Manchester City’s breach of the Premier League’s financial rules has left a question mark on how the Citizens would perform for the remainder of the season.
Enzo Maresca’s men have returned from the international break with two tough fixtures against Liverpool and PSG and that has not helped clear the picture.
City were 3-0 winners over the Reds at Anfield, but at the point of Ryan Gravenberch’s dismissal, the Expected Goals from last weekend’s win over Liverpool were 0.92 vs 0.16 in favor of the Merseyside men.
The red card turned the tide and Man City and they were comfortable winners in the end, but the performance for the first 60 minutes was not good.
The Citizens were then beaten 4-2 by PSG in the Champions League on Wednesday, and that result is easy to excuse as a loss to the European champions.
However, the motivation of Maresca’s men would surely have been peaking for a Champions League tie against the top team on the continent, and there have to be doubts about that being repeated against Ipswich in the Premier League.
Of course, City have a huge class and resources edge on their opponents, but Ipswich can have hopes of finding the net at the Etihad and turning this one into a shootout.
Gary O’Neil’s men are putting up good Expected-Goal numbers for a team promoted from the Championship last season, and Tractor Boys have already scored 14 goals in their eight matches.
Ipswich scored three goals in a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace, twice when going down 5-2 at Old Trafford, and hit another brace when losing 4-2 to the champions Arsenal at Portman Road.
Manchester City vs Ipswich prediction: Over 3.5 goals (-105) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number to -115.
