Ramsdale’s absence was felt last week. That being said, let’s hope that the shot-stopper marks his return with a statement performance.

LB – Ryan Manning.

Manning must start as his crosses could give Southampton the lead, again.

CB – Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

A defensive change is needed but Harwood-Bellis will still be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Ivan Juric must drop Bree and pair Bednarek alongside Harwood-Bellis. Also, the 28-year-old will want to score in the third consecutive game as well.

Without a doubt, the best fullback in Southampton’s squad. Further, he has stepped up his defensive efforts recently.

Being fit, Sulemana must hit the ground running straightaway. Notably, his partnership with Manning could help unlock the Ipswich defence.

Aribo will start again but with only four defenders, could be given a more defensive role.

CM – Lesley Ugochukwu.

Visibly exhausted last week against Newcastle. Having a week’s time, should be back to his best form.

RM – Albert Gronbaek.

In all honesty, Gronbaek holds the key to Juric’s midfield problems. The winger should be given the freedom to anchor Southampton’s attack.

CF – Mateus Fernandes.

Sparks energy and vibrancy up front. Also, playing centrally would allow him to take more shots on goal.

ST – Paul Onuachu.

Rushing Tyler Dibling from his injury wouldn’t be a wise idea. As a result, Juric must retain his faith in Onuachu to deliver the goals once again.

Kieran McKenna says his gut feeling is that there won’t be any more ins or outs at Ipswich Town before the transfer window shuts at 11pm on Monday.

The Blues have signed defender Ben Godfrey (Atalanta, loan), winger Jaden Philogene (Aston Villa, £20m) and attacker Julio Enciso (Brighton, loan) so far this month.

It’s been reported nationally that the club still wants to add a midfielder, winger and striker in the coming days, but McKenna poured cold water on those claims at this afternoon’s press conference.

“If you ask what my gut feeling is, it’s that the squad is there or thereabouts of what it’s going to be,” said the Blues boss, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s crunch clash with Southampton at Portman Road.

“That doesn’t mean the club isn’t working very, very hard on different situations to see if there’s an area we can improve.

“But, yeah, at the moment my feeling and my focus is that the players we have here are going to be what we go through to the end of the season with and compete with.”0:00

“But we have good depth in the squad and other players who can fill the role in other ways with different qualities.

“We’re not going to make any panicked decisions in the transfer market. If there are players that can really help us and improve us then we’ll look to do it, but we’re not going to add numbers just for the sake of cover.”

On reports suggesting there’s interest in Luke Woolfenden (Sheffield United) and Conor Chaplin (Stoke), he said: “Has there? I’ve not seen that. Where’s Chappers going? News to me.

“I wouldn’t expect there to be any more outgoings, to be honest. In football you can never say never, but I wouldn’t expect there to be any more.”

Asked if he felt the club had done enough in this transfer window to be fully prepared for the Premier League relegation fight ahead, McKenna replied: “I don’t think you’ll ever feel like you’ve done enough, as such.

“Look, we’ve tried to improve our squad. The three players we’ve brought in we feel certainly improve the squad.

“Jaden (Philogene) is someone we will can have a long-term impact at the club. Julio (Enciso) and Ben (Godfrey) are two players, even though Julio is young, who have more Premier League experience and who can help the squad for now.

“We’re in a better position than we were at the first of January.

“Of course we want the squad to be a strong as possible. In an ideal world there could have been one or two more pieces of movement.

“But it’s a really difficult window, especially as a club in our position that’s had the climb we’ve had.

“We’ve added three. If that’s the end of it then we’ll crack on with what we’ve got and fight until the end of the season. If we can make any additions that bring us to another level then we’ll try and do so.”

Ipswich Town are working to sign a new international forward before Monday evening’s transfer deadline.

Ipswich Town’s January signings so far

The Tractor Boys have been busy so far in 2025, adding a number of new players to Kieran McKenna’s squad as they look to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

“We’ll have to wait and see. Look, we’ll go to the last day and try to improve the squad in any way possible. We have enough depth in the squad. It’s only if we can add players who we think can have a really big impact on the starting 11 or the matchday squad and improve us over the remaining games. If we can do that, we’ll do it. If that’s not possible we have good depth, everyone’s on board and everyone’s hungry.

“When you do your best you can only ever be satisfied. We worked hard in the summer, we’re working hard now and we worked hard in between to try and improve the squad as much as we can.

“That’s really, really hard to do when you’re a club that’s come from where we’ve come from. It’s a real challenge and balancing act in so many different things.

“We’ve got ourselves into a position where we have good depth, a good mix of qualities throughout the squad and a group of players desperate to do well. That’s a pretty good place to be.”

They have been linked with Sheffield United youngster Ryan One in recent days, but a new experienced target has emerged.

Ipswich Town working to sign striker Bayo

According to reports in France, Ipswich Town are making a move to sign Lille striker Mohamed Bayo before February 3. The report states that Ipswich have made concrete steps to sign Bayo, as have Turkish side Besiktas, with a decision to be made on his future very soon.

Bayo is reportedly expected to leave Lille before the deadline, and a move to England with Ipswich appears to be possible.

The 26-year-old is a Guinea international and has spent his entire club career in France, coming through at Clermont Foot before his move to Lille in 2022.

In total, Bayo has scored 76 career goals for club and country and is under contract with Lille until 2027, so it will be interesting to see what kind of fee the forward may move for.

Transfermarkt value the striker at just €4m, so perhaps Ipswich could land the attacker for a similar sum, making this one to watch.

Bangkok Heightz, a well-established Thai restaurant located in Orwell Place, has reduced its asking price as owners seek a buyer for the business.

The big picture: The restaurant, which specialises in authentic Thai cuisine, has built a strong reputation in the town centre, earning a 4.5-star rating on both Tripadvisor and Google Reviews.

The details: The business operates as both a restaurant and takeaway, with a licensed bar serving fresh coffee and alcoholic beverages during opening hours. The owners pride themselves on using “high-quality ingredients” and preparing all dishes without MSG (monosodium glutamate).

The opportunity: Located in the heart of Ipswich, the establishment is being marketed as a turnkey business opportunity by agents Gilbert & Rose. The sales listing describes it as a “highly popular” venue with a loyal customer base and potential for future growth.

The bottom line: Interested buyers can request turnover figures through the agent, with the business now available at an asking price of £39,995.We can’t do this without you!

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We publish the stories that matter and champion everything that’s good about our town – without the ads, popups or tracking31 January, 2025

A motorcyclist in his 60s has been hospitalised with serious injuries following a collision with a car on the A1071 in Burstall, near Ipswich.

The East of England Ambulance Service called police to the junction with Hadleigh Road at approximately 14:45 on Wednesday, January 29, after reports of a collision involving a silver Mercedes and a green Kawasaki motorbike.

The motorcyclist was initially taken to West Suffolk Hospital before being transferred to Addenbrooke’s for treatment.

Suffolk Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident. Anyone who saw the collision or has dash cam footage from before the incident should contact the Roads and Armed Policing Team at Police Headquarters, quoting reference 37/5390/25.

Southampton fans, January is finally over. Honestly, this month was a testing period for Southampton both on and off the pitch.

Looking at the Premier League, the situation hasn’t changed differently. As a matter of fact, the Saints lost all four of their scheduled Premier League games.

Considering the opponents they have faced, Southampton were held back due to a challenging fixture list. Nevertheless, the club might be on to some relatively easier hurdles now.

Tomorrow, Southampton will kickoff February with an away visit to Ipswich Town. The Tractor boys have also witnessed the hardships of the Premier League similar to the Saints, accompanying them at 19th place.

Unfortunately, the actual Premier League story is significantly different than expected. Ipswich have taken four points from their previous five games and have opened a ten point lead over Southampton.

Safe to say, Southampton will want to be in Ipswich’s shoes at the moment. However, these results are the compounded efforts of great squad planning in the preseason.

Kieran McKenna led Ipswich Town boast of consistent players like Arijanet Muric, Dara O’Shea and Sammie Szmodics. Add to them, the talents of Liam Delap, Omari Hutchinson and Julio Enciso, Ipswich is clearly a force to reckon with.

Southampton also agrees with it having experienced their competitiveness earlier. The two sides met at St. Mary’s where Ipswich Town scored a late equaliser to split points in the Premier League.

Interestingly, Tyler Dibling bagged his first Southampton goal in that game. As people say, time flies quickly, Dibling is expectedly on the brink of a massive transfer away from Southampton.

Coming to the head-to-head records, Ipswich Town has dominated this statistic in recent years. According to AiScore, Southampton have twice ended on the losing side in their previous three clashes.

Optimistically, all three matches have been largely balanced thus, Southampton does stand a chance to win. Let’s wait and watch to see whether it happens.

The 26-year-old started in the Champions League for Les Dogues on Wednesday night, playing 63 minutes of the 6-1 victory over Feyenoord.

The Tractor Boys have been less successful in the Premier League recently, suffering a 4-1 thrashing at the home of Liverpool last weekend.

Bayo is currently playing second fiddle to leading marksman Jonathan David at Lille, with the Canadian attacker one of Ligue 1’s top players.

As a result, the 26-time Guinea international has started just four matches in the French top flight so far this term, totalling 305 minutes of Ligue 1 football.

According to French publication L’Equipe, Lille attacker Bayo is expected to leave Decathlon Arena before the conclusion of the winter transfer window.

The report claims that the 26-year-old has attracted interest from the Belgian Pro League, with Royal Antwerp considering a swoop for his services.

However, the Belgian club are set to struggle to lure Bayo the club, given that both Ipswich and Besiktas have entered the race for the attacker.

It is understood that the Tractor Boys and the Turkish giants have made ‘concrete steps’ as they pursue the striker before the winter deadline.

Despite being contracted to the club until 2027, Bayo is fully expected to depart Lille this month, with the player set to decide on his next team ‘in the coming hours’.

Sitting just a point behind Leicester City in 17th, Ipswich still possess realistic ambitions of avoiding relegation to the Championship this season.

Key in the Tractor Boys’ scrap for survival so far, Liam Delap leads the club’s Golden Boot race with eight strikes across 22 Premier League contests.

The 21-year-old’s performances have failed to go unnoticed, with Manchester United supposedly shortlisting the striker as a potential Old Trafford arrival this month.

As a result, it is natural to question whether Ipswich’s late swoop for Bayo could be in response to the possible departure of Delap from Portman Road.

Martin Allen has urged West Ham to go after Ipswich Town star Liam Delap after missing out on Jhon Duran.

The Hammers tabled a £57million bid for the Colombia international which was turned down by Aston Villa almost immediately [David Ornstein].

Despite Unai Emery’s side showing a desire to keep the 21-year-old, the striker now looks to be on his way to Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Nassr [L’Equipe].

After failing to sign Duran this winter, former Irons midfielder Allen has urged Graham Potter to make an even bigger bid for Delap before the window slams shut on 3 February.

Speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, Allen said: “If West Ham have bid £57m for Duran, I would definitely bid £60m for Delap and test the waters with Ipswich to see if there is a deal to be done.

“I would definitely take him, I think he’s a really good player, for me he is on the way up and there is a lot more to see.

“I think he’d be a really good signing, definitely.“

The England under-21 international has been one of the shining lights for the Tractor Boys so far this campaign, despite Kieran McKenna’s side sitting 19th in the Premier League.

As a result, the 21-year-old has piqued the interest of various suitors and the Hammers could prove to be an ideal destination for the striker.

A move to the London Stadium could benefit the former Manchester City youngster as the Irons look for a first-team-ready striker after injuries to Niclas Fullkrug and Michail Antonio.

It would be interesting to see how much Ipswich could demand for their star man but after showing some financial muscle with the Duran bid, the Irons could flex that to the newly promoted club before the 3 February transfer deadline.