A detailed analysis of Southampton's Premier League opponents Ipswich Town.
Southampton fans, January is finally over. Honestly, this month was a testing period for Southampton both on and off the pitch.
Looking at the Premier League, the situation hasn't changed differently. As a matter of fact, the Saints lost all four of their scheduled Premier League games.
Considering the opponents they have faced, Southampton were held back due to a challenging fixture list. Nevertheless, the club might be on to some relatively easier hurdles now.
Tomorrow, Southampton will kickoff February with an away visit to Ipswich Town. The Tractor boys have also witnessed the hardships of the Premier League similar to the Saints, accompanying them at 19th place.
Premier League opponent preview: Ipswich Town - Form, Best players and more
Unfortunately, the actual Premier League story is significantly different than expected. Ipswich have taken four points from their previous five games and have opened a ten point lead over Southampton.
Safe to say, Southampton will want to be in Ipswich's shoes at the moment. However, these results are the compounded efforts of great squad planning in the preseason.
Kieran McKenna led Ipswich Town boast of consistent players like Arijanet Muric, Dara O'Shea and Sammie Szmodics. Add to them, the talents of Liam Delap, Omari Hutchinson and Julio Enciso, Ipswich is clearly a force to reckon with.
Southampton also agrees with it having experienced their competitiveness earlier. The two sides met at St. Mary's where Ipswich Town scored a late equaliser to split points in the Premier League.
Interestingly, Tyler Dibling bagged his first Southampton goal in that game. As people say, time flies quickly, Dibling is expectedly on the brink of a massive transfer away from Southampton.
Coming to the head-to-head records, Ipswich Town has dominated this statistic in recent years. According to AiScore, Southampton have twice ended on the losing side in their previous three clashes.
Optimistically, all three matches have been largely balanced thus, Southampton does stand a chance to win. Let's wait and watch to see whether it happens.