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Manchester United are strong favourites with the Opta supercomputer to claim three points
in the Premier League on Sunday in Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge. Look ahead to the game with our Ipswich Town vs Manchester United prediction and preview.
Ipswich Town vs Manchester United: The Key Insights
- The Opta supercomputer ranks Manchester United as favourites, with a 54.8% win probability to Ipswich’s 22.2%.
- Ruben Amorim will become the youngest manager to take charge of the Red Devils in 55 years.
- The Tractor Boys are aiming to secure back-to-back top-flight wins for the first time since February 2002.
Ruben Amorim will be looking to hit the ground running as Manchester United boss in Sunday’s Premier League encounter at Ipswich Town.
The Portuguese coach was appointed as Erik ten Hag’s successor at the start of November but saw out a notice period at Sporting CP, leaving Ruud van Nistelrooy to steer the ship before his arrival.
At the age of 39 years and 302 days on the day of the game, Amorim will be the youngest coach to take charge of a first-team game for the Red Devils since Wilf McGuinness back in August 1969 (31y, 288d).
One good omen for the new boss is United’s recent record against promoted opponents. Indeed, the Red Devils have emerged victorious on 17 of their past 19 such fixtures (D2) with their last defeat in this scenario a 2-1 setback at Watford in November 2021. Moreover, they have won nine on the bounce in away games at promoted sides – only Chelsea in top-flight history have racked up 10+ away wins against such opponents, racking up 21 from October 2002 to November 2008.
Several players in United’s ranks will be looking to impress the new boss, with Alejandro Garnacho firmly in that camp. The Argentine has 20 Premier League goal contributions (13 goals, seven assists), making him only the second non-British player to reach that tally for United before the age of 21 along with Cristiano Ronaldo (25 – 14 goals, 11 assists).
Ipswich may be considered the underdogs in this one, but boss Kieran McKenna was previously on the coaching staff at Old Trafford for five years and the Tractor Boys went into the international break on the high of earning a first league win of the campaign courtesy of a 2-1 triumph at Tottenham. They have not won back-to-back top-flight games since February 2002.
Still, they remain without a home win this season having played five at Portman Road this term. Five promoted teams have previously failed to win their opening six home matches of a Premier League campaign and all went on to be relegated (Swindon Town in 1993-94, Crystal Palace in 1997-98, Norwich City in 2004-05, Sunderland in 2005-06, and Burnley in 2023-24).
Part of the issue has been the fact Ipswich have been pretty shot-shy. They rank lowest in the Premier League this season for shots (108), shots on target (33), touches in the opposition’s box (199), and expected goals (10.2).
Indeed, the situation may be even bleaker were it not for the form of Liam Delap, who has scored six of Ipswich’s 12 Premier League goals this season. He is one of three players to have contributed at least half of his team’s Premier League goals in 2024-25 so far, alongside Manchester City ace Erling Haaland (55% – 12/22) and Nottingham Forest’s in-form striker Chris Wood (53% – 8/15).
United have had their share of injury issues this season, though Amorim may be able to call on summer signing Leny Yoro, who has recovered from the fractured metatarsal he suffered in pre-season, while Kobbie Mainoo is back in training after a thigh problem. Harry Maguire is still out, though, while Lisandro Martínez was sent home from Argentina duty over the international break with a back problem and is a doubt.
Ipswich, meanwhile, welcome Kalvin Phillips back from suspension for this clash. Jacob Greaves, ex-United defender Axel Tuanzebe and Jack Taylor could all come back into contention too.
Ipswich Town vs Manchester United Head-to-Head
Ipswich have lost four of their previous five Premier League games against Manchester United, drawing the other, and failed to score in each of those losses.
However, that should be caveated by the fact there has not been a top-flight meeting between these two teams since April 2002.
United were triumphant 1-0 at Portman Road on that occasion and they have only once in their league history won consecutive matches at Portman Road, doing so way back in the 1962-63 season.
Ipswich Town vs Manchester United Prediction
Manchester United are strong favourites to secure victory with the Opta supercomputer in this fixture, emerging with the win on 54.8% of the 10,000 simulations conducted.
By contrast, Ipswich were the victors 22.2% of the time, with the draw occurring in the remaining 23% of outcomes.
In terms of the season overall, United are down in a disappointing 13th and their predicted final finish is well spread. Currently, 10th is just about the most likely outcome (12.7%), with eighth and ninth (both 12.4%) not far behind. There is a minute probability they finish as high as third (0.5%) and an even smaller chance of relegation (0.1%).
Ipswich’s picture is a little clearer, with a 30.6% chance of finishing 19th their likeliest outcome. Most supporters would take 17th come the end of the campaign if offered it and there is a 15.4% probability that McKenna’s men achieve that exact position.
Ipswich Town vs Manchester United Predicted Lineups
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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