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Ipswich Town vs Liverpool: Iraola Aims for First Win

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Football

Portman Road under the lights. A newly promoted side still stinging from a hammering at Old Trafford. A giant of English football searching, a little uncomfortably, for its first league win under a new manager.

Ipswich Town against Liverpool on Friday night is no early-season throwaway. It already carries an edge.

Kick-off is at 8:00pm BST in Suffolk (3:00pm ET), with every seat taken and the away allocation long since snapped up. Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event show it live in the UK, with streaming on NOW TV. Across the Atlantic, USA Network and FuboTV carry the game in the United States, while FuboTV Canada has it covered north of the border.

Across Europe, Sky Sport broadcasts in Germany and Canal+ in France. Star Sports Select and Disney+ Hotstar pick it up in India and the subcontinent, Optus Sport in Australia, and Sky Sport NZ in New Zealand. SuperSport MaXimo shows it across Sub-Saharan Africa, with ESPN and Disney+ streaming the fixture in South America. Those on the move can lean on free live audio commentary via the official Liverpool FC app.

Ipswich looking for a response, and a statement

Ipswich opened their campaign with a tidy win over Sunderland, a reminder of the momentum that carried them up. Then came Manchester United and a brutal 5-2 reality check.

Gary O’Neil’s answer is unlikely to be romantic. It will be pragmatic. He is expected to lock things down with a compact five-man defense, using Darnell Furlong as a wing-back to patrol the flank and plug gaps when Liverpool’s wide players drive inside.

Emersonn, who limped off last weekend, remains a doubt and could miss out. In midfield, Exequiel Palacios is set to start centrally, edging ahead of Marcelino Nunez in the battle for control in the middle third.

Ipswich’s predicted XI has a solid, almost stubborn spine:

Scherpen; Furlong, O’Shea, Diop, Greaves, Davis; Fatawu, Palacios, Lukic, Maeda; Enciso.

There is pace out wide, bite in midfield and enough technical quality between Palacios, Fatawu and Enciso to trouble Liverpool if the game breaks open. But O’Neil knows this is as much about discipline as it is about ambition.

He also brings history to the touchline. He was the last manager of a newly promoted side to beat Liverpool in the league, doing it with Bournemouth in 2023. That memory will not be lost on him—or on the visitors.

Liverpool’s new era still searching for lift-off

Liverpool arrive with two draws on the board: 2-2 at Newcastle, 2-2 against Nottingham Forest. Entertaining, yes. Convincing, not yet.

This is Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool, not Jürgen Klopp’s. The shape is more vertical, the transitions sharper, the risk level higher. The personnel, too, has shifted. Mohamed Salah, Ibrahima Konate and Andrew Robertson have gone, ripping out three pillars of the side that defined an era.

The rebuild is already on the pitch. At the back, Virgil van Dijk now marshals a line that includes Jeremie Frimpong’s attacking thrust and Milos Kerkez’s energy on the left, with Jacquet expected to partner Van Dijk in central defense. In front of them, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai form the engine room.

Szoboszlai reaches a landmark on Friday: his 150th appearance for Liverpool. A significant number for a player who increasingly feels like the reference point for Iraola’s midfield—pressing, passing, shooting from range, setting the tempo.

Further forward, the predicted trio behind Alexander Isak—Munoz, Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo—offers movement and creativity between the lines. Isak, leading the line, gives Liverpool a focal point they have long craved: tall, mobile, ruthless when the service is right.

The injury list is not kind. Joe Gomez remains sidelined along with Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike, Federico Chiesa and Giovanni Leoni. New €125 million signing Bradley Barcola has travelled, but he is expected to start on the bench as he adapts to Iraola’s demands. His presence alone, though, is a reminder of where this project is heading.

Liverpool’s likely XI:

Alisson; Frimpong, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Munoz, Wirtz, Gakpo; Isak.

Two games, two draws, a new manager and a squad in flux. The performance at Portman Road will say plenty about how quickly this version of Liverpool can harden into a title-chasing side rather than a team still sketching its identity.

History leans red, but O’Neil knows the route

The numbers tell a clear story. Liverpool dominate the head-to-head against Ipswich Town and arrive with a flawless Premier League record at Portman Road: six visits, four wins, two draws, not a single defeat.

They rarely give much away, either. Liverpool have conceded no more than one goal in each of their last 11 competitive meetings with Ipswich. The recent scorelines are brutal reading for the hosts:

  • 4-1 to Liverpool in January 2025
  • 2-0 in August 2024
  • 5-0 in May 2002
  • 6-0 in February 2002
  • 1-0 in December 2000

Ipswich know this fixture can get away from them quickly if they misjudge the tempo or lose their shape. Liverpool know they have the tools to turn dominance into damage if they find their rhythm early.

The market reflects that imbalance. Liverpool are strong favourites at 11/20. The draw sits at 7/2. An Ipswich win is priced at 4/1.

Yet Portman Road will not care about the odds once the whistle goes. A newly promoted side, a manager with a blueprint for upsetting Liverpool, and a crowd desperate for a scalp—this is exactly the kind of night that can jolt a season one way or the other.

For Iraola, still chasing that first league win, the question is blunt: does his new-look Liverpool impose itself, or does Portman Road write a very different script?

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