Preview: Stoke City vs Ipswich Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Ipswich Town make the trip to the bet365 Stadium to face Stoke City on Tuesday evening looking to kick-start their bid to earn automatic promotion to the Premier League.

At a time when the Tractor Boys sit in fourth place in the Championship table, the Potters are down in 15th and merely playing for pride at this stage of the season.

Match preview

With 10 points from their last four matches, Kieran McKenna can hardly be disappointed with the form of his Ipswich side.

Nevertheless, only earning a 1-1 draw at home to Leicester City on Saturday felt like two potentially pivotal points dropped in the race for promotion.

Leaders Coventry City will be uncatchable if they extend their five-match winning streak, but Ipswich may now be viewed as marginal outsiders behind Middlesbrough and Millwall for second spot.

Ipswich still have seven away matches to play; in their first 16 such fixtures, they only posted six wins.

However, three of those victories have come in the last five outings, the Tractor Boys beating Coventry, Derby County and Watford respectively.

That will give Ipswich the belief that they can earn three points in the Potteries, particularly with Stoke on a two-match losing streak.

© Imago

Mark Robins's team have suffered away defeats to Coventry City and Swansea City respectively, leaving Stoke 10 points adrift of the playoffs and 11 points above the relegation zone.

Realistically-speaking, Stoke are only fighting for a top-half finish, and Robins is not necessarily safe when it comes to keeping his job.

Since the start of December, Stoke have won just five of 20 matches in all competitions, including three in a row at the start of 2026.

Stoke have since won just one of their last 10 games in the Championship, a return of seven points since January 17 the fifth-worst return in the division.

Stoke City Championship form:

Stoke City form (all competitions):

Ipswich Town Championship form:

Ipswich Town form (all competitions):

Team News

© Imago / IMAGO / Zachary Locke

With Sorba Thomas serving a one-match ban, Million Manhoef may return in the final third for Stoke.

Milan Smit could feature ahead of Lamine Cisse, while Junior Tchamadeu may be considered for a start at right-back after his return from injury at Swansea.

Although the likes of Gavin Bazunu, Sam Gallagher and Divin Mubama have stepped up their work in training after injury, this game may come too soon.

McKenna will make a number of changes to his Ipswich XI, including recalling Sindre Egeli after his goal against Leicester.

Jack Clarke and George Hirst can also expect to return, while McKenna may be tempted to rest Azor Matusiwa who is one booking away from a two-match ban.

Stoke City possible starting lineup:

Simkin; Wilmot, Phillips, Gibson, Bocat; Nzonzi, Seko; Manhoef, Bae, Rak-Sakyi; Smit

Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:

Walton; Furlong, O'Shea, Kipre, Davis; Matusiwa, Neil; Egeli, Nunez, Clarke; Hirst

We say: Stoke City 1-2 Ipswich Town

While Stoke will welcome a return to the Potteries, Ipswich have shown in recent weeks that they can raise their game away from Portman Road when required. With that in mind, we are backing the visitors to earn a hard-fought win, potentially with a late goal.

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