Seeking a sixth successive victory across all competitions, high-flying Aston Villa head to Portman Road to pit their wits against Ipswich Town on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions sealed progression to the fourth round of the EFL Cup with a 2-1 victory over Wycombe Wanderers in midweek, while the Tractor Boys have had a week to reflect on a dramatic 1-1 draw with newly-promoted Southampton.
Match preview
A seasoned winner of cups during his time with Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain, Unai Emery witnessed his second-string Villa side make slightly hard work of Wycombe in the third round of the EFL Cup, but two second-half goals ultimately did the damage at Adams Park.
Famed for his exploits off the bench in the Premier League, Jhon Duran started and scored after Emiliano Buendia's header put Villa a goal to the good, and Richard Kone's injury-time response came far too late for Wycombe to mount an improbable comeback.
A fourth-round tie with Crystal Palace awaits at the end of October, although the Halloween horror show will begin imminently for Emery's men, who follow up their trip to Ipswich with a pair of daunting home clashes with Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Manchester United in the top flight.
However, the Lions have been biting back with sheer force over the past few weeks, coming from behind to sink Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers in their last two Premier League matches, cementing their third-placed ranking in the table with just a one-point gap to make up to Manchester City as things stand.
Having already conquered West Ham United and Leicester City in their first two road matches of the season, Aston Villa could also win their opening three away games of a Premier League campaign for just the second time in their history, having first achieved that feat in 2020-21.
Speaking of three-game sequences, Sunday's hosts Ipswich have followed a peculiar pattern since opening their 2024-25 campaign, firstly suffering defeat in each of their first three contests before playing out consecutive stalemates in their most recent three affairs.
After clinging on for points against Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion, Kieran McKenna's troops were on the cusp of being sunk at St Mary's last week courtesy of a Tyler Dibling strike, but Sam Morsy saved Ipswich's bacon with a phenomenal 95th-minute attempt.
The midfielder's last-ditch leveller ensured that 17th-placed Ipswich would keep their heads above water at Southampton's expense, and while recent results may demonstrate that the Tractor Boys are finding their feet at this level, they are one of six sides still on the hunt for their first top-flight win of the new term.
Not since the 1982-83 campaign have Ipswich failed to win any of their first six games of a top-flight season, but the head-to-head records do not make for pleasant reading for Sunday's hosts, who have suffered three defeats from their last four clashes with their Champions League-competing foes.
However, this will be the first meeting between Ipswich and Villa since the 2018-19 Championship campaign, where the Tractor Boys held out for a goalless draw on their own patch, but they have incredibly not beaten the Lions at Portman Road since a 1992 EFL Cup fourth-round replay.
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Team News
Villa boss Emery delivered two hugely encouraging injury updates in Friday's pre-game press conference, confirming that Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara are both set to return from their lengthy layoffs following the international break.
However, John McGinn is absent with the hamstring issue he sustained in the win over Wolves, while Diego Carlos and Jaden Philogene (unspecified) are missing as well, and there are question marks over full-back duo Lucas Digne (knock) and Matty Cash (thigh).
Duran could hardly be doing more to push for a starting slot, but the South American is once again destined to lose out to Ollie Watkins, who has been involved in 53 Premier League goals since Emery took charge in November 2022. Only Erling Haaland (66) and Mohamed Salah (59) have amassed more in that time.
Regarding Ipswich's availability, Kalvin Phillips was absent from the stalemate with Southampton owing to a minor thigh concern, but McKenna is confident that the Manchester City loanee can play a part in Sunday's game.
The Tractor Boys head coach has also welcomed Harry Clarke (Achilles) and Nathan Broadhead (hamstring) back to the training pitches, so the hosts should have a clean bill of health for the visit of Emery's men.
McKenna suggested that Phillips would not be ready to start on Sunday, though, so St Mary's hero Morsy and Jens Cajuste could form the double pivot behind Omari Hutchinson, who has made 196 pressures in the 2024-25 Premier League. Only Bournemouth's Marcus Tavernier (197) has recorded more.
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Muric; Tuanzebe, O'Shea, Greaves, Davis; Cajuste, Morsy; Ogbene, Szmodics, Hutchinson; Delap
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins
We say: Ipswich Town 1-3 Aston Villa
A defensively depleted Villa may already be casting one eye over to the imminent visit of Bayern Munich and should not leave Portman Road with any clean sheets against an energetic Ipswich side, who can be sure to hustle and harry their visitors.
However, the Lions should make their presence felt at the other end of the field to extend their terrific winning sequence and remain on the coat-tails of Liverpool and Manchester City.
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