Saturday 22nd August 2026
Ipswich Town v Sunderland – Premier League
Portman Road – Kick-Off: 15:00
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is unavailable.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up…
This is the second time in my lifetime that Sunderland begin a season after finishing seventh in the top-flight of English football, and on the previous
occasion, we replicated the feat – but in modern times, this will prove to be more difficult.
Not only is top half of the Premier League more affluent as it was back then, but for the first time in our history, we’re taking part in the Europa League – just in case you needed reminding – and with it, the expectation of any progress we make in that competition along with qualifying for it last time around.
To add to that, if we look at the final table from last season, there was a big old mid-table full of decent sides bunched together and it’s anyone’s guess how a lot of sides will line-up this season.
Nine of the twenty Premier League managers have just taken charge of their club this summer, and other than maybe Arsenal, the traditional top six that were almost a guarantee a few years back, are now unknown quantities.
This makes this year’s Premier League one of the most interesting for as long as I can remember, which means for a club like ourselves there is an opportunity. We have the type of stability that the majority of top flight sides would give their last half a billion quid for at the moment.
But it all starts today at Portman Road and a good start isn’t everything, but it helps.
I mentioned above the last time we were going into a season after finishing seventh in the top-flight, and while we were doing that, Ipswich Town had just been promoted and were about to finish fifth – two places above us – which confirmed a second season in the Premier League.
This was the second occasion they’ve prepared for a second season in the Premier League, with the other coming in the early 1990’s – and they were up against it from the off with making it a third this time out when they lost manager Kieran McKenna following promotion.
There’s an argument that it might have been an act of self-preservation, as managers can quite often get labelled with that tag of getting sides promoted without the achievement on the CV of keeping them there, with a perfect example being former Sunderland & Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy.
So step forward Gary O’Neil who decided to leave his place of rehabilitation outside of the Premier League, which in similar circumstances to his predecessor Liam Rosenior, was Strasbourg.
Ipswich went down without much of a fight this time, will fans expect much more this time around?
The betting…
The bookies have the Lads at 6/4 to win the game. Ipswich are 17/10 to take all three points, and the draw is 11/5.
Head to head… at Portman Road
(All competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 6
- Draws: 6
- Ipswich wins: 17
- Sunderland goals: 27
- Ipswich goals: 59
Last time we met… at Portman Road
Saturday 13th January 2024
Championship
Ipswich Town 2-1 Sunderland
[Jackson 33’, Chaplin 75’ – Clarke 26’]
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, O’Nien, Ballard, Alese, Ekwah, Neil, Ba (Aouchiche), Pritchard (Rusyn), J. Clarke, Bellingham (Burstow) Substitutes not used: Bishop, Seelt, Triantis, Matete, Bennette, Hemir
Ipswich: Hladky, H. Clarke, Davis, Travis (Ball), Wollfenden, Edmundson, Burns (Hutchinson), Taylor, Jackson (Sarmiento), Chaplin (Tuanzebe), Broadhead (Harness) Substitutes not used: Walton, Humphreys, Aluko, Ladapo
Attendance: 29,291
Prediction…
Ipswich Town 1-2 Sunderland
For those few who regularly take a look at the match preview on here, you will know that I had a constant battle last season of trying not to get ahead myself and predict that the Lads would pick up maximum points on a weekly basis.
But, this season, I going to allow myself to be more optimistic – until a bad run makes me think otherwise. So, with that in mind, I reckon we’ll kick off the season with a win.
