Somehow it feels a bit early for such a big game in the Championship but the two top pre-season favourites, Ipswich and Southampton, face off on Sunday afternoon.

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📂 Ipswich v Southampton Cheat Sheet

📈 Ipswich v Southampton Form & Tactics

The “Ipswich to win the league” crew will not have been totally impressed with how Kieran McKenna’s team have begun this second tier campaign.

A point at Birmingham may turn out to be a net positive over the course of the season, but the performance lacked dynamism, cohesion, and intent. They also lost on penalties to League Two Bromley in the first round of the Carabao Cup in midweek.

More personnel have arrived in the meantime, but flaws in the first team include a central midfield general, more quality out wide, and pressure on George Hirst.

McKenna will stick to his 4-2-3-1 system, that is highly likely, but more will be expected from his players.

Will Still went for a 3-4-3 shape in both matches last week, with an impressive display of squad strength across the two matches as well. The initial issue for Still will be nailing down what his best starting XI is, Adam Armstrong, Damion Downs, Cameron Archer, Ben Brereton Diaz, Ryan Fraser, and Jay Robinson are the six players who played in the forward roles last week.

The other thing for Still to consider is that playing only two CMs means that one of Shea Charles, Flynn Downes and Mateus Fernandes doesn't start. This is a great problem to have, of course, but it could be difficult to keep everyone happy.

We can expect a well organised defensive unit from Still, as well as an aggressive personality in the team.

🏁 Ref Watch

Robert Madley

• Madley has 82 matches under his belt at this level, in addition to almost 100 Premier League matches as well.

• Madley has averaged four yellow cards per match in the Championship, above average for the competition.

• Interestingly, Madley has a one in four rate for red cards in the Championship.

📊 Ipswich v Southampton Key Stats

• Ipswich won only once at Portman Road all season in the Premier League, winning more than twice as many points away from home (7-15).

• Only three of Ipswich's starting XI on opening day played in Ipswich's 23/24 Championship season.

• Ipswich only managed three successful tackles in the whole match against Birmingham, two fewer than any other team over the opening weekend.

• A whole third of Southampton's points in the Premier League last season came against Ipswich.

• 4.14 xG created by Southampton against Wrexham on opening day was the highest figure in the Championship last week.

• 609 passes were attempted by the Saints last week, three times as many as their opponents. This led to twice as many throw-ins too (21-11).

Football Predictions at Andy's Bet Club

Andy's Bet Club is packed full of Expert Football Tips. We also have an easy-to-use Bet Builder Stats tool to help you conduct your own research. Look out for our EFL Predictions this season.

This week's coverage on ABC includes Corner Acca Tips and our Result + Both Teams To Score Accumulator.

These Ipswich v Southampton Betting Stats provide further insight.

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For additional value, check out our bet365 6 Scores Challenge Tips and our Paddy Power Beat The Drop Predictions.

* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.