Nightmare for Ipswich ahead of Newcastle clash
Ipswich Town have suffered yet another blow in what's been a disappointing season ahead of their trip to St James' Park this afternoon.
The Tractor Boys head to the North East knowing that any less than a victory will see them relegated with the gap between themselves and West Ham standing at 15 points with five games to play.
That challenge has just got even tougher for the away side and Newcastle and the returning Eddie Howe will be seeing this as a great opportunity to boost our hopes of Champions League football.
Ipswich woes get worse
Up to ELEVEN first team Ipswich players could miss today's game atff St James' Park, with key men like Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson struggling with injuries and boyhood Newcastle fan Leif Davis banned.
This could mean that Kieran McKenna may have to look to play someone like Jacob Greaves - a centre back, out of position at left back - or call upon one of the younger inexperienced players like 19-year-old Somto Boniface, who may come in to make his debut.
Ipswich were without nine in the 4-0 defeat to Arsenal and have since added Davis to that list with Toon target Delap being limited to cameo displays due to a rib injury.
Elsewhere, Kalvin Phillips remains out along with Philogene, Ogbene, Szmodics, Townsend, Broadhead, Muric and Burns.
On the injury issues, McKenna said: "We're in a challenging spot in terms of availability, to be honest. I'm not going to go through every single one because I'll probably be naming the fit players that we have left to Newcastle.
"But we're in a really difficult spot in terms of availability. We're working really hard to get a team and a squad together that can go there and be as competitive as we can be.
"We're still going to be waiting on a few right until tomorrow and we'll try and make the right decisions. Hopefully, we'll have enough to be competitive."
Big chance for Newcastle to extend gap
A win today would be absolutely massive to our chances of top five and with Howe set to return to the sidelines it is a brilliant opportunity to bounce back from last week's defeat to Villa with a win.
We could potentially move five points ahead of Unai Emery's side, a big gap with just four games left to play, while our game at home against Chelsea will yet again be a big chance to secure Champions League status.
You have to think that our final three home games, which are all winnable against Ipswich, Chelsea and Everton, will be the determining factors in the race with both Man City and Villa having fairly favourable fixtures for the final run in.
