Liverpool vs Ipswich Town Prediction: Fed to fire final bullet

A 2-0 win at Brentford last Saturday, coupled with Arsenal's 2-2 draw at home to Aston Villa later in the evening, extended Liverpool's lead at the top of the Premier League to six points, with a game in hand to boot. Next up for the Reds is the visit of Ipswich Town to Anfield on Saturday afternoon (15:00), with the Tractor Boys coming off the back of a heavy defeat at home to Manchester City (0-6) last weekend.

Below is my Liverpool vs Ipswich Town prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this meeting on Merseyside.

Team News

Arne Slot made four changes to his starting XI for Tuesday's Uefa Champions League match against Lille, which the Reds won 2-1 at Anfield. Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate in defence, Curtis Jones came in for Alexis Mac Allister in midfield, and Darwin Nunez started in attack ahead of Cody Gakpo.

All four players who dropped out of the lineup from the victory at Brentford are expected to be reinstated on Saturday, but Nunez could be handed another opportunity to impress from the off, with Luis Diaz potentially making way for Gakpo.

There could also be a change at left-back with Kostas Tsimikas starting the last two ahead of Andy Robertson.

Joe Gomez (hamstring) and Diogo Jota (muscular) are still in the treatment room for the Reds, who will also be without Jones (muscular), who came off at half-time in midweek.

Football Odds

Ipswich Town have been one of the busiest Premier League clubs in the January transfer window, signing Jaden Philogene on a permanent deal from Aston Villa and recruiting Ben Godfrey and Julio Enciso on loan from Atalanta and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively.

Philogene and Godfrey have already made their Town debuts but the former will be looking to make his first start for the club on Saturday, while Enciso should go straight into the squad but may be utilised from the bench this weekend.

Tractor Boys trio Sammie Szmodics (ankle), Conor Chaplin (knee) and Chiedozie Ogbene (calf) are still injured and they won't be available to feature at Anfield.

However, Kalvin Phillips is free to return after being ineligible for last Sunday's hammering by his parent club Manchester City.

Liverpool vs Ipswich Town Odds

Liverpool beat Ipswich 2-0 at Portman Road on the opening weekend of the season and the Reds are 1/10, or a 90.9% chance, to do the double over Kieran McKenna's side, who are a massive 25/1 (3.8%) to claim all three points at Anfield.

The draw is priced at 10/1, both teams to score at 11/10, and over 3.5 total goals at 4/6.

Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool's second and final goal of the game against Ipswich in August and the Egyptian is 12/5 to round off the scoring on Saturday, and the same price to open it. Naturally, the Premier League's 18-goal leading marksman is favourite in the anytime market (4/9), followed by Nunez (8/11), with Liam Delap (16/5) first up for the visitors.

Last Goalscorer - Federico Chiesa (LIV) @ 5/1

Two Premier League appearances and no goals since signing from Juventus last summer - you're going to have to hear me out on this one.

Federico Chiesa hasn't made a seamless start to life on Merseyside - far from it - with Slot adamant that his fitness levels were not up to the demands of his team, nor of that any club competing at the top in England.

As a result, the Italian was put on a strict regime to get him in tip-top shape and while Liverpool fans grew restless at his nonappearance during the first few months of his Reds career, there have been encouraging signs this month with Chiesa featuring in three of his side's last four matches, scoring off the bench in his first calendar year appearance against Accrington Stanley.

The 27-year-old's strike against the League 2 outfit was the final one of the match in Liverpool's 4-0 FA Cup third-round victory and the first of his Reds career in just his fifth appearance. He's had a positive impact in the last week, too, playing a role in Nunez's second goal against Brentford last Saturday before seeing two shots saved late on against Lille.

Chiesa has a knack for creating goalscoring opportunities from nothing, further exemplified by his two shots in his only other Premier League appearance against Bournemouth on September 21 when he had an effort saved by Cherries goalkeeper Kepa in the 73rd minute before hitting the post five minutes later.

Liverpool will hope, and expect, to be in a commanding position come the last 20-30 minutes on Saturday, and should that be the case, Chiesa may be handed another chance to get off the mark in the Premier League, and I think he'll take it.

Bet Builder - Mohamed Salah (LIV) Anytime Goalscorer, Cody Gakpo (LIV) 1+ Shots on Target, Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV) 1+ Shots, Liam Delap (IPS) 2+ Fouls @ 3/1

Salah ended a three-game goal drought - long by his lofty standards - on Tuesday by opening the scoring against Lille and he will be determined to get back into the goalscoring groove in the Premier League this weekend after drawing blanks against Brentford and Nottingham Forest in his last two competition appearances.

In fairness to Salah, those were two tough, closely contested games at two notoriously difficult grounds, and he should find more joy on Saturday back at Anfield against a team in the relegation zone. He scored against the Tractor Boys back in August so he's already plotted a way past their defence this season and off the back of a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Man City, the Ipswich defence is likely to be lacking in confidence as they face arguably their toughest fixture of the campaign.

Salah could be rested for Wednesday's Champions League trip to Eindhoven to take on PSV, so I see no reason why he won't play the majority, if not all, of Saturday's match, so taking him on to score anytime is the obvious play.

But, of course, his price is not an appealing one, so it's a selection I'm throwing in with three others. The second pick in this 3/1 Bet Builder requires Salah's fellow Reds forward Gakpo to register a shot on target, something the Dutchman has achieved in his last five Premier League outings.

Ipswich shipped six goals to City last Sunday and Christian Walton was also called upon to make three saves, meaning Pep Guardiola's side racked up nine shots on target. Gakpo was an unused substitute in midweek so I'm fully expecting him to start on Saturday and receive plenty of game time in which he can trouble the Tractor Boys' backline and at least force Walton into a save.

Next up, I'm backing Alexander-Arnold to shoot at least once at Anfield. The 26-year-old has tried his luck at least once in his last six league outings including four times at the Gtech last Saturday and twice at the City Ground four days prior. He also let fly once at Portman Road in August, missing the target from outside the box just before half-time.

Lastly, we need Ipswich centre-forward Delap to commit at least two fouls. The 21-year-old only gave away one free-kick in the reverse fixture but his fouls per game average is at two heading into the weekend and he'll likely be in a big physical battle with Virgil van Dijk and Konate on Saturday, one which he will struggle to win given the strength both Liverpool centre-backs possess.

Delap is something of a bruiser himself though and he won't shirk a challenge against either, so we can expect a few fouls in that area of the pitch at Anfield, but the Town striker will likely be dishing out the majority of them.

Offers

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