Ipswich Town vs Bristol Rovers Prediction: Big home win expected

Ipswich Town are facing a battle to stay in the Premier League this season but now they will turn their attention to the FA Cup, where they will host Bristol Rovers on Sunday afternoon (15:00). The Tractor Boys will be wary of facing lower-league opposition at Portman Road, as in last year’s competition they were stunned by non-league Maidstone United. 

Sitting near the top of the Championship at the time having barely lost a game in the league, Kieran McKenna’s side were on the receiving end of one of the biggest shocks in recent FA Cup history as Maidstone secured an iconic 2-1 win. Looking to avoid a repeat on Sunday, below you will find my Ipswich Town vs Bristol Rovers predictions.

Team News

McKenna will be keen to avoid another embarrassing exit here, but you have to believe he will rotate his squad heavily again. Jadon Philogene and Nemanja Matic could be arriving this window as Ipswich look to spend again to keep themselves up, but for now, he will rotate the squad he has at his disposal. 

Jack Taylor, Jack Clarke, Kalvin Phillips, Wes Burns and Ali Al Hamadi could all be in line for starts, with Cameron Burgess, Harry Clarke and Conor Townsend likely to come into the defence. Arijanet Muric should play in goal, while McKenna is having to deal with a fair few injuries right now. George Hirst could feature after his injury, while Sammie Szmodics is likely to miss out having been injured at Fulham. 

Football Odds

Conor Chaplin, Axel Tuanzebe and Omari Hutchinson are sidelined, but should return within the next month. Massimo Luongo has been ill recently and could feature in the matchday squad if he has recovered. 

Bristol Rovers are in a relegation battle in League 1, but they did secure an important away win at Cambridge United last time out, so those players in the starting XI could be rewarded with an appearance at a Premier League ground. 36-year-old Chris Martin has been leading the line of late and it will be intriguing to see if Inigo Calderon chooses to give him a rest or not. 

Scott Sinclair is another experienced forward who has been playing on the left, with Grant Ward and Jamie Lindsay shielding the defence in midfield. Joshua Griffiths put in a man of the match performance last time out but Matt Hall could take over in goal as the cup keeper. Ruel Sotiriou will be relied upon to create chances for the away side in Suffolk. 

Ipswich Town vs Bristol Rovers Odds

Ipswich are priced at 2/9 to win this game, giving them an implied win probability of 81% ahead of this cup tie. Bristol Rovers are unsurprisingly the massive underdogs, and can be backed at 12/1 to win the game in 90 minutes. 

A draw can be backed at 11/2, while over 2.5 goals is 4/9 having come in during 45% of Ipswich’s Premier League fixtures. BTTS is 1/1 and Nathan Broadhead is the favourite to open the scoring at 100/30.

Ipswich to win to nil @ 19/20 

I’ll back the Premier League side to get the job done in convincing fashion against a struggling Rovers outfit. With all the money they have spent over the last two transfer windows, Ipswich now have an incredibly strong squad which means even their second-string should be able to see off League 1 opposition. 

The likes of former England international Phillips and former Sunderland superstar Jack Clarke are clearly top class players and would thrive in the Championship, so they should have no trouble tearing Rovers apart. I’m expecting a competent home victory, while I don’t think the likes of Martin and Sinclair should cause too much trouble for the home side.

Ipswich Town to win with -2 handicap @ 8/5

I just can’t see this being anything other than a convincing home win, given the form of Bristol Rovers right now. Maidstone had something magic about them last season and cup magic was in the air when they beat Town, but I just don’t feel the same way about this tie. 

Ipswich’s squad depth has massively improved over the last 12 months, and they will be taking the cup more seriously this year, having received some of the financial benefits promotion to the Premier League brings. Rovers are going to be in for a long afternoon in my eyes, with Ipswich winning by three clear goals a decent price at 8/5. 

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