PREVIEW | Ipswich Town vs Southampton - team news, lineups, predictions

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·15 agosto 2025

PREVIEW | Ipswich Town vs Southampton - team news, lineups, predictions

Ipswich Town host Southampton this Sunday at Portman Road in the EFL Championship, with kick-off at 12:00 and live coverage on Sky Sports Football.

Kieran McKenna's team kicked off their 2025/26 campaign with a 1-1 draw away at Birmingham City, snatching a point late on thanks to George Hirst’s penalty.

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Southampton make the trip looking to notch up three consecutive wins for the first time since April 2024. That said, their recent victories over Wrexham and Northampton in the Carabao Cup didn’t exactly set the world alight.

The last meeting between the two teams ended with Southampton winning 2-1.

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Adam Wilkin (Blue Monday): It's been a stuttering start to the season for Town having scraped a draw against fellow promotion favourites Birmingham and suffered yet another early cup exit to lower league opposition on Tuesday.

Connections between players are still building, patterns of play are still being worked on and worked out and there's internal turmoil with Omari Hutchinson refusing to play for the club to force a move. All of this means it's not the ideal time to play another promotion favourite, particularly one who has gone two from two.

I said at the start of the season i'd be happy with 9 points from the first five games and that still stands. Portman Road has only seen one win this calendar year (3-0 v Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup) and I think it'll have to wait a little longer. I'm going for a 2-2 draw.

Prediction: 2-2

Joe Adamson (TheStatsSaint): Ipswich vs Southampton has proven to be the home of absolute corkers over the last few years, with the famous 3-2 Ipswich win, featuring two late goals, cementing themselves as the favourite for automatic promotion, the most famous tie.

Will this drama happen again? Maybe not in the same vein, but it's guaranteed to be a great watch nonetheless. Both teams enter this match with lots of baggage from the Premier League season. Ipswich have lost much of their quality in attack, losing Liam Delap, Omari Hutchinson and most recently Nathan Broadhead to Wrexham.

Whereas Saints benefit from a deeper squad, from those established Premier League years, but it's filled with lots of players who either do not want to be there or are not up to the standard. This could be an advantage for Southampton, or a poisoned Chalice.

However, both teams know what's at stake. Ipswich and Southampton are the bookies' favourites for the Championship title, and it's the definition of a promotion six-pointer even if it's only on the second matchday. Whoever wins has the chance to create a gap between the teams this early in the year, and with Ipswich stumbling to a 1-1 draw against Birmingham, they need a morale booster.

Injury Update:

Tyler Dibling has been reintegrated into first-team training, and Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Charlie Taylor have recovered from their respective injuries. Lots of transfer speculation has surrounded Tyler, but with Everton threatening to walk away, it appears Southampton are re-integrating him for the crucial Ipswich match.

For Ipswich, new signings Chuka Akpom and Jens Cajuste won't be ready for the Southampton game, which is a blow to the Tractor Boys. Still, they arguably have the strongest XI in the division. Who's your favourite to win?

Prediction: 1-2