Between 2022 and 2024, Ipswich Town made a remarkable ascent from League One, the third tier of English football, to the Premier League. They had climbed the English football ladder too quickly, and Ipswich were relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2024/2025 season. However, the determined Kieran McKenna immediately took Ipswich Town back to the Premier League, before unexpectedly choosing to leave the managerial post he had held for many successful years. Ipswich are now managed by Gary O’Neil, under whom they have the same objective as during their previous spell in the Premier League: to remain in the top flight of English football. So far, things are going quite well. Despite sitting only 14th in the table, Ipswich Town are among the five most entertaining teams in the division. O’Neil’s side score plenty of goals but also concede plenty. Ipswich have conceded in all nine of their Premier League matches, failing to score only against Everton and Liverpool. As a result, the Ipswich Town coaching staff and players are not at all daunted by their upcoming opponents’ long run without conceding in domestic competitions. Indeed, Bournemouth have been transformed over the past three weeks. After Andoni Iraola left to take the Liverpool job, many predicted a decline in Bournemouth’s performances and took satisfaction in their poor results during the first couple of months of the season. Since 15 October, Marco Rose’s side have looked like a different team. Starting with the Europa League match against Sturm Graz, Bournemouth have won seven games in a row, none of them by a one-goal margin. In every Europa League, English League Cup and Premier League match during that period, Bournemouth have scored exactly two or three goals. Milan, Manchester United and Aston Villa were among the teams they beat. On Thursday in Prague, Bournemouth conceded their first goal in seven competitive matches as they beat local side Sparta Prague 3:1. Both teams in the Ipswich fixture are playing excellent attacking football. In the season before last, both of their meetings finished with three goals scored. The selection for the upcoming match is over 2.5 goals.