The busy week of Sky Bet Championship action continues on Friday night when two teams who are expected to be at the opposite ends of the table meet at the Kassam Stadium when Oxford United host promotion chasing Ipswich Town.
Ipswich have made their move up the table in recent weeks and will look to make another one here whereas Oxford are on the slippery pole and they will be hoping to reverse that slide so this one feels nicely poised.
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 beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
Oxford United
Having secured a second season of Championship football, Oxford United will have been hoping to make things a little more comfortable in terms of staying in the division this time around but they have slipped into the bottom three this week and really need a result to turn their fortunes around. Their only win in their last seven was against Sheffield Wednesday which doesn’t feel like a form line that can be taken seriously given their struggles so something needs to change here.
One of the problems that Oxford have is they are struggling to pick up three points on home soil. They have only won one of their eight home games in the league this term, and while they have only lost three times, they really need to make their own patch a bit more of a fortress than it is. The big concern for Oxford here is that they don’t have the biggest squad and have one or two injuries and with this being a third game in six days you wonder if that will make a difference here.
Ipswich Town
After being relegated from the Premier League last season, the obvious aim for Ipswich Town this time around will be to ensure they return to the top flight at the first time of asking. They took a while to get going in this campaign, which isn’t completely alien to teams relegated from the big time, but to their credit they have slipped into a nice groove in recent times and will probably be the team expected to chase home Coventry in the table from here on in.
Four wins and two draws in their last six matches have moved the Tractor Boys up to fifth in the table and ahead of the remainder of the weekend games a win here could see them move into second spot and looming large on the promotion scene. After no wins in four away from Portman Road to start the season, they have won their last three matches, scoring 10 goals so they are really hitting their straps on their travels and unlike Oxford, they have a deep squad and plenty of options to rotate should they wish to.
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Team News
Cameron Brannigan missed the draw at Norwich in midweek after picking up a calf injury in the draw with Middlesbrough last weekend and his status for this one is unknown. Brodie Spencer and Matt Phillips are out of the game.
Ipswich have a few injury problems with the likes of Alex Palmer, Wes Burns, Sammie Szmodics, Conor Townsend and Harry Clarke all out but Jaden Philogene was on the bench in midweek and is expected to start this one.
Betting
This looks to be a good spot for Ipswich Town to pick up another win. Oxford have the right to be competitive in normal conditions but a third game in six days for a fairly light squad feels like it could be a game too many, especially against this opposition who had the likes of Jaden Philogene, Chuba Akpom, Jack Taylor, Sindre Egeli and Ben Johnson on the bench in midweek who could all come into the side and not see a drop off in the quality that is on show.
Ipswich are a dangerous side on their travels. They usually score plenty of goals and 10 in their last three away games makes me think that we can boost what is a relatively strained Ipswich win price by adding over 1.5 goals in the game to get us much nearer evens which feels a better proposition. All three Ipswich away wins have landed this bet and with just one clean sheet in eight for Oxford at home and them conceding two or more in half of those games, Ipswich to win and over 1.5 goals looks like the bet to me.
Tips
Back Ipswich to win and over 1.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with William Hill
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