Ipswich Town vs Crystal Palace Prediction: Both teams to bag in early six-pointer

Two teams struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League table meet at Portman Road on Tuesday (19:30, Amazon Prime Video) as Ipswich Town host Crystal Palace. The Tractor Boys and the Eagles have won just once in their first 13 games and are level on nine points.

Read on for my Ipswich Town vs Crystal Palace prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Axel Tuanzabe was forced off in the second half of Ipswich's 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday with a hamstring injury and looks set to miss out on his side's midweek match with Crystal Palace. The former Manchester United defender will join George Hirst and Chiedozie Ogbene in the treatment room, while it remains to be seen if Kalvin Phillips and Ben Johnson will return from the issues that have kept them out of the last couple of games.

Johnson could replace Tuanzebe at right-back if passed fit but Harry Clarke, who came on for the 27-year-old at the City Ground, is likely to start if not.

Jack Clarke, Wes Burns and Nathan Broadhead are among those who could earn starts if head coach Kieran McKenna opts to freshen things up.

Football Odds

Palace are still missing injured trio Adam Wharton, Matheus Franca and Chadi Riad, while Daichi Kamada will serve the final game of his three-match suspension on Tuesday.

Eberechi Eze returned to action in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Newcastle United after a month out and lasted until the 65th minute before being substituted for Justin Devenny. The question now, is, whether Eze is fit enough to make back-to-back starts in quick succession; Devenny is waiting in the wings if boss Oliver Glasner doesn't get the go-ahead from medics.

Cheick Doucoure, Jeffrey Schlupp and Eddie Nketiah are options available to Glasner should the Austrian decide to make further alterations to his starting XI.

Ipswich Town vs Crystal Palace Odds

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Ipswich are 15/8 to triumph at Portman Road for the first time since May 4, when they beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 to secure promotion to the Premier League. Those odds give the Tractor Boys an implied win probability of 34.8%, while Palace are favourites at 6/4, or a 40% chance, to pick up their first three league points on the road this season.

The draw is priced at 12/5, both teams to score at 4/6, and over 2.5 total goals at 10/11.

Town striker Liam Delap (2/1) is favourite in the anytime goalscorer market, followed by Palace pair Nketiah and Jean-Philippe Mateta (both 21/10).

Both Teams to Score - Yes @ 4/6

A simple one to start with; both teams to score has landed in 69 per cent (eight) of Ipswich's 13 Premier League games this season, including 67 per cent (four) of their six at Portman Road.

Meanwhile, BTTS - Yes has been a winner in 54 per cent (seven) of Palace's 13 league matches, including 83 per cent (four) of their five away from Selhurst Park - a 1-0 defeat at Forest's City Ground on October 21 proving to be the outlier so far.

Stretching back to last season, seven of Palace's last eight Premier League away games have seen both teams score.

Both teams scored in three of Palace's four fixtures last month - 2-2 at Wolves, 2-2 at Aston Villa, and 1-1 at home to Newcastle - with a 2-0 defeat at home to Fulham the only game in which the Eagles failed to get on the scoresheet.

The same can be said for the Tractor Boys as they began November with a couple of 1-1 draws at home to Leicester City and Man United sandwiched either side of a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur before finishing off the month with a 1-0 loss at the City Ground.

There has been little to separate Ipswich and Palace all season so far with both clubs level on nine points heading into Tuesday's game and I can see further emulation between the two at Portman Road with each scoring at least once. McKenna and Glasner will both be eyeing up a victory in midweek given their respective positions and failures to win on the weekend, so I think we should see a decent match in Suffolk with a goal for either side.

Bet Builder - Liam Delap (IPS) 1+ Shots on Target, Maxence Lacroix (CRY) 1+ Shots, Sam Morsy (IPS) 2+ Fouls @ 4/1

Delap enjoyed a brilliant start to his Ipswich career, netting six goals in his first 11 Premier League appearances for the club, the latest of which was the Tractor Boys' second and final goal of the game in their 2-1 victory over Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on November 10.

Since the international break, however, the 21-year-old has failed to get on the scoresheet, firing blanks against Man United and Forest, although it should be said that he was particularly starved of service against the latter.

Back at Portman Road, where he registered two shots on target in his last game there against Man United, I'm expecting Delap to provide more threat and at least force the goalkeeper into a save.

He's recorded 11 shots on target this season and nine of them have come in his last eight matches, so up against a Palace side that has conceded exactly twice in each of their last two away outings against Villa and Fulham, allowing five and seven shots on target, respectively, in those games, I think the Town forward is a good bet to get a shot within the goal frame on Tuesday.

Next up, I'm backing Palace defender Maxence Lacroix to shoot at least once. The summer signing from VFL Wolfsburg is averaging 0.8 shots per game in the Premier League, marking his 10th appearance in the competition with three efforts against Newcastle on Saturday. That hat-trick of attempts follows one at Villa and one at home to Fulham, meaning he has had at least one shot in his last three matches - five in total.

The Frenchman has also tried his luck against Man United, Everton and Spurs (all once) and looks primed to make it four games in a row with a shot against Ipswich, who saw Forest centre-backs Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo each shoot once against them from a corner on Saturday.

Rounding off this three-legged Bet Builder is Ipswich midfielder and captain Sam Morsy, who has wasted no time in getting himself acquainted with the rest of the division.

The 33-year-old is averaging 1.8 fouls per game in this season's Premier League, making exactly two in his last three appearances against Spurs, Man United and Forest. Two seems to be the magic number as he also conceded a couple of fouls against Fulham, Southampton and Everton, going one further against Brighton & Hove Albion (three).

Morsy's dirtiest match came at home to Villa on September 29 when he committed six fouls against the Villans, unsurprisingly earning a yellow - one of four so far this term.

The nine-cap Egypt international has made at least two fouls in eight of his 12 Premier League appearances, including his last three, so he's an obvious pick to commit another couple on Tuesday.

This Bet Builder comes to 4/1, but if you want to take things further, a goal for Delap, two shots for Lacroix, and a card for Morsy - all combined in a single Bet Builder - takes you up to a juicy 40/1.

Offers

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