Most experts are putting Ipswich in the top 6, some even competing for autos, with Norwich bottom half. The atmosphere around Norwich is honking at the moment with fans against the current hierarchy, Stuart Webber hanging around working his notice period, and a couple of years of bad recruitment taking its toll. Max Aarons and Andrew Omobamidele are potentially on their way, especially the latter, while the misery of the last two seasons appears to have impacted the squad. They won just one of their last 11 games last season under the unpopular friend of Webber from his Huddersfield Town days, David Wagner. Shane Duffy and Jack Stacey are smart pick-ups on the cheap, while Marcelino Nunez and Gabriel Sara are good assets for the level, but they are nothing compared to the Ipswich juggernaut.

A solid end to pre-season. 👍🇦🇹

Just 7️⃣ days to go!#itfc pic.twitter.com/4iEq2CgICb

— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) July 30, 2023

The Tractor Boys scored 101 goals in League One last season while posting groundbreaking underlying data for the level, and they could benefit from opposition sides treating them like a newly promoted one, which they are, rather than the automatic promotion contender they are shaping up as. Omari Hutchinson is an exciting loan addition and Jack Taylor comes in after an excellent season for Peterborough, but the core is there. In Christian Walton, Leif Davis, Sam Morsy, Nathan Broadhead, and Conor Chaplin they have some of the best players in the league in their respective positions. The mood around the camp is incomparable to that in Norfolk, with new ownership, and new wealthy ownership at that, effectively putting together a mid-table Championship squad in League One and they are coached by one of the best outside of the Premier League.

The start of Kieran McKenna and Michael Carrick’s managerial careers suggests they were the brains behind Ole Gunnar Solskjaer overperforming, compared to his managerial pedigree outside of Old Trafford, in his time as Manchester United manager. McKenna deploys a very sophisticated attack-minded system that also saw Ipswich keep nine clean sheets in a row at one stage last season. Most of the value in pro-Ipswich outright bets has gone at this stage with them backed substantially, however, this price on them to finish above Norwich appears to have been ignored and presents incredible value at 11/10.