Ahead of Saturday's Premier League showdown between Ipswich Town and Liverpool, Sports Mole picks out some of the best pre-game stats.
Ending their 22-year exile from the big time, Ipswich Town have the honour of playing in the season's first 12.30pm kickoff on Saturday, when they face a daunting Liverpool-shaped assignment at Portman Road.
The Tractor Boys earned their second successive promotion last season with a second-placed finish in the 2023-24 Championship campaign, narrowly losing out to Leicester City in the title fight.
Meanwhile, the Reds head into their first campaign in nine years without Jurgen Klopp barking orders, as Arne Slot takes charge of his first competitive game for the Merseyside giants.
Here, Sports Mole picks out a selection of the best stats ahead of Saturday's clash at Portman Road.
IPSWICH TOWN
Saturday's game will be Ipswich's first in the Premier League since a 5-0 loss to Liverpool at the end of the 2001-02 season. As well as sealing Ipswich's relegation, that triumph also saw the Reds finish second in the Premier League for the first time.Only Nottingham Forest have had a bigger gap in between Premier League seasons than Ipswich's 22, with the Tricky Trees enduring a 23-year absence from 1999 to 2022.The Tractor Boys are unbeaten in their last 10 opening league fixtures of a season, winning six and drawing four since a 2-1 loss to Reading at the start of the 2013-14 Championship.Ipswich scored 92 goals in the 2023-24 Championship, the most in the division and the second-most in England's top four leagues behind Manchester City and Stockport County's 96 each.In addition, only City (249) have netted more league goals than Ipswich (222) since Kieran McKenna took charge of the club in December 2021.McKenna will be the 16th manager to face Liverpool in their first Premier League game. Only four of the previous 15 have won, and none since the late Craig Shakespeare in 2017.Ipswich only lost one of their 23 Championship home games last season, a 4-3 defeat to Leeds United in August, and went 22 league matches unbeaten thereafter. However, they did lose at home in the EFL Cup (to Fulham) and the FA Cup (to Maidstone United) last season.No player in England's top four divisions created more chances than Ipswich left-back Leif Davis (125) last season; the 24-year-old was named Ipswich's Players' Player of the Year and also earned a spot in the Championship Team of the Year.
LIVERPOOL
Liverpool are beginning a Premier League season against a newly-promoted side for the fifth time in six years. They have won three of their last four such battles, only dropping points in a 2-2 draw with Fulham in 2022.Slot could become just the second Liverpool manager to win his opening Premier League match. Out of the previous eight, the only victor was Gerard Houllier, who oversaw a 2-1 win over Southampton in 1999 alongside Roy Evans.Liverpool have not lost their opening game of a Premier League campaign since 2012, when West Bromwich Albion inflicted a 3-0 beating on Brendan Rodgers's side. Since then, they have won eight and drawn three opening-weekend battles.The visitors have won their last five top-flight games against newly-promoted sides and are unbeaten in eight such matches.Only one of Liverpool's last 22 Premier League matches in August has seen the Reds suffer defeat - that sole loss came at Manchester United in 2022.Mohamed Salah has scored eight goals in the opening weekend of the Premier League, the joint-most alongside Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer and Frank Lampard, and the Egyptian could therefore become the new outright record holder should he score on Saturday.In addition, Salah has had a direct hand in 12 opening-weekend goals, eight of his own and four assists. Only Rooney boasts more, with eight goals and five assists for a total of 13 involvements.Diogo Jota is expected to start for Liverpool on Saturday; the Portuguese attacker has never lost any of the 46 Premier League games he has scored in, winning 39 of them.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Saturday's game will be the 73rd competitive meeting between Liverpool and Ipswich. The Reds have been victorious on 37 occasions, while Ipswich have beaten their opponents 14 times.The two sides last crossed paths in the fourth round of the 2002-03 League Cup, where the Reds won 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.Liverpool's last visit to Portman Road for a Premier League fixture in February 2002 saw the Reds win 6-0. With no defeats from five games, Liverpool have played at Portman Road more times without losing a Premier League match than any other stadium.Slot and McKenna are both managing their first Premier League game this weekend; the last time two coaches faced off in their maiden match in the competition was in August 2017, when David Wagner's Huddersfield Town thrashed Frank de Boer's Crystal Palace 3-0.All-time Liverpool top scorer Ian Rush boasts the most goals in fixtures between the Reds and Ipswich with 13, while Trevor Whymark has scored the most for the Tractor Boys in this matchup with six.
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