Ipswich Town vs Brighton Prediction: Defensive Game

Ipswich Town and Brighton & Hove Albion will meet at Portman Road in the top flight for the first time in four decades when they go head-to-head on Thursday evening.

The two clubs drew 0-0 in the first leg earlier in the season, but they have not faced each other at this venue in the top flight since a 2-0 win for Ipswich in January 1983.

Latest Ipswich Town vs Brighton team information

Ipswich will be without key player Omari Hutchinson for the next two games after suffering a groin injury last week, forcing him to miss the FA Cup tie with Bristol Rovers.

Sammie Szmodics has scored some important goals for Ipswich this season, opening the scoring on four separate occasions, but he is expected to miss out with McKenna revealing that his foot is in a protective boot at the moment to help with an ankle problem.

Chiedozie Ogbene is out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, and Conor Chaplin and Axel Tuanzebe are the hosts' other injury absentees, with neither expected to return for several weeks.

No Premier League team is dealing with as many injuries as Brighton at the moment, and Joao Pedro joined that list this week after spraining his ankle in training, leaving him a doubt for the next few games.

Defensive duo Lewis Dunk and Tariq Lamptey could return after suffering injuries and illnesses respectively, while attacking pair Georginio Rutter and Yankuba Minteh will be assessed ahead of the game after picking up minor knocks at Norwich.

Jack Hinshelwood is also edging closer to a return, but this game would come too soon for the likes of Ferdi Kadioglu, James Milner and perhaps Diego Gomez, who is still building up his fitness after arriving from Inter Miami.

Ipswich Town vs Brighton latest predicted lineup

Ipswich Town:

Walton; Johnson, O'Shea, Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis; Morsy, Cajuste; Broadhead, Delap, J Clarke

Brighton & Hove Albion:

Verbruggen; Veltman, Dunk, Van Hecke, Estupinan; Baleba, Ayari; Gruda, Enciso, Mitoma; Welbeck

Latest football commentary Ipswich Town vs Brighton

All of Ipswich's Christmas dreams appear to be coming true at the moment, with Kieran McKenna's men now on course to move out of the bottom three.

Four points and four goals in their last two Premier League games are as many as they had picked up in their previous seven, putting them level on points with Wolves in 17th.

After a narrow defeat at the Emirates to Arsenal on Boxing Day, Ipswich then beat Chelsea 2-0 at Portman Road to end 2024, and they almost had a dream start to the new year away to Fulham.

Only two penalties denied them victory at Craven Cottage, with an injury-time goal from Raul Jimenez forcing a draw, after Liam Delap had put them ahead for a second time.

Those four points took the Tractor Boys above Leicester City and put Everton back in trouble, just a point further back.

McKenna's side have been efficient in their return to the top flight, averaging just 6.1 shots per game from open play, but still averaging a goal per game so far.

Home form was a major concern in the early stages of the season, but after picking up their first win in 10 games against Chelsea, they followed it up with another win over Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup on Sunday.

Next up for the hosts are Brighton, who have become draw specialists in the Premier League this season and could only manage a 0-0 draw in this fixture back in September.

Those draws have continued to pile up for the Seagulls in recent weeks, with their last four league games all ending in draws.

A Premier League side has not drawn five consecutive league games since Fulham in 2020-21, and the last time Brighton did so, they were a fourth-tier club in 2000.

At least the FA Cup gave Brighton the chance to get a win on the board, and they succeeded, beating Championship side Norwich City 4-0 at Carrow Road on Saturday, despite plenty of rotation from Fabian Hurzeler.

Brighton will return to East Anglia once again to face Norwich's arch-rivals in this Premier League fixture, hoping for a similar result, and to end the worrying statistic that Hurzeler's side have yet to beat any of the bottom four this season.

The drop in points has left Brighton in 10th place, eight points off the top four and six off the top six, with a mid-table finish now looking likely after showing signs of European qualification early in the campaign.

However, the visitors have played well in their last two league games, holding Arsenal to a draw at the Amex, after also denying Aston Villa three points at home.

Ipswich Town vs Brighton score prediction

Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the following results for the Ipswich Town vs Brighton match:

• Sportsmole: Ipswich Town 1-1 Brighton

• WhoScore: Ipswich Town 1-2 Brighton
• Our prediction: Ipswich Town 1-1 Brighton

When and where to watch Ipswich Town vs Brighton live?

To watch live the match Ipswich Town vs Brighton in the Premier League taking place at 2:30 on January 17, viewers can watch on K+ Sport, K+PM or online sports channels. Wish you all have fun watching football.

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