Ipswich Town will be looking to end a recent poor run of results as they host QPR in a Championship fixture on Saturday. Portman Road has been a fortress for Ipswich, who will be confident of claiming the upper hand over their out of sorts visitors.
Ipswich Town have not been at their best during the festive games and are winless in their last three matches. The good news is that they have only lost once in that run and also remain second in the standings six points above fast rising Southampton.
The Tractor Boys played out a 1-1 draw with leaders Leicester City last time out in the Championship. They fell behind early in the contest and laboured for much of the encounter before Jan Vestergaard’s unfortunate injury-time own goal earned them a share of the spoils.
One positive for Ipswich Town is that Portman Road remains a fortress as they have lost just once in their last 12 home matches. Kieran McKenna’s men have picked up nine wins in that run but are without a clean sheet in their last seven home matches.
QPR have been even worse during the festive games as they are winless in their last five matches. They travel to Portman Road off the back of three straight defeats and are currently in the relegation zone, five points from safety.
Rangers suffered a 2-0 defeat to Millwall in their previous Championship fixture. Despite seeing plenty of possession, they failed to truly trouble the Millwall defence and could only muster a single attempt on target throughout the encounter.
The defeat to Millwall highlights a poor record on the road for QPR, who have picked up just one win from their last nine away matches. Marti Cifuentes’ men have also suffered six defeats in that run.
How the bookies view it
The bookies have installed Ipswich Town as overwhelming favourites with a home win priced at 4/9 by Unibet. An unlikely victory for QPR is valued at 13/2 with Coral while bet365 is offering odds of 4/1 for a draw.
Head to head
QPR have a 24-22 advantage with 13 draws from 59 previous matches against Ipswich Town. However, Ipswich were victorious in the reverse fixture back in August with Conor Chaplin's second half effort giving them a 1-0 win.
Players to watch
Conor Chaplin was on target in the reverse fixture and could be worth keeping an eye on for Ipswich Town. The forward has eight Championship goals this season and is priced at 11/8 by bet365 to find the net on Saturday.
QPR will be keen to take advantage of Ipswich Town’s shaky defence and Lyndon Dykes could be the one to watch. The striker is often the furthest player forward for Rangers and is priced at 4/1 by bet365 to get on the score sheet.
Anything else catch the eye?
There have been over 3.5 goals in five of Ipswich Town’s last eight home matches and a repeat is priced at 7/4 by BetVictor. Over 2.5 goals could also be considered at 4/6 with William Hill also offering odds of 17/20 on both teams to score.
Ipswich Town are priced at minimal odds for a straight victory, so a win and over 2.5 goals could be considered at 11/10 with Coral.
This England Championship match between Ipswich Town and QPR will be played on Dec 29, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Ipswich Town vs QPR prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
Gabriel while I respect that it is tough to give opinion on every game and that you do a really brilliant job at it on a daily basis.
I think it needs noting that Ipswich’s last 3 games have been a derby against Norwich that finished 2-2 and that Ipswich dominated from start to finish and should have won.
An away fixture at what was at the time 3rd place Leeds that they lost easily after conceding 2 goals early and not recovering and a home game against a Leicester side packed full of premier league quality that they competed with on a level footing.
So not the really poor form that you mention it is in context.
One thing I would advise that you haven’t mentioned and again I know it’s difficult to have all team news is that club captain and the driving force in the team Sam Morsy is out with a one game suspension.
Although only one player he has been by far and away the teams best player this season so anyone having a bet on this one just be careful of noting the information.
I’d still go btts but I’d personally do over 2.5 goals in case it’s Qpr who score twice at 6/5 with bet365.