Overview
Ipswich Town will return to the Premier League after a long wait when they welcome Liverpool at home at Portman Road. The team led by coach Kieran McKenna has been promoted for two consecutive seasons. They are the fifth team to do so and the first since Southampton in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons.
However, Ipswich Town's return was marked by an extremely difficult clash against Liverpool. The Kop competed for the championship for most of last season and finished third.
However, that happened under Jurgen Klopp, who left Anfield after the 2023-2024 season ended. Arne Slot was chosen as Klopp's replacement after certain successes at Feyenoord.
For the fifth time in the last 6 seasons, Liverpool started the Premier League campaign with a match against newly promoted rookies. In the previous 4 matches, they are still unbeaten with 3 wins and 1 draw.
Liverpool are also unbeaten in opening matches for 11 consecutive seasons (8 wins, 3 draws) since losing 0-3 to West Brom in the 2012-2013 campaign. Notably, it was also Brendan Rodgers' first official match leading Liverpool in the Premier League.
Only one of The Kop's eight previous coaches won their tournament debut (4 draws, 3 losses).
Liverpool will still rely on Mohamed Salah to find goals at Portman Road. The Egyptian player is also having impressive results in the opening matches of the Premier League.
However, Ipswich's attack is also extremely formidable when only Stockport County (96) and Man City (96) scored more goals than them (92) in the top 4 divisions of England last season.
McKenna will really want to create a surprise with Ipswich against Liverpool at home. If he wins, he will be the fifth coach to defeat Liverpool in his first Premier League match.
Confrontation achievements
Liverpool have a great record at Portman Road in the Premier League. They have never lost in five encounters at this stadium (won 3, drew 2). Liverpool's last match at Portman Road was a 6-0 victory in February 2002.
Coincidentally, Ipswich's last Premier League match was against Liverpool in May 2002. It was The Kop that pushed Ipswich to relegation with a 5-0 victory.
Predict the score
According to Opta, Liverpool is considered superior in this match with a 66.2% win rate. For Ipswich, their number is very modest at 14.9%. Meanwhile, 18.9% is the possibility that the two teams will split the points.
Prediction: Ipswich 1-3 Liverpool
The match between Ipswich Town vs Liverpool takes place at 6:30 p.m. on August 17 (Vietnam time).
