MatchThe opposition lowdown: Ipswich Town

Season so far

Ipswich's return to the top flight began with a 2-1 home victory over Sunderland as Gary O'Neil took charge of the side competitively for the first time.

They then hosted Leicester City in the second round of the Carabao Cup at Portman Road, earning a 3-1 win to set up a meeting with Arsenal.

Last weekend, O'Neil's men travelled to Manchester United in their first away game of the season and were beaten 5-2.

Summer transfer business

The Tractor Boys completed a busy window with the deadline-day signing of Zian Flemming.

The striker from Burnley was the 14th senior player added to their squad this summer.

Also through the door at Portman Road were Julio Enciso, Emersonn, Abdul Fatawu, Exequiel Palacios, Abdoul Ouattara, Florentino, Sasa Lukic, Issa Diop, Kjell Scherpen, Daizen Maeda, Chuba Akpom, Cedric Kipre and Kayne van Oevelen.

Team news

Emersonn is expected to be fit despite coming off at half-time against United with a knee injury.

However, the 8pm BST kick-off comes too soon for injured trio Azor Matusiwa, Jaden Philogene and Jack Taylor.

Previous meetings

Liverpool's most recent clashes with Ipswich came in the 2024-25 campaign, when they were last in the Premier League.

On the opening day of that term, the Reds secured a 2-0 victory at Portman Road, with Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah on target in the second half.

In the reverse fixture at Anfield in the January, a 4-1 win was earned thanks to goals from Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo (two).

What was said

O'Neil, Ipswich head coach

"We need to make sure that no matter who comes to Portman Road, we make sure that we're right in the game. We've scored four goals in two games and we look a goal threat. We need to keep that going.

"There are hardly any clean sheets in the Premier League now. It's really, really difficult to keep the opposition at bay. The ball's in play much longer, set-plays are huge, there's more and more attacking threat on the pitch, so you have to be able to score goals.

"It's Portman Road under the lights and I know the fans will be looking forward to it. We've got fantastic energy in the group and you can tell they're looking forward to the challenge."

Pre-match stats

• Ipswich are unbeaten in their last 18 home league games, 17 in the Championship last season and the 2-1 win against Sunderland this term. They have not won consecutive Premier League home games matches a run of four in December 2001/January 2002.
• They could win their opening two home league fixtures of a top-flight season for the first time since 1993-94, with this their fifth campaign since then.
• Ipswich have kept one clean sheet in their last 36 Premier League games and none in their last 21 since a 2-0 win over Chelsea in December 2024.
• They have lost their last four Premier League matches against Liverpool across the 2001-02 and 2024-25 seasons, conceding 17 goals and scoring just once.