Seeking to make it two wins from two in Southern Group A of the EFL Trophy, Ipswich Town and Colchester United go head to head at the Portman Road Stadium on Tuesday.
Both sides were in action in the FA Cup over the weekend as the hosts played out a draw with Oldham United, while the visitors claimed an emphatic win over Sudbury.
Match preview
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Ipswich Town were denied a dream start to their EFL Trophy campaign when they fell to a 2-1 loss at the hands of West Ham United Under-21s courtesy of Armstrong Oko-Flex's 89th-minute penalty.
After an underwhelming start to the season, where they failed to pick up a win from their opening eight games, that defeat served as a wake-up call for Paul Cook's side, who picked up two wins and one draw before losing 2-1 against Accrington Stanley on October 2.
The Tractor Boys returned to winning ways in their next outing as they comfortably saw off Gillingham 2-0 at the Priestfield Stadium to move second in the Southern Group A standings.
This followed a run of four wins and one draw from their subsequent six league games, which saw them surge into the top half of the League One table, where they are currently four points behind Oxford United in the final promotion playoff spot with 23 points from 16 games.
Ipswich Town head into Tuesday's game off the back of a 1-1 draw with Oldham Athletic in the first leg of their FA Cup clash, where Wes Burns and Davis Keillor-Dunn scored for either side to force a share of the spoils last Saturday.
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Like the hosts, Colchester United suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Gillingham in their EFL Trophy opener on September 7, when Robbie McKenzie grabbed a last-gasp winner in the 93rd minute.
However, Hayden Mullins's men got their campaign running in their subsequent group outing when they secured a 1-0 victory over West Ham United Under-21s courtesy of Armando Dobra's seventh-minute strike.
The U's head into this game fresh off the back of an emphatic 4-0 victory over Sudbury when the sides met in the first leg of their FA Cup tie last Friday.
In that encounter, Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu, Freddie Sears, Sylvester Jasper and Shawn McCoulsky all found the target to cap off a sensational team performance and condemn the hosts to a first-leg defeat.
While Colchester United will be looking to build on that performance, next up is an opposing side who they have failed to defeat in five of the last seven meetings between the sides, losing three and picking up two draws.
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Team News
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Cook will be unable to call upon the services of Scottish forward Scott Fraser, who sustained an injury in the 2-2 draw with Cambridge United on October 16.
He is joined on the Ipswich Town injury table by the midfield duo of Jon Nolan and Tom Carroll, who are expected to continue their spells on the sidelines
The former last featured for the Tractor Boys on January 26, when he sustained a severe injury against Sunderland, while the latter picked up an injury in August's game against Sheffield United.
The visitors, meanwhile, will have to make do without Alan Judge after the Irish midfielder picked up an injury against Tranmere Rovers back in October.
Ryan Clampin is also a major doubt for Colchester United after the 22-year-old defender was forced off the pitch injured just 12 minutes into the game against Sudbury last time out.
On the back of his side's dominant display in the aforementioned game, Mullins could name a similar side on Tuesday, meaning we could see an attacking trio of Jasper, Sears and Dobra.
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Walton; Vincent-Young, Nsiala, Edmundson, Burgess; Morsy, Evans; Burns, Celina, Edwards; Bonne
Colchester United possible starting lineup:
George; Tchamadeu, Chambers, Eastman, Coxe; Chilvers, Skuse, Sarpong-Wiredu; Jasper, Sears, Dobra
We say: Ipswich Town 2-0 Colchester United
Ipswich Town head into the game in fine form, claiming five wins and two draws from their last eight games in all competitions. They are also unbeaten in each of their last five home games and while the visitors will be looking to build on their victory over Sudbury, we are backing the Tractor Boys to come away with all three points in this one.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Ipswich Town win with a probability of 44.5%. A win for Colchester United had a probability of 29.61% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Ipswich Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.04%) and 2-0 (7.87%). The likeliest Colchester United win was 0-1 (8.39%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.31%).
