Southampton vs Ipswich Town Prediction: Ipswich have only lost one game this season

Southampton will welcome Ipswich Town at St Mary's Stadium in Gameweek 7 of the English Championship. Ipswich have only lost one game this season. Who will come out on top after 90 minutes?

The international break came at a convenient time for Southampton, who suffered a humiliating 5-0 loss to Sunderland at the start of September. This defeat gave Russell Martin two weeks to analyze the team's performance before facing Leicester. Unfortunately, Southampton continued to struggle as Leicester took control of the match at St Mary's. Jamie Vardy scored within 21 seconds, followed by Kasey McAteer increasing Leicester's lead. Samuel Edozie's goal narrowed the gap for Southampton, but the poor defence allowed Wilfried Ndidi and Stephy Mavididi to score, leaving the home team playing in front of a nearly empty stadium. Kamaldeen Sulemana was sent off during injury time. Southampton's 20th-place finish in the Premier League last season raised hopes for a better outcome this year after earning 10 points from four games. However, the team's defence has been a major issue, conceding nine goals in the past two matches. With a total of 16 goals conceded this season, Southampton has the worst defensive record in the Championship. The fans, who are still waiting for a clean sheet this season, may not expect a dramatic improvement in the team's performance.

Bazunu; Bree, Holgate, Harwood-Bellis, Walker-Peters; Aribo, Alcaraz, Smallbone, Fraser; Adams, Armstrong

In contrast, Ipswich Town has had an easier time achieving shut-outs in the 2023-24 season. They faced Sheffield Wednesday, another newly-promoted team, at Hillsborough and immediately took control of the game.

Just before half-time, Conor Chaplin's shot managed to slip past numerous Sheffield Wednesday players, including Akin Famewo who unintentionally deflected the ball, resulting in a goal for Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys were unlucky to only win the game with a one-goal margin, as Sheffield Wednesday's goalkeeper Devis Vasquez made several crucial saves to keep the score respectable.

While Sheffield Wednesday's manager Xisco Munoz apologized for his team's underwhelming performance, Ipswich Town's manager Kieran McKenna celebrated his team's fifth win in six Championship matches. As a result, Ipswich Town currently sits in third place in the rankings, behind Leicester and early leaders Preston North End.

Prior to this match, Ipswich Town had struggled defensively, conceding at least two goals in three consecutive matches. However, they were able to keep Sheffield Wednesday from scoring, earning their third clean sheet of the season. Only Leicester has also achieved this feat, earning nine points from their away matches in the 2023-24 Championship season.

Ipswich Town now has a great opportunity to win four away games in a row, a record they haven't achieved since December 2015. However, they have struggled in their previous eight encounters with Southampton, failing to win any matches since their 2-0 victory at Portman Road in November 2007.

Hladky; Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Williams; Luongo, Morsy; Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead; Jackson

Although it has been almost 16 years since Ipswich last defeated Southampton in a competitive match, Russell will not be able to quickly improve the Saints' abysmal defensive performance, and their weaknesses are likely to be their downfall once again. Ipswich's defence is not particularly reliable either, but McKenna's team has only let in one goal in their away games so far and were unfortunate not to score more against Wednesday over the weekend. Therefore, we can only envision another successful outcome for Ipswich. Take double chance on Ipswich with both teams scoring.