Eng. Championship
2011-10-22 - Ipswich Town vs Crystal Palace
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Championship
Saturday 22 October 2011 - Kickoff 3pm
Ipswich Town
Paul Jewell did not have the best start to the new season, but it is clear his methods are working on an experienced squad and they have been rewarded with many more positive results in recent weeks. Ipswich will be hoping that can continue as they host another team in decent form.
Ipswich moved up to 6th in the Championship last week and they are now only 6 points off the top spot, a far cry from earlier in the season when they were being hammered by Peterborough 7-1 away from home. Ipswich have a 4-0-2 record at Portman Road this season, scoring 11 goals and conceding 8.
The Tractor Boys are unbeaten in their last 6 games, winning 4 of those, as they made their way up the table. Ipswich have won 4 games in a row at Portman Road since starting the season with back to back defeats here, and they have scored 9 goals in those wins.
Ibrahima Sonka is likely to miss out this weekend having injured his hamstring on Tuesday nights win over Portsmouth.
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace have been struggling towards the wrong end of the Championship table in recent seasons and this was supposed to be no different. However, Dougie Freedman has really helped this side and inspired them to some really good performances which have left them higher than Ipswich in the table.
The Eagles are soaring in 5th place, ahead of Ipswich thanks to a superior goal difference, and it is quite surprising to see them just 6 points off the top of the table. Palace have a 3-0-3 record away from home this season, scoring 9 goals and conceding 7, with only 3 teams managing to score more goals on their travels so far.
Palace are unbeaten in their last 4 games following a surprise 1-0 loss at Doncaster Rovers. They have won their last 2 away games at Brighton and Watford, scoring 5 goals and conceding 1 goal in those games. Goals have not been a problem for the side so far this season, and they have only failed to find the net in 2 of their 12 League games.
Dean Moxey could return to the squad after recovering from a virus recently. Owen Garvan could also return to the squad.
Head to Head
Ipswich and Crystal Palace have been involved in some high scoring games of late, with the last 5 League meetings all seeing at least 3 goals scored.
Ipswich beat Palace at home and away last season, but it was Palace who completed the double the year before last.
Prediction
This looks like a hard game to predict a winner from as both teams have been in excellent form of late, and so I will instead look at the 'Over 2.5 Goals' market for my bet this weekend.
Both teams have been scoring goals of late, while they are not the greatest defensively, so I expect chances to be created by both sides during the course of the 90 minutes.
With Ipswich the more likely winner of the two, I expect they will need to score at least 2 goals to secure the points and I do feel much more comfortable taking the goals option at a standout 1.90.
The Pick :
Ipswich Town 2-1 Crystal Palace
