After winning his first game as Ipswich Town boss, Kieran McKenna will be looking to start his tenure with consecutive victories when his side travel to thetPriestfield Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors may fancy their chances as they will face a Gillingham side who are in the League One relegation zone, with the Gills without a win in their last 12 games in all competitions.
Match preview
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Gillingham find themselves in a relegation scrap after collecting just four points from their last nine league games.
Languishing in 22nd place, the Gills are in desperate need of a first victory since October 19 as they bid to close the four-point gap to safety.
Although uneventful, Saturday's hosts can take some encouragement from a goalless draw away to MK Dons on the opening day of 2022.
That result ended a run of eight consecutive games without keeping a clean sheet, and Steve Evans will need his defence to shine once again if they are to pick up a positive result on Saturday.
The Gills boss also requires a performance from his frontmen, with the Gills struggling in the final third after scoring just 18 league goals this term - only Doncaster Rovers have scored fewer in League One.
Ipswich will be looking to take advantage of a struggling Gillingham side on Saturday as Kieran McKenna takes charge of his second game as Town boss.
His first match at the helm resulted in the Tractor Boys ending 2021 with a narrow victory over high-flying Wycombe Wanderers.
A James Norwood effort was all that was needed to guarantee Ipswich the three points, but if they have ambitions of forcing their way into the playoff picture, Town need to string a number of victories together.
Saturday's contest presents McKenna with one of his first hurdles as Ipswich boss, with the visitors in desperate need of an improvement in fortunes on the road.
The Tractor Boys have picked up just 11 points on their travels this season, and they enter Saturday's encounter winless in their last four away matches in all competitions.
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Team News
As for Gillingham, Kyle Dempsey returned from injury to feature on the bench against MK Dons, and though the midfielder was an unused substitute, he could come into start Saturday's contest.
Meanwhile, Vadaine Oliver led the line for the Gills on New Year's Day after returning from injury, and the striker is expected to keep his place in the side.
On Tuesday, Evans bolstered his options with the loan signing of Tom Dickson-Peters, and the Norwich loanee is expected to be included in the squad on Saturday.
Ipswich are still without long-term absentees Jon Nolan and Hayden Coulson.
Following the victory against Wycombe, McKenna could name an unchanged lineup for Saturday's contest.
The home side will be hoping that Norwood can continue the impressive form that has seen him score three goals in his last four appearances.
Gillingham possible starting lineup:
Cumming; Jackson, Ehmer, Bennett, McKenzie; Phillips, Tucker, O'Keefe; Lloyd, Carayol, Oliver
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Hladky; Donacien, Edmundson, Woolfenden; Burns, Evans, Morsy, Penney; Aluko, Norwood, Bonne
We say: Gillingham 1-2 Ipswich Town
We expect Saturday's encounter to be close, but the new manager bounce could prove significant, and we think that will help Ipswich to their fourth away league win of the season.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Ipswich Town win with a probability of 44.56%. A win for Gillingham had a probability of 28.84% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Ipswich Town win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.91%) and 0-2 (8.24%). The likeliest Gillingham win was 1-0 (8.94%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.61%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 1.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Ipswich Town would win this match.
