Leicester City vs Ipswich Town tips and predictions: One goal enough as Foxes edge Tractor Boys
- George Dempsey
- 21 January 2024
Championship leaders Leicester City will welcome an Ipswich Town side looking to reclaim second place on Monday Night Football (2000 GMT).
Leicester City can maintain their 10-point lead at the top of the Championship with a win on Monday night but surprise package Ipswich Town stand in their way.
The Foxes were dealt a minor setback in their pursuit of the title last time out, conceding three goals in the final 11 minutes to lose 3-1 away to Coventry.
On the other hand, Ipswich can reclaim second place and alleviate some of the pressure applied by Southampton and Leeds United over the weekend.
Southampton blew Swansea away to move ahead of the Tractor Boys on goal difference while Leeds made their dominance pay with a 94th-minute winner against Preston.
While the Foxes’ pace has rarely relented since the season began, the air of invincibility around Kieran McKenna’s side has dissipated a little.
Leeds demolished them 4-0 at Elland Road just a week after foe Norwich held them to a 2-2 draw. Overall, they went on a winless run of five matches.
Although they did exploit a Southampton side in transition 1-0 early in the season, the one thing missing is a complete away performance against a top team.
That may sound like a particularly harsh criticism in the context of the season, but it’s worth noting when they’re being tasked with beating the best team in the league on their patch.
Equally, we can say that Leicester have beaten Coventry 2-1 in fortunate fashion, lost to Leeds and Hull and have yet to host the others in the top eight.
Town’s measured approach to away games isn’t too dissimilar to how Hull and Leeds approached Leicester in their victories.
However, the decisive factor here could be the team news. The visitors will be without their tough-tackling midfield duo of Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo.
They’re arguably crucial to being able to go toe to toe with Leicester’s midfield and win individual battles.
McKenna’s tactical brilliance will ask questions of the hosts but we think Leicester will have too much attacking quality that Ipswich don't necessarily have the personnel to contain.
We also want to take the opportunity to back such an attractive price on Leicester as a home team because it's a rarity.
