Preview: Wycombe Wanderers vs. Ipswich Town - prediction, team news, lineups

The hosts were defeated in the play-off final last season, and they will be aiming to finish inside the top six positions once again.

Match preview

Indeed, after enduring a slow start to the current campaign, Wycombe have picked up in recent weeks to move only two points behind the play-off spots ahead of this weekend's domestic action.

Gareth Ainsworth's side have not conceded a goal in either of their matches since November's mini-break, defeating potential promotion rivals Portsmouth 2-0 before claiming a respectable 0-0 draw away to Lincoln City last weekend.

The Imps have remained unbeaten in all 10 of their home games in League One this season, so defeating them was always going to be a difficult task for Wycombe. Both teams only managed to register one shot on target across a rather dull 90 minutes.

Likewise, Ainsworth may be more than content with avoiding defeat against Ipswich on Saturday given the Tractor Boys' lofty position in the table, especially having lost both meetings against them last season.

The first of those fixtures was Kieran McKenna's first league match in charge of Ipswich, who defeated the Chairboys 1-0 at Portman Road courtesy of James Norwood's strike just before the half-time interval.

The 36-year-old will celebrate one year in charge of the 1981 UEFA Cup Winners on December 20, so he will certainly be hoping to provide his fans with yet another gift before Christmas in the form of all three points in Buckinghamshire at the weekend.

Ipswich were impressive when edging past Peterborough United 2-1 at home last time out, with their top goalscorer Conor Chaplin bagging a brace either side of Frankie Kent's equaliser moments after the half an hour mark.

With Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday both breathing down their neck, only another victory will guarantee that they sit atop of the League One pile at Christmas, which would represent a great indicator that their surprisingly lengthy spell in the third tier may be coming to an end.

Wycombe Wanderers League One form:

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Wycombe Wanderers form (all competitions):

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Ipswich Town League One form:

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Ipswich Town form (all competitions):

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Team News

Ainsworth only utilised Sam Vokes from the bench during the stalemate with Lincoln last time out, but the Wales striker will almost certainly return to lead the line from the start on Saturday.

Otherwise, the 49-year-old tends to make very few changes to what is a settled unit at Wycombe, especially having looked defensively solid in recent times.

Ipswich, meanwhile, will travel without Dominic Ball and Tyreece John-Jules, who face lengthy spells on the sidelines due to knee and hamstring injuries respectively.

Lee Evans, Marcus Harness and Janoi Donacien are also all injury doubts for Saturday's trip but should all be in contention to face Oxford United on Boxing Day, with George Edmundson in contention to start in defence having fallen out of favour in recent times.

Wycombe Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Stryjek; Grimmer, Mawson, Tafazolli, Obita; Wing, Scowen; Wheeler, Mehmeti, McCleary; Vokes

Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:

LWalton; Edmundson, Woolfenden, Burgess; Burns, Morsy, Humphreys, Davis; Aluko, Chaplin; Jackson

We say: Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Ipswich Town

With Ipswich likely to travel without several influential players due to injury, we can envisage Wycombe claiming a positive result on Saturday.

The Chairboys have re-established their mean defensive resistance in recent times, while Vokes will have a point to prove should he reclaim his starting spot as expected.

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