Ipswich Town face a run of seven games in the next 22 days
Ipswich Town are back in action after the international break, hosting Wrexham at Portman Road this afternoon (3pm). Alex Jones previews the action.
Kieran McKenna is pleased to have a lengthy run of games after the November international break (Image: Ross Halls)
A CLEAR RUN
We’re back from the break and it feels good. Despite the clamour to get back to club football, it should be said that this has been a pretty good international break for Town stars.
Dara O’Shea got Cristiano Ronaldo sent off as the Republic of Ireland beat Portugal 2-0. They then went on to secure a World Cup play-off spot by beating Hungary 3-2 away from home, with ex-Town loanee Troy Parrott scoring with the last kick of the game to wrap up a hat-trick. Jack Taylor and Chieo Ogbene were also involved.
Elsewhere, a dramatic period of stoppage time saw Scotland score twice against Denmark to guarantee their place at next summer’s tournament, although George Hirst was an unused substitute.
Sindre Walle Egeli bagged two goals for Norway Under-21s in Euro U21 qualifying, leading to further comparisons with Erling Haaland in the Norwegian press, while Marcelino Nunez played twice for Chile in Russia.
And now we’ve got a clear run of Championship games through until March – 25 of them, in fact, starting with the visit of Wrexham. Ipswich have only ever played them once, which was away from home in the FA Cup third round back in 1995, losing 2-1.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have overseen three successive promotions as Wrexham owners (Image: PA)
WREXHAM UNDER ROB AND RYAN
Wrexham’s remarkable rise has been well documented – literally, in the form of a television series on Disney+.
Facing various financial issues, they dropped out of the Football League back in 2008, finding themselves stuck in the National League for over a decade. In that time, they finished no higher than fourth, with many campaigns languishing in mid-table.
But that all changed in November 2020, when Hollywood actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds completed their takeover. They finished eighth in 2020/21, sacking manager Dean Keates and bringing in Phil Parkinson as his replacement. They ended up in second place behind Stockport County, but they lost to Grimsby Town in the play-offs.
The Red Dragons did eventually lift the fifth-tier title in 2022/23, returning to League Two, where they bagged another promotion by finishing second, taking them up to League One, where they were expected to find life a bit harder.
But they didn’t, ending up second again behind Birmingham City, completing three consecutive promotions to rise up from non-league to just one level below the Premier League.
The finances behind their journey cannot be ignored, but nor can the remarkable job that Parkinson and his players have done. They now find themselves competing with relegated top-flight sides like Ipswich, Leicester City and Southampton, having played against the likes of Dorking Wanderers, Eastleigh, Maidstone United and Wealdstone as recently as four seasons ago.
Wrexham sit four points off the play-offs after 15 games
RED DRAGONS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP
All eyes are on whether or not Wrexham can achieve what would seem impossible – four back-to-back promotions to go from the National League to the Premier League. At the moment, it seems unlikely.
Their financial muscle has seen them gain the upper hand on teams in non-league and League Two, and they used that momentum to carry themselves out of League One as well. But the Championship is a different beast, and the Red Dragons have found that out the hard way at the start of the campaign.
They were stunned by two late goals away at Southampton on opening day to lose, with their first match at the Racecourse Ground ending in a 3-2 defeat to West Brom. They were expected to beat struggling Sheffield Wednesday but couldn’t get over the line, letting a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2.
They did manage to build some consistency, beating Millwall and Norwich City away from home either side of a home defeat to QPR. That was followed by three successive draws against Derby County, Leicester City and Birmingham, as well as a defeat at Stoke, but they bounced back with their first home win of the season by seeing off Oxford United.
Having drawn at Middlesbrough before an embarrassing Carabao Cup exit at home to Welsh rivals Cardiff City, Wrexham come into the trip to Portman Road unbeaten in three games, ending Coventry City’s unbeaten run to topple them 3-2, then drawing 0-0 at Portsmouth and edging out Charlton Athletic 1-0.
It leaves them 13th in the table but in positive spirits. Despite slim promotion odds, they sit just four points off the play-offs, and with new players continuing to gel, they will expect to improve as the season goes on.
They will be without Manchester City loanee Issa Kabore today, however. He returned to his parent club for treatment on his hamstring, which will keep him out for at least six weeks.
He joins a lengthy injury list that includes Andy Cannon [ACL], Danny Ward [elbow], Jay Rodriguez [ankle], Lewis Brunt [thigh] and Elliott Lee [knee]. Liberato Cacace and Kieffer Moore are being monitored ahead of the game but Ollie Rathbone has suffered a setback in his recovery.
Possible Wrexham XI: 3-5-1-1: Okonkwo; Cleworth, Scarr, Hyam; Barnett, Sheaf, Dobson, O’Brien, Cacace; Windass; Moore
Kieffer Moore and Nathan Broadhead both had successful stints at Portman Road
Wrexham aren’t a big fish in the Championship, but they have been able to use their appeal as a club to bring in big names – even coming close to landing Christian Eriksen over the summer.
While the dynamic Dane ultimately opted for the Bundesliga instead, the Red Dragons were still able to recruit well. Danny Ward, Lewis O’Brien, Conor Coady, Callum Doyle, Ben Sheaf and Dominic Hyam all arrived with Championship experience.
Manchester City loanee Kabore played in the Premier League for Luton Town, while New Zealand left-back Cacace has come in off the back of a campaign in Serie A with Empoli.
But from an Ipswich perspective, there are two players to watch out for. The first is Kieffer Moore, who had two spells at Town – most recently on loan in the second half of 2023/24, where he bagged seven goals in 18 games to help them earn promotion to the Premier League.
He left parent club Bournemouth that summer to sign for Sheffield United, where he notched six in 30, but notoriously made a mistake at Wembley that gifted Sunderland a last-gasp winner in the play-off final to secure promotion over the Blades.
He has started fresh from the start at Wrexham and is in fine form – nine goals and one assist in just 17 matches in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Coventry where he bullied fellow ex-Blue Luke Woolfenden. Nursing a hamstring issue, it remains to be seen whether he’ll be fit to feature at Portman Road.
Nathan Broadhead will likely play a part, having made his £7.5m move from Ipswich to Wrexham towards the end of the summer. Kieran McKenna was keen to keep him, but he was desperate to return to his boyhood club after helping Town secure back-to-back promotions before being given limited minutes in the Premier League.
He hasn’t been a regular at Wrexham – just three starts so far, with nine cameos, but he does have two goals to his name. He will carry some momentum into the game against his former club, having scored in Wales’ thrashing of North Macedonia after having a goal ruled out by VAR against Liechtenstein a few days earlier.
Should they play, both men will surely receive a warm welcome from Ipswich fans, particularly Broadhead.
Jaden Philogene will look to return to Town’s starting lineup (Image: Ross Halls)
WHO COULD START?
Rotation will be key in the next few weeks. After this game, Town have three late kick-offs in a row, all away from home in the space of a week, with a lot of travel involved. Once that’s out of the way, it’s home games against early challengers Coventry and Stoke, followed by a trip to Leicester. A brutal run of seven games in 22 days.
Christian Walton will continue in goal, at least until Alex Palmer returns to fitness, and perhaps beyond if he continues to play well. Darnell Furlong and Leif Davis will likely take up the full-back roles, with skipper O’Shea in the middle alongside Jacob Greaves or Cedric Kipre.
That’s a tough one to call, but I’d expect it to be Greaves, who started against Swansea City before the international break.
Azor Matusiwa will make the XI, but who will play alongside him? Taylor is the man in form, but he has been away on international duty. I reckon McKenna could turn to Cajuste, who will have trained day in, day out during the break.
Taylor will get more than enough minutes in the next fortnight, although I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see him start against Wrexham given his impressive performances of late.
Ahead of them, I can see Sindre Walle Egeli and Jaden Philogene coming in for Jack Clarke and Kasey McAteer on the flanks. Given that Nunez has been away in Russia playing for Chile, I expect Chuba Akpom to be given another shot as no.10.
Hirst has also been away on international duty, but hardly played for Scotland, so he should have no problems to lead the line, with Azon coming off the bench.
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