The Sky Bet Championship returns from the international break on Friday night when two teams at opposite ends of the table meet as Rotherham United play host to Ipswich Town at the New York Stadium.
Rotherham begin the evening second from bottom in the table and in need of a result while Ipswich have made a positive start to the campaign and sit second from the top in what is their first season back at this level.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up to it beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off in Yorkshire.
Rotherham United
There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a poor season for Rotherham United. They have won just one of their 11 matches so far this term, losing seven and they will have needed the international break to have worked some magic for them else the face being marooned in the relegation zone and the hard work they did to stay up last season will have been undone, albeit they were never really going to make too much by way of league position improvement given the huge clubs in this division this season.
To be fair to the Millers, while there is a sense of doom and gloom around them at the minute, at the New York Stadium they have a win, two draws and two defeats with those losses being to the impressive Leicester City and to Bristol City who scored a 95th minute winner to win that game, so perhaps things aren’t as bad as they look at home. Matt Taylor will certainly be looking for his attacking players to come to the party here as just 10 goals in 11 games won’t cut it.
Ipswich Town
In contrast, it has been a brilliant first quarter or so of the season for Ipswich Town who have won nine of their 11 matches. That would have been impressive enough were they in the division last season but for a team who came up from League 1 that is very good indeed. Ipswich were well-fancied ahead of the season beginning, largely due to the reputation of their head coach Kieran McKenna and those vibes have been justified so far.
The only defeat that Ipswich Town have suffered this season came to Leeds United, a side who were two divisions above them last season so there is certainly no shame in that. Ipswich are the top scorers in the division but they have only scored six goals in five matches on their travels, although they have scored in every away game this term. They have only dropped two points away from home though so the Tractor Boys will be feeling confident here.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for the Sky Bet Championship! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Team News
Rotherham United manager Matt Taylor has confirmed that Sean Morrison and Hakeem Odoffin are back in training but he didn’t commit to whether they would be involved in this one. Jamie Lindsay is unlikely to play though.
Ipswich Town are going to be without attacker Wes Burns who picked up a shoulder injury while on international duty with Wales. The Tractor Boys will be without Freddie Ladapo too. He misses a return to his former club with an Achilles injury.
Betting
I’m not convinced this will be as one-sided as the odds would suggest that it is. Ipswich Town have been to both Sheffield Wednesday and QPR, the other two sides in the bottom three to Rotherham United, and have only won 1-0 on both occasions. Having had players disappearing for international duty their preparations for this match could have been impacted and conditions might be a leveller here as well with rain forecast throughout and wind likely to be in play too.
That should allow Rotherham United to turn this one into a bit of a battle and to be fair to them they have faced the other two members of the top three in the table in Leicester City and Preston North End and lost by a goal to the former and held the latter. There is no doubt that Ipswich aren’t as potent on the road as they are at home. Six goals in five games as opposed to 19 in six would tell us that so if Rotherham were able to find the back of the net they are unlikely to be heavily beaten. Even if they don’t there is no guarantee a +1.25 Asian line doesn’t at least half cover given that Ipswich are yet to win an away game by more than a goal all season. In trickier conditions I’ll side with the hosts with a generous looking start.
Tips
Back Rotherham United (+1.25AH) to beat Ipswich Town for a 3/10 stake at 1.79 with William Hill
Back them here:
