Ipswich vs Everton Prediction: Tractor Boys to get up and running with win over Toffees

Ipswich Town have made a respectable start to life in the Premier League, drawing four of their first seven games, but they are still chasing that elusive first victory, which they will hope will come at home to Everton at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon (15:00).

Read below for my Ipswich vs Everton prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this meeting between the Tractor Boys and the Toffees.

Team News

Ipswich head coach Kieran McKenna will again be without Axel Tuanzebe, Massimo Luongo and Ali Al-Hamadi due to injury.

There could also be changes made to his starting XI following their 4-1 hammering at West Ham United with Conor Chaplin, Sammie Szmodics, Chiedozie Ogbene and Jack Taylor all pushing for starts after substitute appearances in east London.

One player that has been in terrific form is Manchester City Academy graduate Liam Delap, who has struck three times in his last two games and will be looking to make it three in a row at Portman Road on Saturday.

Football Odds

Iliman Ndiaye has trained this week despite fears that he had suffered an injury on international duty with Senegal, while boss Sean Dyche has said that Vitalii Mykolenko is "looking good" and captain Seamus Coleman is back "with the group".

However, a decision will have to be made over the availability of defender Jarrad Branthwaite, who is back in training but missed Everton's last game, a goalless draw with Newcastle United on October 5.

Nathan Patterson's absence is set to continue with Dyche admitting he is "not quite there yet" while strikers Chermiti and Armando Broja are back on the grass but certainly won't be fit this weekend.

Tim Iroegbunam and James Garner are also ruled out of the trip to Suffolk.

Ipswich vs Everton Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Ipswich vs Everton page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Ipswich are 7/5 to win their first Premier League game of the season, giving the Tractor Boys an implied win probability of 41.7%, while Everton are 2/1, or a 33.3% chance, to get their first three points away from home. The draw, meanwhile, is available at 12/5.

Both teams to score is 8/13, over 2.5 total goals is 4/5, and Delap (13/8) is favourite to score anytime, followed by Szmodics (2/1) and Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin (11/5).

Match Result & Both Teams to Score - Ipswich Win & Yes @ 16/5

After opening up the campaign with a 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool and a 4-1 loss away at Manchester City, Ipswich embarked on a four-game run of draws before that was abruptly ended by a 4-1 hammering at West Ham United just before the October international break.

The Tractor Boys' trouncing at the London Stadium was bitterly disappointing for McKenna and his charges but they return to home comforts this weekend and should be buoyed by their Premier League performances at Portman Road.

Reigning Carabao Cup champions Liverpool created little in the first half of their August win in Suffolk while Ipswich took the lead there against both Fulham (1-1) and Aston Villa (2-2), eventually having to settle for a point in both. Fulham and Villa are no mugs, though, with the Cottagers established as a mid-table Premier League side and the Villans currently strutting their stuff in the Champions League, where they recently beat Bayern Munich.

Everton are the latest visitors to Portman Road and the Toffees' failure to win on the road this season should give McKenna's men confidence that they can claim a first three points of the campaign on Saturday. Dyche's side have suffered embarrassing losses away to Tottenham Hotspur (4-0) and Villa (3-2), going two goals up in Birmingham before collapsing to defeat, and they also let a lead slip away to Leicester City (1-1) last month.

The Merseysiders are on a three-game unbeaten run having drawn with Leicester and Newcastle United (0-0) either side of a win against Crystal Palace (2-1) but their two most recent matches came at Goodison Park, and they are yet to show the form they have shown there away from home.

Saturday, therefore, feels like a golden opportunity for Ipswich to get a win on the board, and the crowd should be right behind them in their efforts to do so.

I fancy last season's EFL Championship runners-up to really announce their arrival in the Premier League this weekend, and we can get odds of 16/5 by including both teams to score, which has landed in five of their seven league games, and four of Everton's.

Bet Builder - Most Team Corners - Ipswich, Dara O'Shea (IPS) 1+ Shots, Dwight McNeil (EVE) 2+ Shots @ 3/1

Ipswich have taken 38 corners across seven Premier League games - including 10 in their last home game against Aston Villa - which averages out at 5.4 per game, and they've won the corner count in three of their previous five contests, drawing 5-5 at West Ham United last time out.

Everton, meanwhile, have only taken 22 corners (3.1p/g), with Leicester (16) the only side to have won fewer, and 41.7 per cent (10/22) of their total came at home to Bournemouth, the only game in which they've not lost the corner count.

At home and needing a win to really kickstart their season, I'm expecting Ipswich to pile the pressure on their visitors, who might be happy to soak up the pressure and wait for opportunities to counter through the likes of Ndiaye and McNeil.

The Tractor Boys have shown themselves to be a threat from corners with summer signing Dara O'Shea already shooting five times from such situations in just four Premier League appearances this term. The Republic of Ireland centre-back's debut at Brighton & Hove Albion saw him head twice in the space of a minute and he subsequently shot once against each of Southampton, Aston Villa and West Ham.

O'Shea has already served me well this season as he did his duties in an Ipswich v Southampton bet builder and an Ipswich v Aston Villa bet builder, the latter proving to be a 7/1 winner, so I'm more than happy to back him again for a shot here.

The third and final leg of this bet builder requires Everton winger McNeil to fire off two shots, something he has done four times in his last five games, only failing away to Villa, where he managed just one.

He shot twice against Bournemouth, four times at Leicester, three times at home to Palace and twice last time out against Newcastle, so he's unlikely to be shy in trying his luck on Saturday, particularly after scoring three goals and emerging as one of the Toffees' main men.

Offers

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