Sheffield Wednesday travel to Ipswich Town in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.
Sheffield Wednesday have another tricky task on their agenda this weekend, with a trip to promotion-chasers Ipswich Town.
The Tractor Boys sit in 3rd place of the table after seeing a run of six-straight wins come to a crashing end against Cardiff City last weekend, allowing Leeds United to move up into 2nd after they beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 on the Friday.
For both Wednesday and Ipswich, this weekend’s game at Portman Road will be a very tricky one; for Wednesday, the reasons are obvious, but Ipswich will also view the Owls as a potential banana skin.
Danny Rohl‘s side have won four of their last five in the Championship and with just a point separating them and safety, they every one of their final nine games as a cup final.
Sam Parkin and Benjamin Bloom give Ipswich Town vs Sheffield Wednesday verdict
Giving their score predictions on the Championship Check-In podcast, EFL pundits Sam Parkin and Benjamin Bloom both backed Ipswich to win-to-nil.
Parkin predicted a 2-0 win for the home side and Bloom a 1-0 win, with the latter saying:
“Even with the red hot [Ike] Ugbo, I will go Ipswich 1, Wednesday 0.”
Ugbo has now scored six goals in 10 Championship outings for the Owls, but the Canadian international hasn’t score in either of his last two.
When Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday met earlier this season, Kieran McKenna’s side claimed a hard-fought 1-0 win against Xisco Munoz‘s Wednesday at Hillsborough.
If Ipswich keep a clean sheet this weekend, it’ll be their first at home in 2024, with their last coming against QPR in December.
Danny Rohl needs to exploit Ipswich’s defensive woes
Rohl will have Ian Poveda back this weekend after the Colombian was unable to play against parent club Leeds United.
And Rohl will be hoping that Poveda fresh to cause Ipswich some problems this weekend, hopefully giving Ugbo the service needed to end this two-game goal-drought.
Against an Ipswich side who’ve been shipping in goals of late; they’ve conceded nine in their last six games, Rohl should really line up to put pressure on the Ipswich backline and to trouble their goalkeeper.
Wednesday certainly have the players capable of doing that; Ugbo and Poveda, then Anthony Musaba and Djeidi Gassama who can also cause damage, with Bailey Cadamarteri able to come off the bench and keep the pressure on.
But Sheffield Wednesday need to be wary of the energy that this Ipswich Town side posses, and the potency of their front-line.
Ipswich play a very high press and can break rapidly. The Tractor Boys are also the joint-highest scorers in the league this season with Leicester, with 74 goals to their name.
So there could be goals at either end this weekend, and any kind of result here would be a huge bonus for the Owls.