Ipswich Town makes their first-ever visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on matchday 11 of the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Tottenham Hotspur hosts Ipswich Town for a rare Premier League fixture that would be important to the hopes of either team as the campaign takes shape.
Their last top-flight encounter may have come in 2002, but Ipswich holds a three-game winning streak against the Lilywhites. Any positive result away in North London would represent a big scalp for the Tractor Boys who are keen to maintain their Premier League status.
Spurs are looking on to bigger achievements after the appointment of Ange Postecoglou which is turning out to be a match made in heaven given the Australian’s dynamic attacking football. Postecoglou’s trophy-winning pedigree is also rubbing off on the club who now see their side as a top team again.
Spurs were at the top for the early part of last season as they scored 74 goals and won 20 of their 38 league games. Yet, they spiralled into inconsistency due to injuries and suspensions to key players which led to missing out on the UEFA Champions League by two points.
The North Londoners are looking to build on a solid debut campaign for Postecoglou where they secured a fifth-place finish and a spot in the UEFA Europa League. Things did not go according to plan from the start as a win, a draw and two defeats spelled a poor return.
The derby loss to Arsenal seemed to rejig the side as they beat Coventry City in the League Cup and Brentford, before recording consecutive 3-0 victories over Qarabağ and Manchester United.
Tottenham produced a magnificent display against 10 men at Old Trafford which piled renewed pressure on manager Erik ten Hag, and they will be desperate to harness that momentum.
The campaign only gets tougher as Postecoglou must perform a balancing act in terms of squad rotation, with games coming thick and fast in all competitions. Hence, the Ipswich game is a good chance to head for the November international break with a good result in the bag.
On the other hand, Ipswich will not be easy pickings having achieved back-to-back promotions to end their 22-year absence from the top tier. Their resilience and free-flowing attacking football has served them well, and they are already making a mark on the Premier League.
Ipswich began the season with difficult games against Liverpool and Manchester City, but four consecutive draws followed as they showed their battling qualities.
In the most recent match against Aston Villa, Liam Delap scored a brace to claim a confidence-boosting point from the high-flying Villains. It was a draw that took Ipswich into 15th place in the standings with four points from six games.
Par for the course, Ipswich was comeback experts in the EFL Championship last season and Kieran McKenna’s side is now showing courage which would stand them in good stead in the top tier.
They will need all the fighting spirit they can summon in this trip to Tottenham, and they are expected to battle hard throughout the game.
Match Tickets
This Premier League encounter is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 10 November 2024 and it all kicks off at 15:00 UK time. Match tickets are available for sale on each club’s website with season ticket holders and club members getting priority consideration.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with over 60,000 watching in attendance will be the setting of this game and the players will be up for the challenge. Spurs enjoy fantastic support at their state-of-the-art arena and both sets of fans will not want to miss this game for anything.
It is sure to be a sold-out game and visiting supporters can grab their Tottenham vs Ipswich tickets on a resale site.
Team News
Postecoglou will be praying for much better fortunes for his key players in terms of fitness considering the difficulties he encountered in his first season.
Spurs currently have long-term injuries to Richarlison and Wilson Odobert who are set to be sidelined for a few more weeks. Elsewhere, Heung-min Son sat out the Man. United, match while Destiny Udogie also had to miss out through fatigue but they will be back fit in no time.
The Ipswich boss has been lucky enough to work with a full-strength squad so far which would be key to their hopes this season. Thankfully, they do not have to deal with much squad rotation ahead of the Spurs game and will be well-prepared for this trip.
Line-ups
Brennan Johnson scored for the fourth successive game against Man Utd and Spurs will hope his form can be sustained to help them win games. The Welshman is nevertheless one of their key players and the attack sort of picks itself given the absences of Richarlison and Odobert.
Dominic Solanke has also been among the goals as he continues to settle into his new team, his goalscoring qualities are much needed and his teammates will potentially be depending on him to win this one.
Tottenham: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Kulusevski, Bentancur, Maddison; Johnson, Solanke, Son
McKenna has added key recruitments to his squad but they have retained the best qualities that served them so well last term.
Leif Davies has been inspirational from left-back, but Ipswich has serious quality in the forward areas with youngsters Omari Hutchinson, Liam Delap, and the experienced Chiedozie Ogbene.
Ipswich Town: Muric; Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Greaves, Davis; Morsy, Phillips; Ogbene, Hutchinson, Clarke; Delap
Prediction
Spurs will be out to score goals but Ipswich will be setting up to nullify their opponents as much as possible and create counterattacking opportunities. The Tractor Boys will be hoping to manage the game with the chance of making game-altering substitutions that can help them secure a result.
Hence, Postecoglou’s side must control proceedings early and score goals to take the game away from their opponents. The longer Ipswich are in this game, the more risky it would be for Spurs, but the hosts have enough quality to break their resilient visitors.
Tottenham 3-1 Ipswich Town