Two clubs scrapping for points at opposite ends of the Premier League table prepare for battle on Saturday afternoon, as relegation-threatened Ipswich Town welcome Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest to Portman Road.
The top-flight outfits are renewing hostilities barely two weeks on from a dramatic FA Cup fifth-round tie, where after Kieran McKenna's men forced penalties at the City Ground, they were agonisingly dumped out courtesy of a 5-4 shootout defeat.
The Tractor Boys have been condemned to another painful loss since, going down 1-0 to Crystal Palace in last weekend's top-flight affair to make it nine games without a Premier League win in 2025.
On the other hand, Forest stunned reigning champions Manchester City by the same scoreline to cement their position in the Champions League places, and they only have a four-point gap to make up to second-placed Arsenal.
Here, Sports Mole looks at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.
© Imago
Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 82
Nott'm Forest wins: 41
Draws: 19
Ipswich wins: 22
From 82 previous meetings between Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town in all competitions, the Tricky Trees' success rate stands at exactly 50%, having prevailed in 41 of those battles while suffering 22 losses and playing out 19 draws.
The former European Cup winners have succeeded in each of their last two head-to-heads, most recently edging a tense FA Cup fifth-round penalty shootout in March 2025, four months from a 1-0 win in their Premier League reunion.
The FA Cup triumph extended Forest's unbeaten sequence in this particular contest to a respectable five games, last going down to their East Anglian foes during a six-goal Championship classic in 2017, where the Tractor Boys came up trumps 4-2.
However, that is the only time that Ipswich have managed to prevail in the last eight editions of this fixture, six of which have been won by Forest, with the other aberration being a 1-1 draw at Portman Road in the 2018-19 Championship campaign.
The Garibaldi have not always had Ipswich's number in the 21st century, though, going winless in six straight Championship games versus the Tractor Boys from December 2013 to March 2016, but they are seldom outplayed on their own patch.
Indeed, Ipswich have not managed a single away win over Forest since the turn of the millennium, going without victory in 16 consecutive matches at the City Ground since Matt Holland propelled them to a 1-0 success in December 1999.
Outside of league action, Forest and Ipswich also contested the 1978 Charity Shield, which was not much of a contest in truth as the Reds ran out 5-0 winners.
However, the Tractor Boys boast the biggest margin of victory in this fixture, having pummelled Nottingham Forest 6-0 in a 2005 Championship clash, where Darren Bent netted the sixth and final goal.
Last 20 meetings
Mar 03, 2025: Nott'm Forest 1-1 Ipswich [5-4 pens] (FA Cup Fifth Round)
Nov 30, 2024: Nott'm Forest 1-0 Ipswich (Premier League)
Mar 16, 2019: Ipswich 1-1 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Dec 01, 2018: Nott'm Forest 2-0 Ipswich (Championship)
Apr 14, 2018: Nott'm Forest 2-1 Ipswich (Championship)
Dec 02, 2017: Ipswich 4-2 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
May 07, 2017: Nott'm Forest 3-0 Ipswich (Championship)
Nov 19, 2016: Ipswich 0-2 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Mar 05, 2016: Ipswich 1-0 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Oct 24, 2015: Nott'm Forest 1-1 Ipswich (Championship)
Apr 25, 2015: Ipswich 2-1 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Oct 05, 2014: Nott'm Forest 2-2 Ipswich (Championship)
Mar 29, 2014: Ipswich 1-1 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Dec 14, 2013: Nott'm Forest 0-0 Ipswich (Championship)
Mar 05, 2013: Nott'm Forest 1-0 Ipswich (Championship)
Nov 27, 2012: Ipswich 3-1 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Jan 02, 2012: Ipswich 1-3 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Nov 19, 2011: Nott'm Forest 3-2 Ipswich (Championship)
Jan 03, 2011: Ipswich 0-1 Nott'm Forest (Championship)
Oct 23, 2010: Nott'm Forest 2-0 Ipswich (Championship)
Ben Knapton
