Kieran McKenna insists that the city of Ipswich is “still in battle” to prevent the relegation of the Premier League prior to Wednesday's trip to the European hopeful Bournemouth.
Ipswich is 18th in the table before the visit to Vitality Stadium, where they visit 12 points on drift of safety after the 1-0 win of the 17th Wolves placed on West Ham on Tuesday.
McKenna remains floating on his side and avoids immediate return to the championship, despite having four straight competitions with a 4-2 reverse against Nottingham Forest previous time-out.
“There are 27 points to play for, almost a quarter of the season, so we know from that perspective that we are still in battle,” said the Ipswich boss at his press conference for the game.
“We know that things can change quickly this week with one or two positive results, so there is absolutely belief that we can compete until the end of the season.”
McKenna will not be too interested in the result of the 17th Wolves placed in West Ham, instead “saving his mental energy” for aspects within the control of Ipswich.
Kieran McKenna's thoughts prior to the journey from the city to Bournemouth on Wednesday evening. #Bouips pic.twitter.com/ed0Harde3i
– Ipswich Town (@ipswichtown) March 31, 2025
However, he offered a special praise for Andoni Iraola, whose side is 10th, but only five points on Drift from the top four on the way to the midweek action.
“He did very well. It seems like a very good fit,” said McKenna about the most important Iraola in Bournemouth.
“They have done very well as a club in recent seasons, and recruitment has been excellent. They have a clear identity and have players who fit the profile of how they want to play.”
Bournemouth will also want to bounce back on Wednesday, after being dumped by Manchester City from the FA Cup last eight and loses their last competition meeting 2-1 to Brentford.
Players to watch
Bournemouth – Antoine Semenyo
Antoine Semenyo may not have scored in the Premier League since January 25 in the 5-0 Thrashing of Forest, but he will be one to pay attention to on Wednesday.
The Bournemouth striker has borne the ball 5,373 million in the Premier League this season, more than any non-defender. Fifty-four of his carrys have ended in either Semenyo shooting party (32) or creating a chance (22), with only Cole Palmer (58) and Mohamed Salah (56) who do this more in the competition this period.
Ipswich Town – Liam Delap
Since 15 February, Liam Delap has not found the back of the net in this competition against Aston Villa and has since been going to go four league matches without a goal.
McKenna needs his star forward to find form for the goal, and to break down his aggression, given his 60 errors the most in the Premier League this season.
Match forecast – Bournemouth Win
Many will struggle to look beyond a home victory here, including the front heel predictions of the Opta-Supercomputer, in which Bournemouth is the heavy favorites.
Ipswich has indeed won only one of their 16-out competition matches against Bournemouth (D7 L8) and defeated them 3-2 in September 1953, which is their first visit since a 2-2 draw in the championship in November 2014.
In the meantime, Bournemouth wants to complete their first competition-dubbele about Ipswich since 1949-50 in the third division South after winning the inverted fixture with 2-1 on Portman Road this campaign.
Focused on tomorrow night pic.twitter.com/uyoohvszfo
– AFC Bournemouth (@afcbournemouth) April 1, 2025
Goals must also be on the maps on Wednesday, since both teams have scored between these two teams in each of the last eight league games.
That freely scoring point extends to March 1989, while Bournemouth scored against McKenna's side in each of the last 11.
It would be expected for the strong run of Bournemouth to continue against Ipswich, who lost eight of their last nine Premier League matches (D1), including their last four on the bounce.
Since December 2011 they have not lost consecutive league matches (seven), the latter in the Premier League in April 1995 (eight), although Bournemouth also lost three of their last four Premier League matches (D1).
Opta wins probability
Bournemouth Win – 65.4%draw – 18.5%Ipswich Town Win – 16.2%
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