Stoke vs Ipswich prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-12-31 15:00.
New manager Steven Schumacher has admitted that his Stoke players are feeling the full effects of a hectic festive period. The Potters came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Watford on Friday, but after playing three games in a week, the boss believes that his squad “didn’t have that energy to go again” as they failed in their search of a much-needed victory, despite their opponents being reduced to ten men early in the second half.
The result did maintain Schumacher’s unbeaten record since taking the reins in mid-December, with his three games having yielded five points (W1, D2), a return that has begun to pull Stoke away from the relegation spots. The next task is to deliver on his promise of turning the bet365 Stadium into a fortress, something that needs to happen quickly due to Stoke’s miserable run of five successive home fixtures without a victory (D3, L2).
Recent history indicates that they may have a good chance of doing that against an Ipswich side who have won just one of the last nine H2Hs (D4, L4), although that 2-0 success did come earlier this season. The Tractor Boys also make the long journey to the Potteries on the back of a fourth game without a victory (D3, L1), the most recent of which came via a 0-0 draw against struggling Queens Park Rangers.
That fixture did at least see Kieran McKenna’s side pick up only their second clean sheet in their last 14 games across all competitions. The away manager also says preparations were disrupted by striker Nathan Broadhead being the latest player to succumb to a “vomiting bug”, so he’lll be hoping that the effects of that will have worn off as Ipswich attempt to extend their three-point cushion in the race for automatic promotion.
Key battle: Stoke’s Ryan Mmaee has only lost one of the last 11 games in which he has scored (W8, D2), with nine of his 13 goals during that time coming before half-time. He will be hoping to get the better of Ipswich goalkeeper Václav Hladký, who has only kept one clean sheet in his last six away games (W2, D2, L2).
Hot stat: No team in the Championship has scored more first-half goals than Ipswich’s 27.