Ipswich vs Leicester Betting Tips & Preview

Ipswich Town to win

Ipswich Town to win is our selection for this Carabao Cup second round tie at Portman Road, and the case rests largely on where the two clubs currently stand in terms of momentum and home advantage. Ipswich head into this one off the back of consecutive wins, including a home victory over Sunderland just days before this fixture, and they'll fancy their chances of carrying that form into a home cup night. Leicester have also been winning, but their sample of matches is smaller and less recent in terms of continuity, and history between these two sides shows Ipswich have more than held their own even when they haven't come out on top. The model gives Ipswich a 44.4% chance of victory, the highest of the three possible outcomes, and that's the basis for the pick rather than any perceived gap against the bookmaker price of 1.75.

Recent Form

Ipswich Town's last four completed fixtures show a team building some momentum at the right time. Draws away at West Bromwich Albion and Southampton were followed by back-to-back wins, first at home to Queens Park Rangers and then, most recently, a home win over Sunderland just three days before this tie. That's two wins on the spin heading into this match, and both have come without needing to travel, which bodes well given this fixture is also at Portman Road.

Leicester City's record on paper looks strong too, with wins in both of their last two completed fixtures, away at Blackburn Rovers and at home to Northampton Town. There's less recent data available to judge their current run in full, but two wins from two is a solid platform, even if the gap in fixtures makes it harder to gauge sharpness heading into this game compared to Ipswich's more continuous run of form.

Head-to-Head

The head-to-head record between these two sides over the last five meetings reads two draws, two Leicester wins, and no Ipswich victories. Leicester won 2025-12-13 and 2025-05-18, both times as the away side in this particular pairing since those fixtures were hosted by Leicester, while the three other meetings, including the most recent one on 2026-03-07, all ended level.

That record clearly favours Leicester on the numbers, and it would be wrong to pretend otherwise. But it's also worth noting that Ipswich haven't actually lost any of the last five meetings outright when hosting Leicester at Portman Road based on the fixtures listed, with draws the pattern in those home meetings. That home resilience, combined with Ipswich's current form trumping the historical head-to-head trend, is central to why we're backing the hosts here despite Leicester's superior recent record in this fixture.

Team News

Ipswich Town have three players unavailable. Ashley Young remains out with a hip flexor problem, sidelined since January 2026, while Sammie Szmodics has been out since March 2025 with an unspecified injury. Kasey McAteer is also missing, out since May 2026 with an unknown issue. None of these are recent, high-impact withdrawals that would suggest a sudden squad crisis, but they do represent a reduction in attacking and squad depth options for Ipswich.

Leicester City's absentee list is shorter but not insignificant. Harry Winks remains unavailable through suspension, a situation dating back to April 2025, while Ben Nelson is a more recent concern, sidelined since early August 2026 with a cruciate ligament tear, an injury that typically rules a player out for an extended spell. Overall, neither side looks to be significantly weakened by injuries and suspensions for this particular meeting, based on what's been reported.