1 month ago
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Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna speaks to Sky, and is asked for his thoughts on his side being favourites for promotion. “It’s a positive … it reflects we’ve done some good things over the last few years … in the end it doesn’t mean very much, you have to earn the right every game, every week … there is a lot of work ahead of us … we are ready for the challenge … it’s not alien to us … in League One we were one of the promotion favourites … our depth isn’t what it needs to be in some positions … we’re pretty tight … we expect to be stronger in a few weeks’ time … [Ajax striker Chuba Akpom] has been well publicised … it’s one we’re trying to get done … we’re hoping for good news on that one.”
Birmingham name three debutants in their starting XI. Kyōgo, formerly of Celtic, starts up front, while Bright Osayi-Samuel and Phil Neumann line up at the back. Demarai Gray makes his second debut for his boyhood club, having since played for Leicester, Bayer Leverkusen, Everton and Al-Ittifaq.
Ipswich have one new name in their starting line-up: midfielder Azor Matusiwa. Ashley Young, 40 last month, is on the bench waiting for his first start since his move from Everton.
The teams
Preamble
Birmingham City and Ipswich Town return to the Championship tonight, albeit from different directions, and possibly therefore in different moods. Birmingham slummed it in League One last season, racking up 111 points on their way to the second third-tier title in their history; meanwhile Ipswich, having reached the Premier League arguably ahead of schedule, won just four games all season and were cashiered back from whence they came.
Ipswich’s sorry fate won’t have any bearing on the ambitions of these two clubs. Town want to bounce back to the top flight immediately, and are the short-priced favourites to win this division; Birmingham fancy following in Ipswich’s footsteps, given the Tractor Boys were the last team to leap from League One to the Premier League with successive promotions, and they’re third-favourites in the race for glory. Everyone can work out how to stay in the Premier League when they get there.
An exciting way to begin the Championship season, then. The match kicks off at 8pm UK time, and if we can get through the entire evening without reference to either Tom Brady or Ed Sheeran that’ll also be great.
