Ipswich Town have bounced back into the Premier League at the first time of asking after finishing second in the 2025-26 Championship.
Kieran McKenna led the Tractor Boys to the promised land for the second time in three years before stepping down as manager, to be replaced by former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O’Neil. After a 22-year absence from the top flight, US investment group Gamechanger 20 Limited propelled Ipswich to back-to-back promotions, from League One to the Premier League, but relegation swiftly followed in 2025.
But a rally in the second half of their 2025-26 Championship campaign sees the Suffolk side back among the elite, and now O’Neil must work out a way to keep them there. It will be a long and hard season, but having tasted top-flight football once, the club will be desperate to extend their stay beyond 12 months this time around.
It all starts with a home match against last season’s surprise package, Sunderland, and that’s a fixture which gives the Tractor Boys a great opportunity to show that they belong in the Premier League.
Ipswich’s key players
The Tractor Boys have spent pretty freely over the past three or four campaigns, and they have been busy in the summer transfer market so far, investing around £100 million on players to bolster their squad.
The biggest outlay so far has been the £26.6 million spent on 22-year-old Brazilian striker Emersonn. The former Selecao U15 player scored six goals in 28 games for Toulouse last season to help Les Violets finish ninth in Ligue 1, and now he has earned his chance in the English league. It looks to be a speculative buy, but Emersonn hopes to follow in the footsteps of Brazil stars Matheus Cunha and Igor Thiago, who have been successful at Manchester United and Brentford and won recognition with the senior Selecao side.
22-year-old winger Abdul Fatawu has arrived from League One side Leicester City in a £22 million deal, where he played 55 times, scoring nine goals, and he is a full Ghana international with three goals in 32 appearances.
Giant goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen has arrived for £11 million from Union Saint-Gilloise. At a whopping 6’9”, he even dwarfs the departed Arijanet Muric, who has transferred to Sassuolo and stands at 6’6”. Height isn’t everything, but with more top-flight teams employing long throw tactics and the likes of corner specialists Arsenal causing mayhem in the six-yard box, it certainly helps, but Scherpen must be strong and command his area.
Ipswich have picked up some top-flight experience at the back, with Moroccan centre-half Issa Diop arriving from Fulham in a £8.5 million deal. The 29-year-old stands tall at 6’4” and played 77 times for the Cottagers over four seasons, and he has picked up nine caps for the Atlas Lions this year, while 28-year-old forward Daizen Maeda has signed from Celtic. The Japan star has scored 50 goals in 149 games for the Hoops, and now he wants to try his luck south of the border.
These five incomers will join the likes of wide-man Jack Clarke, who has become a fan-favourite at Portman Road. Chilean midfielder Marcelino Nunez also made a big impression at the club last year.
O’Neil’s task is to integrate the new man into a team which has a winning mentality and he knows that momentum, particularly in the relentless top-flight, is everything. Premier League 2026 results are hard to come by for new boys, but Ipswich’s opener against Sunderland gives them a great chance to make a fast start.
The battle for survival
It is little surprise that the pre-season Premier League 2026 betting odds here at SBOTOP back the three promoted teams to drop back into the second division. But that was the case last season and both Sunderland and Leeds United survived, with the Black Cats winning Europa League football for the first time in 50 years.
Hull City were the surprise package of the Championship last term, beginning the season as relegation candidates but confounding all their doubters with their ability to grind out results and win the big games when it mattered. Even though they finished 22 points behind Champions Coventry City and 11 behind Ipswich, the Tigers never gave up and won a dramatic play-off final against Middlesbrough to earn their chance, but they are the hot favourites to finish bottom this season. Frank Lampard’s Coventry City were the second tier’s top dogs, and they have the best chance of the three promoted teams. But who do the new boys need to catch to finish 17th or higher? Well, the odds say that Sunderland, who will need to juggle domestic and European football, are likely to suffer second-season syndrome, as are Leeds United, with Crystal Palace also potentially in the mix.
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