Ipswich Town 24/25 Fantasy Forecast
- Tom Husband
- Aug 1, 2024
- 9 min read
With draft day almost upon us, it's time to preview the Tractor Boys' fantasy football prospects for the new season in our 24/25 Ipswich Town Fantasy Forecast. In this year's 24/25 Draft Kit, we are featuring both a Fantasy Flashback and a Fantasy Forecast for every single Premier League team. There is also a plethora of other EPL Draft related articles in our Draft Kit, ranging from strategy to mock drafts to transfers and everything in between. Check the 24/25 Draft Kit main page often, as it's updated constantly!
Our Ipswich Town 24/25 Fantasy Forecast will feature players to watch, players to avoid, season points projections, an early season fixtures analysis, and our predicted XI. We've got it all covered. Our Draft Premier League fantasy forecasts will help set you up to dominate your draft! And be sure to check out the Ipswich Town Fantasy Flashback for our full analysis of last season's fantasy football results.
Check back often! Our team previews will be updated throughout the summer as any new transfer, injury, or rotation developments come to light.
Check out our 24/25 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need: Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Mock Drafts, Strategy, Draft 101. We've got it all!
Ipswich Town Fantasy Forecast 24/25
Let's jump into our in-depth look at the Tractor Boys' prospects for the new EPL season below. This information will form a key component to your draft prep and set you up to dominate your draft!
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Fantasy Forecast
Past is prelude, as they say. So, turning to the 24/25 season, we've got Ipswich player projections, key players to keep an eye on, players we're staying away from, question marks surrounding the club at this moment, an analysis of the Tractor Boys' early-season fixtures, and our predicted starting lineup.
24/25 Player Projections
Below, you'll find our season projections for Ipswich fantasy assets. Our projections are created using a number of contributing factors such as historical performances, expected team strength, betting odds and more. ProjPPS (Points Per Start) and ProjFPts (Projected Total Points) refer to Fantrax Default Scoring.
Ipswich Town have a slightly unconventional projection, with defenders occupying the top 2 spots in the standings. This is driven by last year's Championship Assist leader Leif Davis, projected as the strongest Ipswich asset, unsurprising given that his monopoly on set-pieces gave him over double the key passes of the next highest Blue last year! After him, however, pickings quickly become slim, with summer addition from Hull City, CB Jacob Greaves, the only other player with a positive projected WAR.
Kicking off the next tier of Ipswich asset we have Omari Hutchinson, who has been permanently signed by the Blues after a successful loan spell, followed by last year's joint top scorer, attacking midfielder Conor Chaplin, and CM Sam Morsy although we're reaching fantasy doldrums here. Aside from these guys, we are firmly in the upside punts and streamer territory, with special mention to former Everton youth product Nathan Broadhead who was joint top scorer with a 1 in 3 goal rate. But after suffering a hamstring injury in preseason and only being projected 6.8 PPS, he is more of an emergency pickup if he starts on his return, rather than a long term hold.
Players to Watch
We've highlighted some Ipswich Town players that we're keeping an eye on. The players mentioned below may be sleepers. They may be up-and-coming youngsters. They may be vying for a spot in the XI. Whatever the case, we'll tell you why we're watching these particular assets in EPL Draft Fantasy this year. A notable absence from this list is Leif Davis, who was covered much more eloquently than I ever could by Joe in the Fantasy Flashback but suffice it to say, as things stand, he will easily be the first Tractor Boy drafted, and round 7 sounds about right given the risk and potential reward this year.
Omari Hutchinson
Position: MID
Recommended Draft Pick: 100-115 (12 Team League: Round 9-10)
Analysis: Following a successful loan spell in Suffolk last year, Cobham graduate Hutchinson was permanently signed by the Tractor Boys following their promotion this summer. The season started slowly for Hutchinson, as he was a bench and rotation option for the first 2/3rds of the season, splitting his somewhat limited minutes across both wings and the 10 spot. He then finally nailed down a starting role, albeit whilst still playing across the 3 behind the striker, with 11 starts in the final 12 of the run in as Ipswich were hunting down the automatic promotion spot.
This year, Hutchinson is predicted to start the season at LW, especially with last season's competition Nathan Broadhead on the treatment table, where he will hope to link up with the aforementioned Davis and recreate his late season form. But he may switch to the 10 spot depending on future transfer business. For the low price of one of your mid-late round picks, you can get yourself an exciting fantasy asset who is nailed to start and produced last season - to the tune of 1.5 key passes per 90, 2 successful dribbles per 90, and scored 10 goals from the midfield position.
Arijanet Muric
Position: GK
23/24 Points: 154.5
23/24 Points Per Start: 15.45 (10 starts) (1st best GK)
Recommended Draft Pick: 154+ (12 Team League: Round 15 onward)
Analysis: Now, I know what I have done here, and appreciate that recommending drafting goalkeepers is essentially sacrilegious to certain members of the TDS team. But this is my article and we are playing by my rules here. During what can only be described as a complete disaster of a season for Burnley (unless you are working at the back office team at Bayern Munich anyway), Muric took over the gloves from the hapless James Trafford and never looked back. Over the final 10 games of the season, Muric was the 12th highest performing fantasy asset!
In moving to Portman Road, Muric has found himself on a team that will be expecting to face a similar number of shots, providing ample opportunity to get his saves in, and he will only be helped by this year's scoring changes removing the 1st goal conceded reduction. Overall, I am not going to suggest blowing any real draft capital on Muric, as things can so easily come crashing back down to earth. But if you find yourself floundering in the late rounds, you could do a lot worse than taking a risk on the Tractor Boys' man between the sticks.
Players to Avoid
It's not all sunshine and rainbows at Portman Road, if indeed there will be any sunshine to be found this year. Below, we will also highlight some fantasy assets that we're not so thrilled about. These are the Ipswich Town players to avoid on draft day.
Conor Chaplin
Position: FWD
Recommended Draft Pick: 150+ (12 Team League: Round 15+)
Analysis: Last year, Conor Chaplin enjoyed a very successful season in the Championship, finishing as joint top scorer with 13 goals, whilst also getting 8 assists. At face value, he looks like he could be this season's Morgan Gibbs White, but let's not forget, Chaplin has spent the majority of his career in the lower leagues of English football. And I just don't see him being able to make the step up this season to the much higher paced Premier League, where even lower tier clubs are able of mustering a press unlike anything that he will have played against in the past. Also, considering the level of his opposition, Chaplin's underlying statistics are hardly impressive. With less than 1.5 key passes per 90 and 1.08 shots on target per 90, there is little to get excited by in the ghost point department.
Even aside from my thoughts on his potential in the EPL, rumours are swirling of the Blues making further dips into the transfer window, which could either directly replace him, or displace Hutchinson from the wing and shift him to the number 10 spot. In spite of this, Chaplin is probably worth a very late punt, especially if there are no further additions to the Tractor Boys' attacking line-up.
Liam Delap
Position: FWD
Recommended Draft Pick: DND
Analysis: I have included Delap here following his up to £20m transfer from Manchester City, where he has been since he was 16, as he is arguably one of the bigger names in the Ipswich squad and that is a hefty outlay for a newly promoted club. I do not, however, foresee Delap making the starting no. 9 position his own, with these duties being retained by George Hirst, with whom he has been sharing pre-season minutes. Even if he does get the starting gig, a career 12 goals in 68 Championship appearances does not instill much confidence that he will make an impact either on the pitch or in Fantrax. Finally it should be noted that he doesn't even take throw-ins.
Question Marks
Nothing is crystal clear or predictable in Suffolk this season. We've highlighted some questions surrounding the Tractor Boys that we’re grappling with this preseason. We’ll try to note whether or not (and how much) these questions are affecting our perceptions of the Blues fantasy assets.
Where are the goalscorers?
Last season, scoring was accomplished by committee for Ipswich Town. But when your top goalscorer gets 13 in a promotion-winning 44 game season, there are serious questions to be asked of the Fantrax viability of the Tractor Boys' attacking contingent. So far, Ipswich are yet to add a real goal scorer to their lineup, unless you count Delap, which I firmly do not. It appears they will be relying on either Davis' set-piece deliveries or divine intervention to be their main attacking threat. Against the decidedly more competent defences in the top division, we must question how Ipswich are going to put the ball in the back of the net. If, like last year, there is no clear top scorer, then the Ipswich FWD position is effectively useless for draft purposes, and these assets will only be seen on teams praying for a miracle with their streamers.
Can they keep it out?
There is a glaring lack of top flight experience in the Ipswich team, and nowhere is this more worrying than at the back. The signing of Muric fills a position of need and if he repeats his heroics from last year, he could stop the games from looking more like a cricket score. But he will need assistance from the back line in front of him. Typically this wouldn't matter for draft purposes, no-one with more than 3 brain cells was considering drafting anyone from the Blades backline last year for example, and that was before they added Holgate to their roster! However, with Davis as the Blues' highest rated fantasy asset this year, there is a serious question of how his scoring will be affected by any potential frailty at the back, and whether he can be a true set and forget asset, which you will typically be looking for drafting a defender in the top 75 assets, especially considering the first two games of Ipswich's season....
Early-Season Fixture Difficulty
The way that teams come out the gate has big implications in EPL Draft. A red-hot start creates red-hot trade targets. A dismal start means plummeting player values and losses for your fantasy team. Check out our thoughts on Ipswich Town's early-season fixtures and our analysis of the fantasy implications they will have.
How's that for a segue? As mentioned above, hosting Liverpool followed by a trip to the City of Manchester Stadium is a true baptism of fire for the Tractor Boys, especially as Arne Slot will be targeting this game as a chance to make an early statement of intent as the new Reds boss. This is followed by a somewhat easier game in hosting Fulham, before visiting the roulette wheel personified as a football team that is Brighton and Hove Albion. These games against established PL opposition should provide a better indication of how Ipswich Town will fare this season, with chances of taking some points fairly high. Then in GW5 they play Southampton, over whom they did the double last year, and will be hoping that history repeats itself.
24/25 Ipswich Town Predicted Lineup
Based on the information we have now, the below graphic is our best prediction for the eventual long-term Ipswich Town lineup in 24/25. We can't account for any future transfers or injuries, but considering managerial tactics, player form, and availability, this is how we see the Ipswich XI shaking out.
I see new signing Greaves starting the season on the bench, as he gets bedded into the side before eventually taking over the starting LCB role from Burgess fairly early on. Aside from that, I foresee the Tractor Boys lining up similarly to how they ended last season, with Hutchinson nailing down that LW spot. When Broadhead returns from injury, it will be interesting to see whether they try to accommodate him by moving Hutchinson to AM or RW, in which case Burns or Chaplin could lose their place in the starting XI.
More 24/25 Fantasy Forecasts: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Ipswich Town | Leicester City | Liverpool | Man City | Man United | Newcastle | Nottingham Forest | Southampton | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves
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