Without a minor miracle on Saturday will not only be Premiership status Ipswich lose - the majority of the UEFA Cup challengers' team could be broken up too.

Needing to beat second-placed Liverpool at Anfield in the hope that Derby can triumph over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light to earn a third consecutive season in the top-flight, George Burley's side's chances are slim at best.

If the seemingly inevitable does happen they will become the first English club to fall in the same season as competing in Europe since Newcastle 24 years ago.

In turn, Burley would have to trim the squad at Portman Road to realign the club to Nationwide League financing, and there are a number of players who appear close to the exit signs.

Record £4.8million signing Matteo Sereni and former European Cup-winner Finidi George are the most obvious departures.

Goalkeeper Sereni is being chased by Parma and Lazio, where his former Sampdoria team-mate Roberto Mancini is the new manager - while Nigerian winger George, a member of the great Ajax side of the mid-1990s, has failed to adapt to the English game.

That pair are not the only ones either, with Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle confirming his interest in top scorer Marcus Bent who netted 10 times for the Suffolk club following his £3million November switch from Blackburn.

Marcus Stewart has been linked with a move to Sunderland, and Titus Bramble - who will have an operation on his troublesome Achilles next week - has long been admired by Newcastle boss Bobby Robson.

Meanwhile, Dutchman Fabian Wilnis has been told he can leave on a free transfer - and £1.3million Frenchman Ulrich Le Pen, who broke a bone in his foot after just a few minutes of his debut against Bolton, is another faced with the chop.

Even Mark Venus and Sixto Peralta, a duo who have shone through the Portman Road gloom this season, are unsure of their futures.

Venus, 35, is Ipswich's player of the year but is still waiting to be offered a new deal - while Peralta, on a season's loan from Inter Milan, is also uncertain of where he will be come August.

"I haven't been offered a contract yet at the football club, so I don't know what will happen with my future," said Venus.

"My contract expires in the summer, and I'm not sure what will happen. I am willing for anything.

"They have said they are going to offer me one but as yet they haven't.

"I can't do anything until I have got an option - and at this moment in time I have no options on the table."

Argentinian midfielder Peralta, meanwhile, heads back to South America on Monday owned by the Italian giants but with his heart on pursuing his career in England.

"It is perhaps better to feel you are part of a club and to know what you will be doing in a month's time. So my situation is strange," said the 23-year-old.

"I will have to wait and see what the clubs decide and see other possibilities. At the moment I can't do anything.

"I have spoken with the manager, and the club knows I am really happy here. But it is not my decision."

Peralta has yet to resign himself to relegation but says he would consider playing for Ipswich in Division One.

"Who knows?" he said.

"If a bigger Premier League club came in I would have to think about it. I have to think about my career too.

"Even though I believe if we go down we can come back up quickly, I have to look at other possibilities.

"I feel really good here in England. It has been a great season for me personally, but not for the club.

"Because of the time of year it has been difficult to speak about what will happen next.

"Here in Ipswich we are still fighting to stay in the Premier League. At Inter they were fighting for the title and they were very disappointed on the final day."

His next weekly phone call to Inter's Javier Zanetti, a close friend and compatriot, could contain more than a tinge of disappointment as well.

Having left the San Siro to seek regular first-team football, Peralta did enough to persuade Burley into talking about a £3million permanent deal before Ipswich began a second slide towards the drop.

Everything went wrong for Town from the time Liverpool blitzed them 6-0 at Portman Road in February.

It ended their run of seven wins from eight Premiership matches, and they have only taken six points since.

But Peralta warned: "You can never know with football; we have to go with the mentality that we can win the game.

"It is not my mentality to think we are relegated. We have to be confident we can win the game."

Indeed, Ipswich have won two out of two Premiership matches at Anfield under Burley - last season's 1-0 win coming courtesy of the prolific Stewart.

But Venus, who spent nine full seasons at Wolves, is facing up to reality.

He said: "If we don't do it we won't be relegated because we haven't won this game.

"We just haven't performed, and the league doesn't lie after 37 games. We have to be honest; we just haven't done it."

He added: "Looking back it's a major disappointment to me really that it took me so long to get into the Premiership. I still feel hurt about it now.

"It took me so long to get here, and I worked so hard that to let it go in a year leaves a sense of disappointment and regret.

"In a sense I feel bitter that no one - and there have been a lot of managers out there - ever took a chance on me before George Burley put his faith in me."