Having previously been right up there in the race for automatic promotion, it’s been a chastening month for Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich Town, with two wins in their last five games seeing the Tractor Boys slip to fourth in the table ahead of their Sunday afternoon clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage.

While losing to high-flying Derby County during that patchy run of form is eminently forgivable, shock losses away to lowly Brighton and Rotherham will not have sat well with the fans and make the bookies’ decision to name Ipswich as joint 7/4 favourites for this one look slightly questionable.

Fulham, meanwhile, were unbeaten in their last three games at home (two wins, one draw) prior to the midweek defeat to Bolton and represent a decent spot of value at the same price, though concerns rightfully remain over their ability to keep a clean sheet as the Cottagers have conceded in each of their last eight games.

Despite all of their recent toils on the road, Ipswich do still boast the division’s leading marksman in Darryl Murphy, and given Fulham’s alarming tendency to leak goals – the home side boast the second worst goals against ratio in the division with 1.72 per game – he looks like a decent candidate to find the net first in this one at 11/2, slightly ahead of Fulham favourite, Ross McCormack, at 6/1.

Of course, given their poor recent run, it will likely be seeing the game out successfully where the problems will lie for the visitors and you can get a massive 12/1 on Fulham to win from behind –although there may be better value to be found on Ipswich holding the lead at half time but failing to win at full time at 11/1, or the game simply finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes at a best price of 13/2.

While the previously mentioned statistics will probably have been enough to dissuade you from backing Fulham to keep a clean sheet at 5/2, it is worth noting that Ipswich are available at the same price despite the fact they have conceded almost half as many goals this season and have shut opponents out on ten occasions to Fulham’s five – albeit with only three of those clean sheets coming away from home.

As such, they could offer some value in this market as an outside punt if McCarthy’s men can rediscover their defensive form, but the more likely result is both teams scoring at 7/10. With that in mind, if you are to back either side to claim all three points, it may prove wise to do so alongside there being over 2.5 goals – an outcome which is currently available at odds of 3/1 for either side.