Ipswich Town will welcome Fortuna Dusseldorf to Portman Road in a pre-season fixture on Saturday as both sides continue their preparation ahead of the new campaign.
The hosts won their opening friendly match 1-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk, while this will be the visitors' final friendly before they kick off their season against Darmstadt 98 in just over a week.
Match preview
Kieran McKenna has done a simply sensational job since taking charge of Ipswich in December 2021, securing a midtable finish in League One in his first half-season before leading them to unlikely back-to-back promotions in the following campaigns.
The Tractor Boys finished just a point behind champions Leicester City and six points ahead of third-placed Leeds United, finishing second and achieving automatic promotion into the Premier League with 96 points.
Ahead of their first term in the top flight since 2001-02, Ipswich have scheduled several friendly matches against a host of European sides, and they kicked off their preparations with a 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk last week.
McKenna would have been delighted with that performance against a Champions League regular, and he will be looking for more of the same when they host 2.Bundesliga side Dusseldorf.
Since being relegated from Germany's top division in 2019-20, Dusseldorf have come close to promotion from the second tier on a number of occasions, none more notable than their playoff defeat last season.
A third-place finish in the league earned them a two-legged playoff tie with Bundesliga side VfL Bochum, and a brilliant 3-0 away win in the first leg looked to have put Dusseldorf on the brink of returning to the top flight.
However, Daniel Thioune's side collapsed at home in the second leg, allowing Bochum to draw level and send the game to penalties after 120 minutes, where they heartbreakingly lost 6-5, extending their stay in the 2. Bundesliga.
Ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, where Dusseldorf will be more determined than ever to achieve promotion, Thioune's side have played five friendly matches, winning three and losing two.
Saturday's matchup with Ipswich will be the final pre-season fixture before they host Darmstadt on the opening matchday of the 2.Bundesliga season the following week.
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Team News
McKenna named an extremely strong side in the first hour of the game against Shakhtar before making a whole host of changes on the hour mark, and he is expected to do the same in this one.
Captain Sam Morsy scored the winner in that game, and the midfielder is likely to partner Jack Taylor in the middle of the park, with Conor Chaplin playing just ahead of them.
George Hirst could make way for new signing Liam Delap, who joined from Manchester City following an impressive season with Hull City, where he scored eight times in the Championship.
As for the visitors, back-to-back disappointing defeats in their last two friendlies could mean Thioune opts to revert to a similar side that beat Galatasaray earlier in their pre-season schedule.
Last season's top scorer, Christos Tzolis, left for Club Brugge this summer, leaving Vincent Vermeij as their main goal threat after he scored 12 league goals in the 2023-24 campaign.
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Walton; Johnson, Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis; Morsy, Taylor; Burns, Chaplin, Harness; Delap
Fortuna Dusseldorf possible starting lineup:
Kastenmeier; Oberdorf, De Wijs, Manu; Iyoha, Sobottka, Mbamba, Johannesson, Suso; Klaus, Vermeij
We say: Ipswich Town 2-0 Fortuna Dusseldorf
Ipswich have risen to every occasion since McKenna joined the club, and with Dusseldorf struggling in recent matches, we expect the hosts to win this one fairly comfortably.
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