Sammie Szmodics starts: The Ipswich Town XI Kieran McKenna should play v Birmingham City | OneFootball

FLW’s Ipswich Town fan pundit has detailed the starting XI he thinks Kieran McKenna will field at St Andrew’s.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Ipswich Town will be going through their final preparations as they gear up to face Birmingham City on the opening weekend of the 2025-26 Championship season.

The Tractor Boys made an immediate return to the second-tier following their relegation from the Premier League, but are expected to leapfrog back to the big time due to the superior squad and financial resources they possess.

Kieran McKenna’s men rounded off pre-season with an excellent 3-0 victory over French outfit Auxerre, ensuring they head into their clash at St Andrew’s with some forward momentum.

It’s set to be a high-octane affair, with Blues riding high from their resounding promotion out of League One and spending heavily under Tom Wagner as they aim to repeat Ipswich’s feat of back-to-back promotions into the Premier League.

With Friday evening on the horizon, FLW’s Ipswich Town fan pundit has detailed the starting XI that he thinks Kieran McKenna should field in the West Midlands.

Defensive line: Alex Palmer, Ben Johnson, Dara O’Shea, Jacob Greaves, Leif Davis

Speaking to Football League World, Ipswich Town fan pundit Adam Wilkin has revealed the starting XI that he believes the Suffolk outfit should be fielding against Birmingham City, revealing that the defensive line shouldn't see much change to the one that was regularly used in the Premier League.

Wilkin said: “The back five picks itself. These would be Alex Palmer, Ben Johnson, Dara O’Shea, Jacob Greaves and Leif Davis.

“He (Davis) missed the last friendly because of a knock, but it was only meant to be a minor knock so he should be fit.”

Midfield line: Azor Matusiwa and Jack Taylor

Moving into the midfield and Adam Wilkin has backed Azor Matuisiwa to make his competitive Ipswich Town debut after signing for a reported fee of £7.8m from Rennes, while Jack Taylor is expected to start and partner him due to the exits of Sam Morsy and Kalvin Phillips.

Wilkin said: “The midfield pairing, even if you were to bring someone in now, I don’t think they would go into the team straight away, so you’d be looking at Azor Matusiwa and Jack Taylor there.”

Forward line: Omari Hutchinson, Jack Clarke, Sammie Szmodics, George Hirst

Moving into the forward line, Wilkin admitted there were “question marks” over which wide players would start given Jaden Philogene’s recent injury in their pre-season victory over Auxerre, but was adamant George Hirst would get an opportunity to lead the line back in the second-tier.

“George Hirst will definitely start up front, and I can see Szmodics playing behind him.

“The two question marks are right and left sides. Jack Clarke has played on the right side in the majority of pre-season with Philogene on the left, but he (Philogene) appeared to pick up a bad injury in the Auxerre friendly, so I don’t think he’ll play, which could see Clarke move over onto his favoured left-hand side.

“Omari Hutchinson, if he is still at the club, having not gone to France with the side because he wasn’t in the right mental state, is a shoo-in to start on the right, but that depends whether he’s still at the club.

"If he is at the club, then I think he’ll play, if not, then we’re probably looking at Ogbene there, although he’s still coming back from injury.

“So, in all, I’d go Palmer; Johnson, O’Shea, Greaves, Davis; Matusiwa, Taylor; Hutchinson, Szmodics, Clarke; Hirst.”