Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has made five changes to his starting line-up for the visit of mid-table AFC Bournemouth (2pm).
The Blues boss saw his side go down to successive 1-0 defeats in the past week, last Saturday’s loss at Nottingham Forest to a Chris Wood penalty followed on Tuesday by Jean Philippe-Mateta sealing victory for Crystal Palace (60’) at Portman Road.
And for their third game in the space of eight days, McKenna has freshened up his side with a quintet of changes that sees Jack Taylor come into central midfield alongside Sam Morsy for his first Premier League start. Swedish international Jens Cajuste, who had been revealed to be playing with a slight issue, drops to the bench.
Jack Taylor (left) and Sammie Szmodics have both been promoted into Kieran McKenna’s starting line-up for the visit of AFC Bournemouth Picture: Barry Goodwin
The other chances sees Ben Johnson come in at right-back for Harry Clarke, Australian international Cameron Burgess return in centreal defence in place of Jacob Greaves and Conor Chaplin and Sammie Szmodics preferred ahead of Wes Burns and Jack Clarke.
All but Greaves – with McKenna not favouring an out-and-out centre-back among his replacements – are on the bench.
One change for Cherries
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola has made just one envisaged change to the side that started Thursday’s 1-0 home win against Tottenham Hotspur with Lewis Cook, who came off the bench in that game on his return from injury, replacing Tyler Adams.
The Cherries also name two goalkeepers among their substitutes with Will Dennis alongside Mark Travers.
Bournemouth are 10th in the table after they followed up a 4-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers – with Justin Kluivert soring a hat-trick of penalties – with the single-goal win at home to Spurs on Thursday with centre-back Dean Huijsen scoring in the 17th minute.
After successive 1-0 defeats, Town are 18th in the table and looking for a first home Premier League win at the eighth time of asking. A victory would see the Blues close the gap to safety (Leicester City 17th) to one point.
Ipswich Town: Muric, Johnson, Burgess, O’Shea, Davis, Morsy, Taylor, Hutchinson, Chaplin, Szmodics, Delap. Subs: Walton, H Clarke, Burns, Phillips, Cajuste, Al-Hamadi, Townsend, Broadhead, J Clarke.
AFC Bournemouth: Kepa, Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez, Cook, Christie, Kluivert, Semenyo, Tavernier, Evanilson. Subs: Dennis, Travers, Brooks, Ouattara, Jill, Unal, Billing, Aarons, Kinsey. Referee: Michael Salisbury (Preston). VAR official: Paul Tierney.