as Brentford hauled back a two-goal deficit beyond the 80th minute to hold the four-time consecutive Premier League champions to a 2-2 draw. After relinquishing a three-game winning streak in domestic action, Pep Guardiola’s side can’t afford another slip-up, considering they already trail fourth-placed Newcastle United by three points. Worryingly for one of the world’s most decorated managers, the Citizens have emerged victorious from just one of their last seven Premier League games on the road (D2, L4). Confidence stems from Man City’s formidable run of 20 victories from their  21 top-flight encounters against newly promoted sides (D1) since April 2021!