Premier League Preview: Ipswich Town vs Liverpool - Analysis and Insights

The first Saturday kick off of the new season will see newly promoted Ipswich Town take on Premier League big dogs Liverpool at 12:30 at Ipswich’s Portman Road, with both squads looking to get off to a quick start.

Both sides come into this game with momentum after superb pre-seasons respectively, and Ipswich will be optimistic of starting their first Premier League campaign since 2001/02 positively.

"It's going to be amazing going up against some of these players."

Ipswich captain Sam Morsy looks ahead as his side prepare for their Premier League return 💪🔵 pic.twitter.com/HhEJXgJ4Hg

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 15, 2024

As the start of the Premier League season edges ever closer, we take a dive into both sides, examining strategies, players and absences that have the potential to decide which way the match sways. Liverpool are certainly favorites, but Ipswich have been busy in the transfer market, and their new look squad has more than enough about it to cause Liverpool problems.

Ipswich Town vs Liverpool Pre-season Form

Ipswich had an excellent pre-season, consistently playing higher caliber sides than themselves, and coming away with results more often than not.

Beating Ukrainian heavyweights Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in their first friendly, they were then narrowly defeated by German side Fortuna Dusseldorf a week later. However, they bounced back superbly, beating both Hoffenheim and OGC Nice by a scoreline of 1-0, in the process exhibiting their credentials to challenge bigger, richer sides.

As a newly promoted side from the championship, many had limited expectations for Ipswich in preseason, with many predicting fluctuating form that could help rivals identify their biggest weaknesses. Instead, with some superb team performances, they were able to surprise the masses, and people may be second guessing themselves if they predicted Ipswich to finish in the bottom three.

Liverpool had a similarly outstanding off-season, winning their four hardest games, before drawing in their easiest fixtures last weekend. In their tour of the USA, they were drawn against Real Betis (won 1-0), Arsenal (won 2-1), Manchester United (won 3-0) and Sevilla (won 4-1), their players seemingly implementing Arne Slot’s vision almost instantly.

Slot gave a host of key players given minutes to find fitness, opting against Manchester City’s strategy of giving most of the minutes to youth of second string players, and this will likely reap rewards early season, with Salah, Jota and Nunez likely to be quick off the mark.

Liverpool Pre Season Tour🇺🇸

1-0 vs Real Betis✅
2-1 vs Arsenal✅
3-0 vs Man United✅

A few teething issues as expected, but 3 wins against tough opponents is a fantastic start for Arne Slot.

Fabio Carvalho and Kostas Tsimikas the standouts for me🪄

Who impressed you? pic.twitter.com/1uw2WG5Dpc

— 𝙆𝙖𝙮™️ (@KayLFC05_) August 4, 2024

Drawing to Las Palmas in their final friendly, it was not the high that the Liverpool faithful would have wanted to end the off-season on, but fielding a mostly rotated eleven, it was not an indicative result to have the rest of their warm up games had gone. Given their preseason form, and the players who have been brought to match sharpness, I expect Liverpool to top the league in the early stages of the season.

Ipswich Town vs Liverpool Goalscorers

Ipswich managed to keep a hold of their top three scorers from last season this transfer window, a feat that not many other sides can boast.

Conor Chaplin, Nathan Broadhead and Omari Hutchinson (who they signed permanently this summer after his brilliant loan spell last time out) have all remained at Portland Road, and between notched 35 goals in the Championship last season.

CONOR CHAPLIN THAT IS FILTHY😮‍💨🪄 pic.twitter.com/fZ2NYC2oOg

— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) February 24, 2024

Having also signed striker Liam Delap from Manchester City, as well as Jacob Greaves and Conor Townsend to bolster their defensive ranks, Ipswich appear to have a side ready to take on the Premier Leagues best. They will most certainly be a threat on the counter attack with the young talents of Hutchinson and Delap galloping at the opposition.

Liverpool’s front men are all very familiar to us by now. The brilliant Mohamed Salah topped the charts last season with 18 league goals, followed by Darwin Nunez with 11 and Diogo Jota with 10. Salah will predictably be unstoppable once again this season, but the extent to which Liverpool can succeed in 2024/25 will be dictated to how effective his fellow attackers are.

Mo Salah can't help scoring against Arsenal.

Even in preseason 😏 pic.twitter.com/swC9K0pOIA

— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 1, 2024

For example, Nunez is a brilliant, dynamic talent who is always a handful for defenders, but he has become notorious for missing straightforward chances. If he had more composure in front of goal, he could easily have hit 20 league goals last season.

Should Salah’s fellow attackers hit their stride, other title challengers will be hard push to stop a rampaging Liverpool, but should even one of their forwards fall out of form, it could cost them in another close title race.

Ipswich Town vs Liverpool Team News

Ipswich survived preseason with their squad untouched by injury, meaning that manager Keiran McKenna will have a fully fit squad to pick from come Saturday. Bar any injuries cropping up in training sessions, expect Ipswich to field their strongest possible team for such a tricky opening fixture.

Liverpool have a similarly clean bill of health, with the exception of starting left back Andy Robertson, who picked up a minor injury in Scotland’s disastrous Euro 2024 campaign, and subsequently missed the Reds’ preseason tour of the USA. However, they have a capable backup in Konstantinos Tsimikas, who will likely start the game and make way for Robertson in the second half.

Ipswich Town vs Liverpool Predicted Lineups

Ipswich Town (3-4-3): Muric (GK), Tuanzebe, Townsend, Greaves, Johnson, Luongo, Morsy, Davies, Hutchinson, Delap, Chaplin.

Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson (GK), Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Gomez, Tsimikas, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Nunez, Diaz.

Ipswich Town vs Liverpool Player to Watch

While any one of Liverpool’s starting eleven could realistically be chosen for this, I believe it is actually the Ipswich backline, namely their new defensive signings, that could decide this game.

Conor Townsend and Jacob Greaves only missed a combined seven games for West Brom and Hull city respectively last season, with Greaves being the highest rated center back in the division according to Sofascore. Spending almost £20 million on the Hull center back, and another £550 '000 on the experienced Townsend, Ipswich’s backline has a new look to it this season.

Jacob Greaves pocketing Darwin Nunez on opening day pic.twitter.com/C2mlpOZ5Hw

— Banned Hull City fan (@bannedcityfan) August 14, 2024

The added quality and experience brought in with these two immediately became apparent, as in preseason, they only conceded twice in four games, both of these coming in the same fixture against Fortuna Dusseldorf. They may have only scored four in that time, but if as a side you have a tendency to keep clean sheets, wins are never too far away.

Expect the performances of the two new defenders to be crucial to Ipswichs’ fortunes in the new season.

Too see all the summer signings for both sides, click here.

Where can I watch Ipswich Town vs Liverpool?

The game will not be shown on UK TV, but live text commentary will be available on BBC Sport, and whichever live scores app the reader cares to use, such as Sky Sports Football and Goal Live.