Sky Sports pundit shares Birmingham City vs Ipswich Town score prediction, praises Kieran McKenna

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The 2025/26 Championship season is set to get underway this coming Friday with Birmingham City facing Ipswich Town.

Birmingham City are expecting record revenues during their first campaign back in the second tier of English football.

Premier League promotion is the goal for the Blues, who, after a £30m+ spend last season, have continued to improve their squad in the current window.

As for Ipswich Town, they will be looking to secure a swift return to the Premier League under Kieran McKenna.

Now, a Sky Sports pundit has named his winner for the opening-day Championship tie.

Birmingham City vs Ipswich Town score prediction

Birmingham vs Ipswich will take place at St Andrew’s, kicking off at 8pm BST on August 8.

Ipswich are being backed to win promotion this term, but Opta’s supercomputer has Chris Davies’ side 13th in the Championship.

However, while the Tractor Boys are considered one of the favourites to go up, Sam Parkin suggests they will struggle on Friday.

Speaking alongside Benjamin Bloom, the Sky Sports pundit shared his score prediction for the game. He praised the work of McKenna but went on to say Birmingham will secure a 1-0 win.

He said: “I mean there’s going to be a —- of a build-up to this one for obvious reasons.  I think there’s going to be more of a love-in for Ipswich just because everyone fancies them really strongly, and I think there’s real valid reasons for that, and I think he’s [McKenna] a very, very good manager, and he’s put together a very, very competitive squad for the Championship.

“Whether he intended to or not, that is the fact. I just think that everyone is going to be anticipating Ipswich starting, probably as they mean to go on.

“However, we have the stardust of Birmingham, and despite the new glossy stand, and the extra lick of paint on St Andrew’s, I think there will still be an intimidating, vociferous home support. For that reason, I’m going to go [with] Ipswich to start with a bump in the road. I’m going to go for a 1-0 home victory for Birmingham.”

Birmingham City vs Ipswich Town head-to-head record

Birmingham and Ipswich met for the first time in 1954, with the latter securing a 1-0 win.

In total, the Blues have won 30 of the meetings between the Championship duo, while the Suffolk outfit just edge the overall record with 36 victories – the remaining 19 ties ended in draws.

The last meeting between the pair took place on February 24, 2024, with Ipswich earning a 3-1 win.

Birmingham have not picked up three points since March 31, 2018. Jota scored the only goal of that clash.