Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has been impressed by Championship leaders Coventry City
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna believes that Coventry City deserve their place at the top of the Championship table ahead of tonight’s clash at the CBS Arena (6pm).
The Sky Blues benefited from Boxing Day, as they beat Swansea City 1-0 while the four teams below them – Middlesbrough, Town, Hull City and Preston North End – all ended up dropping points with draws.
That leaves Frank Lampard’s side sitting eight points clear of second and 13 points clear of the Blues in third, giving them a big opportunity to go on and secure promotion to the Premier League.
Frank Lampard’s Sky Blues are the runaway league leaders
“They are doing a really good job,” McKenna said.
“I think they have deserved to be in the position that they have been in so far, picking up lots of points. They have done a really good job.
“We faced them not long ago, we know they are a really tough side – especially at home – so it’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
Ipswich have won the last four meetings between the two sides, most recently beating Coventry 3-0 at Portman Road at the start of the month, thanks to goals from Sindre Walle Egeli, George Hirst and Ivan Azon.
McKenna, however, won’t let that result impact his team’s mindset going into the crunch clash in the West Midlands.
Town beat the Sky Blues 3-0 at Portman Road earlier this month
“We certainly can’t be stupid enough to take anything for granted or lessen our expectations of the challenge because of that,” he argued. “We believe that we can be a really good side.
“On the day, we got the first goal after a really, really tight first half. If we do that and an opponent comes and opens more spaces against us, we know we can be a big threat.
“We were really clinical on that day. Some other days, we haven’t been. In that game, we were much more clinical and that’s what got us the three points.
“I think both games will watch the game back, try to pick up this or that, but the flow of the game can be really different. We need to be ready to face a tough side.”
Speaking after the 0-0 draw at Millwall on Friday, McKenna admitted that he was unsure on whether Sam Szmodics [illness] would be able to play a part in the game. George Hirst [groin] is the only other absentee in the squad, with Wes Burns back and ready to contribute after coming off the bench late at The Den.
Does that mean Ipswich will look to shuffle the pack tonight?
“We’ll see,” McKenna replied. “I think that, across the four games, there will certainly have to be changes. Four games in a really short space of time.
“What we do for Monday night, we’re not planning too far ahead at the moment, with the challenges and the games we’ve had. We’ll see how the boys recover and get ready for Monday.”
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