Supercomputer predicts exactly where Ipswich Town will finish in table come May | OneFootball

Opta's supercomputer has predicted here Ipswich Town will finish in the Championship this season, but Tractor Boys supporters may not like it.

It is fair to say it has been a mixed start to life back in the Championship for Ipswich Town.

After relegation from the Premier League last season, Ipswich lost a host of key players in the summer transfer window, with the likes of Axel Tuanzebe, Cameron Burgess, Sam Morsy, Omari Hutchinson, Nathan Broadhead and Liam Delap all departing Portman Road.

However, after a summer spending spree that saw the arrival of a number of big-money signings, including Darnell Furlong, Azor Matusiwa, Marcelino Nunez, Kasey McAteer and Sindre Walle Egeli, as well as the high-profile loan additions of Cedric Kipre, Jens Cajuste, Chuba Akpom and Ivan Azon, the Tractor Boys were widely tipped to win the Championship title this season.

Amid the transfer window upheaval, Ipswich made a slow start to the season as they failed to win any of their first four games, and while their form has improved since then, they have not quite hit the heights many expected just yet.

The Tractor Boys currently sit fifth in the table, but they are eight points behind second-placed Middlesbrough and 13 points behind leaders Coventry City, meaning the festive period will be crucial if they are to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.

Supercomputer predicts where Ipswich Town will finish in the Championship this season

With over half of the Championship season remaining, there is still plenty that could change in the battle for promotion, but Opta Analyst has predicted where each team will finish come the end of the campaign.

According to their supercomputer, Ipswich will finish third in the table this season with a total of 74 points, which would mean they would miss out on automatic promotion by quite some distance, with second-placed Middlesbrough accumulating 82 points and champions Coventry racking up a huge 92 points.

Opta claim that the Tractor Boys have just a 1.98% chance of winning the title this season and only a 15.74% chance of achieving automatic promotion, but there is some better news for Kieran McKenna's men, who are given a 54.46% probability of securing promotion through the play-offs.

If this table is correct, Ipswich would take on sixth-placed Leicester City in their play-off semi-final before facing either Preston North End or Millwall in the final at Wembley, where they would be the favourites.

Given that the club's lofty ambitions this season are no secret, the Tractor Boys may be disappointed by their predicted third-placed finish, but supporters will no doubt be delighted to see that the supercomputer has forecasted that their bitter rivals, Norwich City, will be relegated to League One, with the Canaries projected to finish second-bottom on just 47 points.

Ipswich Town must improve one thing to prove supercomputer prediction wrong

Ipswich arguably have the most talented squad in the Championship on paper, but a lack of consistency has held them back from making a serious push for automatic promotion so far this season.

The Tractor Boys' indifferent start to the season was understandable given that they were still active in the transfer market right until the end of the window, but supporters may have expected to see greater improvements than they have made in the subsequent months.

Ipswich have had plenty of standout moments this season, including the 5-0 demolition of Sheffield United in September, the 3-1 victory over Norwich in the East Anglian derby in October and the recent 3-0 win over leaders Coventry, but all too often, they have failed to back up those statement results.

After back-to-back home victories over Coventry and Stoke City, the Tractor Boys were beaten 3-1 at Leicester City on Saturday in a performance that was littered with costly mistakes, and that kind of display would have been a big frustration for McKenna, particularly as it had looked as though his side were building momentum.

However, while Opta may not rate Ipswich's chances of automatic promotion at this stage, the depth of their squad and their previous promotion experience could prove decisive in the second half of the season if they can find more consistency.