Ipswich Town manager Gary O’Neil has made two changes to his starting XI for this afternoon’s Premier League fixture against Everton, bringing Christian Walton and Abdoul Ouattara into the team. Walton makes his first league appearance of the season in goal, replacing Kjell Scherpen, while Ouattara is handed his full Premier League debut at right-back, as reported by TWTD.
Ipswich Town Line-Up Details
Dara O’Shea moves into the centre of defence, and Jacob Greaves is among the substitutes. Darnell Furlong returns to the bench, having captained the side in their midweek Carabao Cup tie against Arsenal, while Cedric Kipre is not included in the squad.
The Ipswich team will wear black armbands in tribute to Noah Woods, a three-year-old boy found dead in Brantham, and Graham O’Neil, the Blues boss’s father who passed away on Thursday.
The full Ipswich Town line-up is: Walton, Davis, O’Shea, Diop, Ouattara, Palacios, Lukic, Clarke, Enciso, Fatawu, Emersonn. Substitutes include Scherpen, Furlong, Flemming, Philogene, Florentino, Greaves, Akpom, Nunez, and Maeda.
Everton Team News
For Everton, Jack Grealish makes his first Premier League start of the season, replacing Tyrique George. Former Ipswich loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles starts at right-back.
Everton’s starting XI features: Pickford, Mykolenko, Branthwaite, Tarkowski, Maitland-Niles, Garner, Armstrong, Johnson, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish, Barry. Their bench includes two goalkeepers, Mark Travers and Tom King, alongside Keane, O’Brien, George, Dibling, Alcatraz, Hackney, and Graham.
The match referee is Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire), with Wade Smith and Steven Meredith as assistants. Ruebyn Ricardo is the fourth official, and Andrew Kitchen is the VAR, assisted by Josh Smith.
Recent Form and Historical Context
Everton enter the match unbeaten in the Premier League so far this season (W3 D1), marking their best unbeaten start since 2021-22. This is only the second time under manager David Moyes that they have been unbeaten in their first four games. They have also kept two clean sheets in four Premier League games in 2026-27, matching their total from their final 16 games of 2025-26.
Ipswich Town, despite conceding 10 goals in their first four games of the 2026-27 season, have accumulated six points (W2 L2). BBC Sport notes this makes them only the third team in Premier League history to achieve this, alongside Manchester United and Liverpool in 2020-21. The Tractor Boys have already achieved two wins in four games this season, halfway to their total of four wins in 38 games during the 2024-25 campaign.
Historically, Everton have won just one of their last six Premier League games against Ipswich (D2 L3), a 2-0 away win in October 2024. Ipswich, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last three away league games against Everton (W2 D1), with their last defeat at Goodison Park dating back to December 1994.
Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil has a challenging record against David Moyes, having lost all four of his Premier League encounters against the Everton boss. Moyes has not dropped a point against O’Neil, making him the manager Moyes has faced most without doing so.
Player Statistics
Zian Flemming, who later came on as a substitute for Ipswich along with Chuba Akpom replacing Emersonn and Exequiel Palacios, has scored 12 Premier League goals in 31 appearances (11 for Burnley, 1 for Ipswich). Among players with 10 or more goals in the last two seasons, only Erling Haaland, Junior Kroupi, and Benjamin Sesko boast a better minutes-per-goal rate than Flemming’s 152 minutes.
Jordan Pickford recently achieved his 100th Premier League clean sheet in Everton’s 0-0 draw with Tottenham. Since November 2016, only Ederson and Alisson have more clean sheets.
