Key events
Three changes for Ipswich following the draw at Southampton. Most intriguingly, Jack Clarke, signed from Sunderland, makes his first league start, while Kalvin Phillips and Chiedozie Ogbene also come in; Jean Cajuste, Wes Burns and Sammy Szmodics drop out.
I’m going to write those down, then we’ll ponder what they might mean.
Teams!
Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Muric; Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Greaves, Davis; Morsy, Phillips; Ogbene, Hutchinson, Clarke; Delap. Subs: Walton, Chaplin, Taylor, Johnson, Townsend, Szmodics, Luongo, Hirst.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martínez; Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres, Digne; Tielemans, Onana; Ramsey, Rogers, Bailey; Watkins. Subs: Gauchi, Barkley, Durán, Buendía, Philogene, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Bogardem Swinkels.
Referee: Stuart Atwell (Nuneaton)
Preamble
It’s much easier to impress people when they don’t know what to expect, a tribute to the human capacity for negative expectation: I’ll automatically assume it, they, you or them are rubbish, so anything better than that is a win.
Once they do know, though, it all changes – which, by amazing coincidence, is where Aston Villa found themselves at the start of this season. Before it started, we could’ve been forgiven for wondering whether they’d locate the form that took them into the Champions League – at the same time as demanding it from them, of course. Well, four wins and one defeat later – plus one win from one in Europe – suggests they might just manage it.
The thing is, Villa were actually good before they proved it – Unai Emery inherited a deep, talented and expensive squad that just needed his genius for elevating clubs of their precise description. So we’ve no reason to be surprised by how good they still are, the quality of the team reflecting the quality of manager and the quality of the manager reflecting the quality of the team in perfect symbiosis.
Ipswich, meanwhile, are finding it tough. Kieran McKenna has already performed a miracle taking them from League 1 to the Premier League in ridiculous style, but imposing that at the top level is a different challenge. Though they can’t have expected to take anything from their first two games – Liverpool home, Man City away – they’ve since drawn three in a row. Which might represent progress, but could just as easily evidence missed opportunity given Fulham home and Southampton away are the kinds of matches a promoted side hoping to stay up will feel it must win.
They will, though, feel they’ve a chance this afternoon: a 95th-minute equaliser last time out means they’re on a buzz, while Villa have the not insubstantial distraction of a midweek encounter with Bayern Munich looming. This should be good, which is where we came in…
Kick-off: 2pm BST