Key events
The teams
Ipswich Town: Scherpen, O’Shea, Diop, Greaves, Davis, Lukic, Palacios, Fatawu, Enciso, Maeda, Emersonn.
Subs: Walton, Furlong, Kipre, Ouattara, Florentino, Nunez, McAteer, Clarke, Flemming.
Liverpool: Alisson, Araujo, van Dijk, Jacquet, Kerkez, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Munoz, Isak, Gakpo.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Endo, Tsimikas, Barcola, Frimpong, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Koumas, Ngumoha.
Referee: Darren England
VAR: Nicholas Hopton
Preamble
Ipswich Town were spanked 5-2 at Old Trafford last weekend, though the bald result doesn’t tell the whole story. Gary O’Neil’s newly promoted side were giving as good as they got until Harlem Globetrotters centre-back Harry Maguire hit paydirt, after which they could be forgiven for concluding it just wasn’t going to be their day. So chalk up just over one-and-a-half satisfying performances from two for the Tractor Boys, whose opening-day win over Sunderland means they’ve already notched as many top-flight home victories this season as they did in the whole of their disastrous 2023-24 campaign. They should be feeling pretty good about themselves.
Liverpool on the other hand were borderline abysmal at Newcastle, and not much better in the first half last weekend against Nottingham Forest. Their second-half display at Anfield, plus improved overall contributions from Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz, plus the mega-money signing of Bradley Barcola, should give them succour after consecutive 2-2 draws which have made life for new boss Andoni Iraola more awkward than is strictly necessary.
Given all of the above, would a shock Ipswich win this evening really be that much of a shock? On the other hand, Liverpool have won their last four Premier League matches against Ipswich to the cumulative tune of 17-1. How much importance should be placed on a record that stretches back to the days of Abel Xavier and Emile Heskey is a moot point, but it’s something Ipswich will doubtless consider nevertheless. So this is poised rather deliciously. We’ll start finding out what’s what from 8pm BST. It’s on!
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