Ipswich Town vs Preston North End Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Both these sides finished in the top half last season but with limited investment may struggle to repeat that feat this term. 10 places but only 2 points separate the sides currently, with Ipswich in 13th and Preston 23rd, but it’s too early to read too much into that.

Ipswich started well with a 4-2 win over Barnsley and fought hard for a 1-1 draw in the East Anglian derby against Norwich last weekend. In between those two games though there was plenty of cause for concern. They failed to score in 3 matches against Stevenage, Wolves and Brentford, losing 2 of them and it just feels a bit like Ipswich are treading water and hoping to stay in roughly the same place, which is on the fringe of the play-off picture. This could be the toughest of Mick McCarthy’s seasons at Portman Road though and although they are favourites here, he’ll know his side will need to be at their best to win this.

Preston are rarely well beaten and regularly take advantage against sides who aren’t quite on top of their game. A good example of that was last weekend when they somewhat surprisingly won 2-0 at QPR and they backed that up with a 2-0 win over Oldham in the League Cup. It was a much needed response to losing their opening 3 league games and they will head into this with a bit more confidence as a result.

The Lancashire club still look a bit short in attack but they are always well organised and tough to break down. They’ll hope to replicate their performance last weekend here but may not get many chances to score themselves in this one. There have been under 2.5 goals in 5 of their 6 matches this season and in all of Ipswich’s last 4. Given that, there looks to be some value here in backing a 0-0 draw at 7/1 with neither side looking that threatening up front.