West Brom vs Ipswich prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-11-24 17:30.
Things have been going relatively smoothly for promotion hopefuls West Bromwich Albion in recent weeks, although the international break has provided them with time to reflect after their four-game unbeaten run (W3, D1) was ended with a 2-1 defeat against Southampton in the previous round. The Baggies “didn’t deserve to lose,” that game according to boss Carlos Corberán who will want to see a response here against fellow promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town.
His men remain firmly in touch with the play-off positions ahead of this round and a Hawthorns return can only be seen as a positive with only three sides having picked up more points on home soil than West Brom (17 – W5, D2, L1) ahead of the round. One of those sides is Ipswich themselves and keeping that hot home form rolling along against the Tractor Boys won’t be a given, especially considering WBA’s negative equity in second-tier home H2Hs (W4, D5, L6).
An extension of that positive record for Ipswich would be much welcomed after they drew level on points with league leaders Leicester with a win over Swansea in the previous round. The picture might change by the time this late kick-off rolls around, yet maintaining their sizeable gap to third place is arguably more important for Ipswich, who cannot be ousted from the automatic promotion spots for at least the next few rounds.
That will be the last thing on even the most pessimistic of Ipswich fans’ minds as they make the trip to the Midlands as the Championship’s only remaining unbeaten away side (W5, D3). Despite that strong record, all three of their travelling stalemates came across their previous four trips, although they did have to dig deep and come from behind to claim a point each time.
Key battle: WBA defender Kyle Bartley scored his first goal since September in the previous round, but he’s more better known for getting on the referee’s bad side with three bookings in his four prior appearances. Trying to get the better of him will be George Hirst, who has already matched his own personal number of league goal contributions from last season in six fewer games (G4, A4), including a goal and an assist in a Flashscore man of the match performance last time out.
Hot stat: Ahead of the round, Ipswich have scored in both halves in a league-high nine games (56%).