In the last week, Leicester City have moved up again to the Premier League. Now it seems that they may be followed by the big surprise team Ipswich Town.
After Leeds United stumbled against Queens Park Rangers at the weekend, Ipswich could capitalize if they beat FA Cup semi-finalists Coventry City away on Tuesday night.
They did, after Cameron Burgess scored the winning goal 20 minutes from time.
That result means that Ipswich are up to second place in the Championship with one game remaining. Leeds can still go through, if Leeds beat Southampton on Saturday – if Ipswich lose their last game. The problem for Leeds is that it is against Huddersfield. Huddersfield have already been relegated and see Leeds as one of their biggest rivals in the Championship.
One point will be enough for Ipswich on Saturday to secure a return to the Premier League.
No meetings for 22 years
As the table looks at the time of writing, before the last league round, it seems that Leeds United, Southampton, Norwich and West Bromwich will settle for the playoff places. Hull City still have an opportunity to sneak in.
Of those teams, Leeds and Southampton were up last season, Norwich last up in 2021/22, and West Bromwich up in 2020/21, and Hull City last up in the 2014/15 season, when Andy Robertson played for them. Fabio Carvalho and Tyler Morton are playing there on loan this season.
Liverpool have not faced Ipswich since 4 December 2002, when the teams met in the League Cup fourth round. It ended 1-1, and the Reds won after a penalty shootout.
At that time, it was not so long since the last meeting. Liverpool had beaten “The Tractor Boys” 5-0 at Anfield and 6-0 at Portman Road in the season Ipswich were relegated from the Premier League. They haven’t been up since.
The season before, Ipswich had taken the Premier League by storm. Directly from promotion, they challenged the elite clubs and were in the top six for almost the entire season. At one point they were as high as third, which would have given them entry into the Premier League. It was Liverpool who got ahead of them in the very last round of the series. Liverpool finished in the Champions League, while Ipswich was to play the UEFA Cup.
Ipswich have won the league title in England’s top division once. It happened in the 1961/62 season, when they came ahead of Burnley, Tottenham and Everton in the table. In the same season, Liverpool won the second division under Bill Shankly, and moved up again to the top tier.