It's taken Pep Guardiola a long, long time but he has finally, begrudgingly, accepted that Manchester City's collapse in form has been of his making. This week admitting he should have made signings last summer but chose not to.

Bad squad planning is something Arsenal are also paying for this season, to a less extreme degree, and while City are making proactive moves to reshape their squad for the long-term this month, there have already been signs in recent weeks that Guardiola has begun to turn things around with the players already at the club.

That is not a good sign for an Ipswich team who were completely outclassed in midweek by Brighton, a mid-table outfit who had been without a Premier League win since November.

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City's nervous display at Leicester in their final match of 2024 acted as the springboard they needed to gather some momentum for the new year, grinding out a win that at the time was only their second in a very long two months.

Thrashings of West Ham (4-1) and Salford (8-0) followed and up until the 82nd minute at Brentford on Tuesday they looked set for a fourth straight win, almost unnoticed, only for the Bees to score twice late and secure an unlikely draw.

Disappointed as City will be, that was at a team renowned for their strong home record, with only Arsenal taking more points on their own ground than Brentford this season; only Southampton have a worse home record than Ipswich.

MANCHESTER CITY AND BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE is advised at 13/8, considerable value versus what we're able to build manually ourselves.

CLICK HERE to back Manchester City to win and BTTS with Sky Bet

It's no surprise the turnaround for City began at the King Power as they have won 20 of their last 21 league games against newly-promoted teams.

Defensively, the struggles of Guardiola's side have been well-documented, giving Ipswich an excellent chance of getting on the scoresheet; the 29 goals City have conceded in 21 league games this season (1.4 per game) is their highest for 17 seasons.

In-form Foden

A major reason for City beginning to find their form again has been the return of PHIL FODEN to somewhere near his best.

Injury and illness disrupted the early part of the campaign for the PFA Player of the Year, failing to score in his opening 11 league appearances of 2024/25.

Foden has scored in three of his last five matches - including his last two - finding the net four times in total.

For a player who ended last season with 28 goals his price of 9/4 TO SCORE ANYTIME looks generous.

CLICK HERE to back Phil Foden to score anytime with Sky Bet

All-action Delap

In a team struggling towards the end of the table, Ipswich striker LIAM DELAP is a player who has stood out.

It's rare he isn't involved in the action in some way, whether that be shots, goals, fouls or tackles, with his all-action style what has attracted plenty of attention.

The edge looks to have been taken in those markets, but in a contest that he is likely to be particularly fired up for against his former club the 10/3 we can get for him TO BE SHOWN A CARD feels like a smart play.

CLICK HERE to back Liam Delap to be shown a card with Sky Bet

Delap has been booked eight times in 21 appearances this season, and in four of his last six matches.

Team news

Ipswich are without the on-loan Kalvin Phillips as he cannot face his parent club, with captain Sam Morsy expected to replace him in the XI.

Conor Chaplin, Chiedozie Ogbene, Axel Tuanzebe and Sammie Szmodics all remain sidelined, so Kieran McKenna will hope new £20m signing Jaden Philogene is available to immediately make his debut after joining from Aston Villa.

Manchester City captain Kyle Walker is again expected to be left out as he seeks a move abroad.

Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias and Rodri are all out injured and John Stones is not expected to quite be ready in time.

Predicted line-ups

Ipswich: Walton; Woolfenden, Godfrey, Greaves; O'Shea, Cajuste, Morsy, Davis; Hutchinson, Delap, Philogene.

Man City: Ortega; Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Gundogan; Foden, De Bruyne, Doku; Haaland.

Match facts

Ipswich have lost just one of their last 28 home league games against Man City (W20 D7), winning the last four in a row. This is the first such meeting, however, since a 2-1 win in May 2001.
In what is the 30th different league campaign in which they’ve met, Manchester City are looking to complete the double over Ipswich for just the third time, previously doing so in 1961-62 and 1994-95.
Since a 3-2 win over Manchester United in September 1994, Ipswich Town are winless in their last six Premier League games against the reigning champions (D1 L5). They’ve conceded 21 goals in this run, while scoring just twice themselves.
Manchester City have won 20 of their last 21 Premier League games against promoted sides since losing 2-1 to Leeds United in April 2021, with the only exception in this run being a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest in February 2023.
Over their last two Premier League campaigns (2001-02 and this one), Ipswich have won just one of their 14 games played on a Sunday (D6 L7), winning 2-1 at Spurs earlier this season.
Manchester City have dropped 14 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, letting a 2-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 with Brentford last time out. It’s the most points the Citizens have dropped from ahead in a single campaign since 2008-09 (20).
Manchester City have conceded 29 goals in 21 Premier League games this season, with their average of 1.4 goals conceded per game their highest in a single campaign since 2007-08 (also 1.4).
Sammie Szmodics scored Ipswich’s goal in their 4-1 defeat against Man City in the reverse fixture. The last time a player for a promoted side scored home and away goals against the reigning champions in a campaign was 2017-18, with Newcastle’s Dwight Gayle and Huddersfield’s Laurent Depoitre doing so against Chelsea.
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick in Man City’s 4-1 win against Ipswich earlier this season – the only player to score home and away hat-tricks against an opponent in the same campaign is Emmanuel Adebayor (for Arsenal vs Derby County in 2007-08).
Having failed to score in his first 11 Premier League games this season, Man City’s Phil Foden has netted four goals in his last five. He’s looking to score in three consecutive league games for the first time since October 2022.

Odds correct at 1430 GMT (17/01/25)

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