Leeds vs Ipswich prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-12-22 12:30.
The festive feast of football continues at Elland Road as Leeds United have a golden opportunity to cut the yawning gap to second-placed Ipswich Town to seven points with a victory. Anything less than a win will see Daniel Farke’s men on the naughty list as far as the home faithful are concerned, although an ongoing unbeaten competitive home record this season (W8, D4) suggests they have enough in their arsenal to justify favouritism.
That imperious form has been made all the more impressive by the fact that Leeds are without a clean sheet across their last six outings here. A direct consequence of that leaky backline is that Leeds have had to recover points after conceding first on four occasions in home league action this season (W2, D2), with only two sides picking up more points in such games.
Although they didn’t concede first, Ipswich had to come from behind in the Old Farm derby last weekend to claim a 2-2 draw against great rivals Norwich. That result meant Ipswich missed the opportunity to further strengthen their grip on an automatic promotion place, yet they did take their unbeaten run of league games to a healthy five, albeit with just one clean sheet in the process (W4, D1).
Ipswich’s two most recent away games, each victorious, were included in the aforementioned run of form, and notching up a third straight winning road trip isn’t unprecedented either, as the Tractor Boys began the season with five straight competitive away wins. But a return of just one win across their last ten away H2Hs suggests that this could be one of their toughest trips of the league season (W1, D3, L6).
Players to watch: Who else but Crysencio Summerville? The Leeds prodigy has picked up Flashscore’s best match rating in five of his last six appearances (G4, A1) whilst taking his league tally to ten with his strike last round. Similarly influential, Ipswich’s Conor Chaplin has assisted in three of his last four scoring appearances, each of which came since the beginning of November.
Hot stat: Ipswich have avoided defeat in four of their five away league games when conceding first (W1, D3, L1).