AFTER their defeat at home to Liverpool last weekend, Ipswich Town's baptism of fire on the return to the Premier League continues when they play away to Manchester City tomorrow.

Ipswich Town has a historical winning record over the reigning league champions with 28 victories and 23 defeats. Even in the Premier League era, the Suffolk side has won as many games against Manchester City as they have lost.

However, the last of those meetings came 22 years ago before City had been taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group, or even moved to the City of Manchester Stadium. Since then, Ipswich have been out of the top flight, only retuning this season, and Manchester City have won eight Premier League titles. For this weekend’s game, some bookmakers are offering odds of 30/1 on Ipswich emerging victorious.

Their manager Kieran McKenna, who enjoyed success at the stadium as an assistant coach with Manchester United, spoke about the unique demands of playing at the City of Manchester Stadium: “For any team going to Man City you know you’re going to have less possession than the opposition. You know you’re going to spend large chunks of the game in your own half and pretty close to your own goal.”

Already without his new loan signing from City, Kalvin Phillips, who is ineligible to play against his parent club, McKenna is further weakened by the loss of another midfielder, Wes Burns, who suffered a hamstring injury against Liverpool and will be missing for “a number of weeks.”

Ready to step in is full-back Ben Johnson, signed in the close season on a free transfer from West Ham United. He knows only too well what it is to like to play away at City. Six years ago, his first selection in a matchday squad came at the ground and the next season, he made his first Premier League start away to Manchester City.

In his five visits to the ground with West Ham, Johnson has only known defeat at the hands of Manchester City. Having spent 17 years at the London club and won a European trophy with them, he refuted suggestions that he has dropped down a level by joining the newly promoted team. 

Johnson cited the fact that McKenna told him he could develop him as a player as a key factor in his decision to move to Suffolk. “I want to make the next step and be an established Premier League player. I’ve not come this far to kind of just filter out and be mediocre. I still want to learn and improve.”

“I’ve got a lot of good raw materials which need coaching and need to be refined. The training is very intense, so that was part of the adjustment period for me. It’s high-quality, it’s short and sharp. There’s a lot of tactics, a lot of details, which are needed.”

And after pulling on the blue Ipswich shirt in a competitive game for the first time last weekend against Liverpool, Johnson believes it suits him. “I thought it looks very good on to me to be honest!”