Aston Villa have gradually moved themselves into the higher bracket of clubs in the Premier League. They probably aren’t quite at the level of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool in terms of expecting to challenge for the title, but they’re now in their second season in succession playing in European competition; the UEFA Champions League this time around. Therefore, they will hold strong expectations of claiming all three points versus an Ipswich side yet to win all season. Town have already lost to Man City and Liverpool, and Villa is another stern assignment for them to negotiate. Also, they take on a club that has won all-league clashes this season, with the exception of a home encounter with Arsenal. Another tick in the column for the visitors is the fact they have a 100% winning record in Premier League away contests this season, winning three in a row for the second time this year. None of those have been easy victories but under Unai Emery, they’ve developed a habit of getting the job done. Considering the hectic schedule they have now and into the near future, they’ll need those qualities to get over the line when tiredness is a factor. Villa will also be encouraged knowing Ipswich have one of the worst xGA figures in the division, meaning their talented forward-thinking players should get plenty of chances to score, which obviously boosts their chances of winning the match.

With the exception of their 0-0 away draw at Brighton, goals have tended to follow Ipswich this season. They would start the season with two of the hardest fixtures possible when playing Liverpool and Manchester City home and away respectively, and these alone would average 3.50 goals per match. Then when taking into account all of their encounters this season in all competitions it reads exactly 2.50 per game. Even in that mentioned 0-0 against The Seagulls, the combined xGF on the day read 2.01. This contest was also the only one involving Ipswich that failed to contain a minimum of two goals in league and cup this season. Goals have also been the name of the game when Aston Villa are involved in Premier League action. Emery’s side have seen four of their five league meetings surpass 2.5 goals; averaging 3.40 to be exact. For all that The Villans are a team considered to be hard to beat, the reality is that they’re still searching for their maiden league clean sheet of the campaign. That, in turn, will afford some hope to Sunday’s home side, but generally, the UEFA Champions League club tends to be able to overcome such setbacks. Both of their two away league battles in 2024/25 has seen them win by a 2-1 score, and a repeat would be no surprise whatsoever.

As already mentioned, Aston Villa are yet to claim a Premier League clean sheet this season, despite only suffering one defeat. In fact, winless Ipswich actually have more shutouts to their name, albeit only one and rather fortunately so. Nevertheless, it shows that Villa will take some chances here, certainly when building from the back and the home side could easily excel on such occasions and get chances to score. That being said, the situation being the other way around is also a big positive for the away side to threaten the goal, too. Even last season, the Villa Park club may have finished fourth in the top-flight but they were ranked 10th for amount of clean sheets, suggesting it isn’t essential for them in terms of winning matches. A case for goals is further strengthened knowing that Ipswich are experiencing some defensive issues and much more so than Aston Villa, who are at least picking up regular victories. Kieran McKenna’s side have not won any clash in the league or cup this season, and a big reason as to why is their poor xGA figure, which is proving they come under big pressure against their own goal too often for their own liking. Still, this is an attack-minded team and they’ll also take encouragement from facing a team that isn’t completely guarding their goal too strongly. Sunday’s home side have also scored in all bar two of their encounters this season, while they did open the scoring away at reigning champions Man City before eventually losing 4-1.

The theme of goals continued here and for one very good reason and it is mainly down to the presence of Aston Villa. As previously said, their Premier League battles are currently averaging 3.40 goals; a huge amount for the top level. A deeper dive into these numbers reveals that goals have been generally spread across the game, especially over the two halves. Although there is a high number from the first half, there has been a good figure in the second, as much so, that four of their five league games have contained a goal in both the first 45 and the second 45. Also, both teams have proved themselves to be no strangers in terms of scoring in each of the two segments of the match. Even this season already, Emery’s said they are joint-top of the Premier League in terms of number of matches when scoring in both halves. That also applied longer-term as last season in the top-flight they were positioned joint-second over the campaign. The same is said for Ipswich, as they were far and anyway ranked top in the Championship in 2023/24 for scoring in both halves; five more than any other team at that level.

The dynamics at Aston Villa in the striker department have changed to a degree this season. Ollie Watkins still remains the main forward at the football club but he is no longer indispensable down to the impressive goal return of team mate Jhon Durán in his role as super sub. Nevertheless, he seems to suit this role, meaning Watkins should continue to lead the line. Even so, the England international has three goals in all competitions so far and having someone fighting for his position should only encourage a healthy rivalry. Despite not being top scorer at Villa this season, Watkins is still in the main generally getting on the end of most big chances. He leads the squad tally in relation to xGF and he should thrive on facing a newly-promoted opponent knowing that he should get a fair few opportunities to improve his goal return for the campaign. Watkins was also given the night off in midweek when his team overcame Wycombe in the League Cup, where Durán again found the back of the net, so he will be fresh to return on Sunday. The 28-year-old will also light up knowing he will be coming up against a team with the worst xGA in the Premier League. A sharpshooter such as him won’t need a second chance to punish any kind of defensive shortcoming and he’ll also want to regain a headline or two given the love coming in the direction of Durán.

There are six members of Kieran McKenna’s squad that has started every Premier League game this season and one of those is summer signing Liam Delap. The former Hull City loanee clearly has the striker jersey to himself at present in that respect, but he has been subbed off on each occasion, so he clearly needs to do something extra to prolong his minutes. However, he has at least been on the scoresheet, so he is one of the more likely Ipswich scorers on the day. Aston Villa will play from the back at practically every opportunity and it can sometimes come across as a little untidy. They aren’t the only team where that can look the case as it is just the modern-day style at the highest level, but mistakes are still made. A side like Ipswich will know how to possibly deal with this given they play this way themselves, so McKenna may have a plan for his hardworking striker. High turnovers are probable, which increases the Town striker’s chances of getting moments to fire shots on goal under limited pressure. For all that the perceived perception is that Aston Villa are hard to beat, there is an angle which suggests a vulnerability within Unai Emery’s team. It may surprise some to know that Villa have only kept one clean sheet all season in all competitions, which came in the UEFA Champions League versus Young Boys. Even League One Wycombe in the midweek cup tie looked a threat against an albeit rotated defence, but this will afford hope to someone like Delap that he shouldn’t be completely frozen out over the 90 minutes.

Only Nottingham Forest and Everton have a smaller average amount of possession in Premier League games this season than Ipswich. They won promotion achieving a very large amount of the ball, but they have had to change. Aston Villa should dominate the ball at Portman Road on Sunday, meaning they will essentially dictate the play. Town are conceding an average of 7.40 corners per league contest so far, so the visitors should expect at least five should that average be upheld on this occasion. A big part of how Villa play is to get their wide players on the ball in one-on-one situations against the opposing fullbacks. Emery also encourages the two full-backs to go up and beyond them at times, but always to contribute offensively. Ipswich will have to sit back at times, which is fairly common for them this season, so knowing they are allowing the third-highest average number of crosses against them indicates this is a popular avenue opponents take. This in turn raises the prospect of corners from balls being flashed into the box. Aston Villa are averaging roughly 4.00 corners per league encounter this season, but there has to be an expectation that they can at least perform above this here. It has already been mentioned the sheer amount of corner kicks Ipswich have been allowing the opposition to have. Considering they don’t keep many clean sheets, Ipswich could score here, and if they do then it’d force Aston Villa to become a little more desperate, increase the tempo of their play and be less patient. Therefore, they’d have more attacking entries and that may help their counter count tick over just nicely.

Should Ipswich uphold their average in terms of number of cards they have been receiving in Premier League action this season then a minimum of three is to be expected at least. The Tractor Boys are yet to win, so naturally some frustration has spilt out, while they have also been under big pressure so have almost been forced into making fouls to try and ease the pressure on them. Town are averaging 3.00 yellow cards per league clash and they could attract a greater number when facing a strong opponent. Taking the figures from Aston Villa into account, they are averaging 2.40 cards over their league fixtures over the current campaign. Therefore, they should be contributing to the card count here. It is a heavy schedule for the club at the moment given they are battling league, cup and European commitments, so tiredness could easily become an issue late on. That may be to the point of accepting a booking or two just to slow down the game. Stuart Attwell will oversee this contest in what will be his fifth match of the season. So far he has officiated three Premier League encounters and one UEFA Conference League tie. Across these, he has dished out an average of 5.50 cards, which includes a red card in the last match he took command of. Clearly he is someone who is not so lenient, meaning Ipswich versus Aston Villa is set to be a card-heavy affair on that basis.