IPSWICH V BLUES BIG MATCH PREVIEW
The Blues squad make the long journey to Suffolk on Christmas Day to prepare for the following day's Championship clash with Ipswich Town.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of Blues' Boxing Day trip to Portman Road.
TEAM NEWS
Blues
Blues will make a late decision on Seb Larsson, who has still not fully recovered from the groin problem that forced him to miss two games earlier this month.
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Seb Larsson is a doubt for Portman Road trip. |
Ipswich
Town will make a late call on full back David Wright after a scan showed no tear in his hamstring.
The defender limped through the last few minutes of their 2-2 draw at Coventry last Saturday and has sat out training this week.
Tommy Smith is a long-term absentee with a broken ankle
FORM GUIDE
Blues will be looking to bounce back from two successive defeats to Preston and Reading that saw Alex McLeish's side drop out of the automatic promotion places.
Ipswich have won just once in the last six games and currently lie 12th in the Championship.
MANAGERS' COMMENTS
Blues boss Alex McLeish:
"We've spoken about it and I think the players know they didn't play as well as they can against Reading. The goals we conceded were soft.
"We know it won't be easy against Ipswich. They came here last month and after a very good start by us they played well in the second half.
"We know on their own ground they're quite formidable and they will have the backing of the home crowd.
"We want players going there with enthusiasm and looking forward to it."
Ipswich boss Jim Magilton:
"I'm looking forward to the Birmingham game and so are my players.
"We know we need to perform at home and there is no better game to do it than on Boxing Day against a team that has Premier League quality in it.
"We played Birmingham a couple of years ago and beat them 1-0 at our place so a repeat of that performance would be very welcome.
"Birmingham beat us at their place last month and Alex told me that they played their best 30 minutes since he has been in charge against us, which is just our luck."
LAST VISIT
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Gavin Williams scores Ipswich's winner on 1 January 2007. |
Another festive encounter, this time New Year's Day 2007 and Blues went down to a solitary goal in the last minute by home substitute Gavin Williams.
BETTING
The bookies can't separate the two teams with a home and away win both rated at 13/8 and the draw at 23/10 with Bet 365.
You can get 17/2 on a 2-1 win for Blues and Marcus Bent to score the first goal of the game against his former club is 7/1. A scorecast bet on Bent and 2-1 is 45/1.
To see the full choice of betting on this game, click HERE.
MATCH COMMENTARY
If you can't make it to Portman Road, you can listen to full 90 minutes commentary of the game on Blues World.
The official website, bcfc.com, will have a match report available minutes after the final whistle along with McLeish's post-match comments.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Referee Iain Williamson will take charge of the game on Boxing Day.
The Berkshire- based official has refereed a total of 16 games so far this season, where he has issued 75 yellow cards and four reds.
The last time he took charge of a Blues game was back in November 2006 when Blues lost 4-3 away at Southampton.
On that occasion he booked six players, including Radhi Jaidi, Cameron Jerome, Stephen Kelly and Fabrice Muamba for Blues.
Mr Williamson will be assisted by Chris Francis from Cambridgeshire and Glenn Hambling from Norfolk.
TICKETS
Tickets will be available on the day at an increased cost of £2.50. For full details of prices, click HERE.
