Manchester United are overwhelming favourites to beat Ipswich Town on Sunday, but another defeat would place Michael Carrick’s side on a remarkably short and unwanted list in English football history.
United began their Premier League campaign with a damaging 2-0 defeat at newly promoted Hull City and now face another promoted opponent at Old Trafford.
If Ipswich follow Hull by beating United, Carrick’s side would become only the fourth top-flight team ever to lose their opening two matches of a season against promoted clubs, according to Opta’s latest Premier League analysis.
Man Utd face unusual Ipswich threat
History suggests United should respond.
Opta’s supercomputer gives Carrick’s team a 65.5% chance of victory, making them the most likely winners of the entire Premier League weekend.
Ipswich are given only a 15.1% chance of leaving Old Trafford with all three points.
United also have an excellent home record in this fixture.
They are unbeaten in their last eight home league meetings with Ipswich, winning six and drawing two.
Ipswich themselves have not beaten United in any of their last seven Premier League meetings, recording two draws and five defeats.
On paper, therefore, this should be the ideal opportunity for Carrick’s team to recover from what happened at Hull.
The pressure comes from what another failure would represent.
Michael Carrick has promoted-club problem to solve
Carrick’s own record adds another layer to Sunday’s game.
The United manager remains winless in all three of his Premier League matches against promoted teams, drawing once and losing twice.
Hull exposed several problems last weekend despite United controlling long periods of the match.
Carrick will also be without two important players against Ipswich after confirming Carlos Baleba and Amad are both unavailable through injury.
Baleba is expected to remain sidelined for another couple of weeks with his ankle problem, while United hope Amad can return before the international break.
Benjamin Sesko could provide Carrick with one way of changing the attack after appearing from the bench at Hull.
Sunday’s game therefore presents Carrick with an early selection decision as he looks for considerably more cutting edge in United’s first home league match of the campaign.
Another defeat would increase early Man Utd pressure
United have only lost their opening two Premier League matches in 1992/93 and 2022/23.
The first example ultimately ended with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side winning the title, but repeating that start would hardly ease the early pressure surrounding Carrick’s rebuilt team.
Ipswich arrive with confidence after winning their opening match and are themselves attempting to begin a top-flight campaign with consecutive victories for only the fourth time.
United remain substantial favourites.
But after Hull produced one promoted-team upset, Carrick cannot afford to assume another newly promoted side will simply be swept aside at Old Trafford.
Supporters can find the TV channel, kick-off time and streaming information for Man Utd vs Ipswich here.
