- In the Premier League 2026/2027, Ipswich have won two and lost one of three home matches.
- Nottingham Forest have won one, drawn two and lost two of their last five matches.
- Nottingham Forest have won the last three head-to-head meetings between the two clubs, including a 4-2 victory away from home in the Premier League 2024/2025.
An intense affair at Portman Road
Ipswich Town are available at 2/1 for Friday's game with Nottingham Forest at Portman Road, which is a considerable price for a team that have won 2 and lost 1 of their 3 home matches in the Premier League 2026/2027 campaign. The Reds are favourites at 31/25, whilst the draw is coming in at 49/20, which seems a little low given the form of both teams in the early stages of the season.
Ipswich have taken 9 points from their opening 6 games to sit 10th in the table, while Forest have taken 5 from their first 3 and sit 15th, so it is the Tractor Boys who have made the sharper start to the season. Gary O'Neil's pragmatic and flexible system of play sets his team up to be solid in defense and to play with quick vertical breaks when they do get the ball, making them very difficult to deal with, as some teams have already found.
In the last 3 competitive matches, Ipswich have suffered a 2-4 home defeat to Arsenal in the EFL Cup, a 1-0 away loss to Everton in the Premier League and then came that vital 2-1 home win over Fulham in the same competition, so their form is mixed but they have managed to bounce back well when they've had to.
Forest have won 1, drawn 2 and lost 2 of their last 5, but they come into this game on the back of consecutive defeats, and their three most recent results were a 2-1 away win at Aston Villa, a 0-1 home loss to Coventry City and a 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace. Oliver Glasner has the Reds playing a structured 3-4-2-1, which closes down to a 5-4-1 when they're out of possession.
Nottingham Forest are on a high
Forest have the edge in the head-to-head, having beaten Ipswich in the last 3 meetings, including a 4-2 win in the Premier League 2024/2025, and they come into this one full of confidence. Forest's average of 1.67 goals per away game in the Premier League 2026/2027 is decent for a newly promoted team, and Ipswich have conceded just 4 in 3 home games.
Emersonn tops the scoring charts for Ipswich in the Premier League 2026/2027 with 2 goals in 5 games, but his clinical finishing means that the hosts will always have a sharp edge up top, whilst Dan Ndoye has 1 in 5 for Forest, with Morgan Gibbs-White having added 2 assists in 5 to keep the visitors ticking over in the final third.
The odds certainly suggest that Forest are the more likely winners of Friday's clash and we are happy to come down on that side, although Ipswich do have the home advantage and their record at the back so far this season suggests that they can make this game a tight one. Glasner's compact system is a chess match for the half-spaces, but O'Neil's system relies on a trigger to open up the play, so we can see this being a knife-edge affair.
There is plenty of attacking talent on show here, so a shrewd punt could be on Both Teams to Score - Yes at 31/50.
