Championship

On Saturday afternoon, Ipswich Town will meet Huddersfield Town with the knowledge that a draw will guarantee promotion to the Premier League.

Due to their worse goal differential than their competitors, Huddersfield is all but eliminated at a time when the Tractor Boys are poised to place second in the Championship rankings.

After seeing his team waste leads against Hull City three times the previous weekend, Kieran McKenna could have been concerned about how his Ipswich men would respond in a similar circumstance against Coventry City three days later.

Haji Wright was able to negate Kielder Moore’s first-half goal, but Cameron Burgess scored the game’s other goal to give the Tractor Boys a potentially game-changing advantage.

With one game left, Ipswich leads Leeds United, who have a superior goal differential, by three points. A point would mean that Ipswich will return to the top division after a 22-year absence.

Ipswich has a good chance of crossing the finish line. Since the end of August, McKenna’s team has won just one Championship match at Portman Road—a total of 22 games.

It is highly anticipated that Ipswich, who have only lost twice in their previous 16 second-tier games, will do well in East Anglia.

On the strength of their 1-1 draw with Birmingham City, Huddersfield may safely assume that they will play in League One in 2024–25.

André Breitenreiter’s team would have been within one point of 21st place if they had overcome Blues at John Smith’s Stadium. However, they now need to face Ipswich and work out a 15-goal swing.

The problem was not limited to Birmingham’s inability to be overcome. In their last 11 Championship games, the Terriers have only won once and have lost five times.

To their credit, Huddersfield has only lost nine of their 22 away games in the Championship this year; nevertheless, they have only triumphed three times, with most recent victory coming against Watford on February 24.

Team News

Jeremy Sarmiento might start for Ipswich again after Wes Burns had to be substituted due to a calf injury against Coventry.

McKenna might be willing to keep with the players that began the Coventry game, with Conor Chaplin and Kayden Jackson remaining on the substitutes’ bench, even though more changes are still possible.

For the home team, Janoi Donacien and Brandon Williams stay on the sidelines.

As Huddersfield looks to close off the season strong, manager Breitenreiter will make few changes to his starting eleven.

Josh Koroma might be replaced by Sorba Thomas in the one change, while players like Jonathan Hogg and Tom Lees are still sidelined due to injuries.

Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Hladky; Tuanzebe, Edmundson, Burgess, Davis; Morsy, Luongo; Hutchinson, Sarmiento, Broadhead; Moore

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Pearson, Helik, Spencer; Turton, Matos, Rduoni, Kasumu, Thomas; Healey, Ward