Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest Standings: H2H & Stats

Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town have met over 80 times across English football history, yet the two clubs currently inhabit opposite worlds as the 2025-26 Premier League season unfolds. While Forest push for Champions League qualification from third place, the Tractor Boys are fighting for survival near the bottom of the table—a contrast that makes their next encounter a study in contrasting ambitions.

Head-to-Head Matches Played: 28 · Ipswich Town Wins: 6 · Nottingham Forest Wins: 12 · Draws: 10 · Most Recent Result: Ipswich Town 2-4 Nottingham Forest

Are Ipswich in the Championship?

No—Ipswich Town are no longer in the Championship. The club secured promotion to the Premier League by beating Queens Park Rangers in 2024, ending their four-year absence from England’s top flight. This promotion, documented by Flashscore, marked one of the most celebrated returns in recent English football history.

Ipswich Town Promotion to Premier League

Under manager Kieran McKenna, who guided the Tractor Boys back to the Premier League, Ipswich have found the transition brutally difficult. The club’s current 18th-place standing in the 2025-26 Premier League table reflects the scale of that challenge—per FootyStats, recent form reads L D L L L W L L L L D L D L L, a sequence that has left them deep in relegation territory.

The contrast with Nottingham Forest could hardly be sharper. Forest sit 3rd in the same table, genuine challengers for Champions League qualification. Where Forest have built a settled, high-performing squad capable of competing at the top, Ipswich are learning on the job against stronger opposition than they have faced in years.

Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest Head to Head Standings

In 83 competitive meetings between these two historic English clubs, Nottingham Forest hold a decisive advantage. Sportsmole’s authoritative tally shows Forest with 42 wins to Ipswich’s 22, with 19 draws scattered across the fixture’s long history. That works out to Forest winning just over 50% of every meeting—hardly a rivalry when one side so consistently dominates.

Overall Record

• Total meetings: 83
• Nottingham Forest wins: 42
• Ipswich Town wins: 22
• Draws: 19

Home vs Away Stats

SoccerPunter’s more granular breakdown of 39 recent meetings tells a striking story about venue advantage—or lack of it for Ipswich. In 19 home games at Portman Road, Ipswich managed just 1 win against Forest, alongside 4 draws and 14 defeats. That single home victory across nearly two decades of fixtures underscores how difficult Forest have found the journey to Suffolk.

When the roles reverse and Forest host at the City Ground, their away record against Ipswich (3 wins in 19 visits per SoccerPunter) looks almost generous by comparison. The data makes one thing clear: whatever advantage home crowds normally provide simply does not apply when Forest are the opposition.

Recent Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest Matches

The most recent Premier League encounter ended 2-4 in Forest’s favour—a result that, according to FootyStats, further cemented Forest’s Champions League push. This was not a close contest decided by fine margins. It was a statement win that reinforced exactly where the two clubs stand relative to each other in the current football landscape.

Last 5 Meetings

Fotmob confirms Forest have been unbeaten in their last five meetings with Ipswich, a sequence of 4 wins and 1 draw. That streak represents the clubs’ most dominant run against each other in living memory—and it comes at precisely the moment when both are in the Premier League together.

Key Results

Looking further back, two results define this rivalry’s dramatic swings. The most iconic came on 12 March 2005, when Ipswich thrashed Forest 6-0 in Championship action—a result preserved in 11v11’s historical records. It remains Forest’s heaviest defeat in this fixture and a day Ipswich supporters still reference when the current imbalance feels unfair.

The other notable date, 21 October 2008, saw Forest and Ipswich play out a 1-1 draw in the Championship per 11v11. That result offered a brief, unremarkable equilibrium in a rivalry that has tilted firmly in Forest’s favour ever since.

Ipswich Town Current Form and League Position

Ipswich Town sit 18th in the 2025-26 Premier League table as of early May 2026, according to FootyStats. That places them in the relegation zone with time running out to climb clear. Their form makes grim reading: a sequence of losses, draws, and occasional rare wins that has failed to build any meaningful momentum.

Recent Results

AiScore’s form guide shows Ipswich’s last five results as 2 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses—but those numbers obscure the underlying performance data. An average of 0.4 goals scored per game alongside 2.4 conceded tells the real story. This is not just a team struggling to win; it is a team struggling to score. Against sides like Forest who defend well and convert chances efficiently, the math becomes very difficult.

Manager Impact

Kieran McKenna deserves credit for achieving what most thought impossible: taking Ipswich from League One obscurity back to the Premier League. That promotion via a win over Queens Park Rangers, documented by Flashscore, was a remarkable achievement. The challenge now is whether he can repeat the trick at the top level, or whether the scale of Premier League competition will prove too steep a climb this time around.

Nottingham Forest Record vs Ipswich Town

Nottingham Forest have built a record against Ipswich Town that spans more than eight decades of competitive football. Their 42 wins across 83 meetings, documented by Sportsmole, represents the most comprehensive dominance either club has achieved over the other in any fixture on the calendar.

Historical Wins

Forest’s success rate of just over 50% in this fixture might sound modest until you consider the context. Over 83 meetings spanning multiple competitions and decades, Forest have consistently found ways to beat a club that has itself won the league, lifted FA Cups, and competed in European competition. That consistency against a historically significant opponent is remarkable.

AiScore’s more recent dataset covering 28 games since 2003 shows Forest winning 12 of those encounters with 10 draws and just 6 Ipswich victories. Forest have scored 40 goals to Ipswich’s 33 across this sample—a narrower margin than the all-time record suggests, but still firmly in Forest’s favour.

Championship Era Matches

Many of Forest’s wins over Ipswich came during the Championship years when both clubs spent time outside the top flight. The 6-0 humiliation Forest suffered on 12 March 2005 remains an outlier—a day when Ipswich were the dominant force and Forest could not cope. But those occasions have become increasingly rare. Even in the Championship, Forest gradually asserted control over this fixture.

The 1-1 draw on 21 October 2008 represents the kind of result that typified the later Championship era: competitive, balanced, offering both clubs something. Compare that to the current Premier League dynamic, where Forest approach these matches as heavy favourites, and the shift becomes clear.

Head-to-Head Comparison Table

Across different samples, the pattern holds: Forest consistently outperform Ipswich, whether measuring all-time records or recent encounters.

The table confirms what the match record suggests: Forest hold decisive leads across every measurable category. Their 3rd-place Premier League standing reflects genuine quality. Ipswich’s 18th-place position reflects the brutal adjustment required after four years away from top-flight football.

Timeline: Key Encounters

Across six decades of competition, certain results have defined how these clubs approach each other today.

The 2005 humiliation stands as a reminder that Forest have suffered in this fixture—their heaviest defeat against Ipswich recorded in any competition. But that result belongs to a different era. The current sequence of five consecutive Forest wins represents the longest streak either club has achieved in this matchup during the Premier League era.

Confirmed Facts vs Rumours

What the Numbers Say

“Nottingham Forest thrash Ipswich Town to further cement Champions League push.”

— Flashscore (Sports coverage)

“From 83 previous meetings across all competitions, Forest’s success rate stands at just over 50%.”

— Sportsmole (Football analysis)

These two observations capture the rivalry’s current state. Flashscore’s match report emphasises Forest’s dominance in the present, while Sportsmole’s broader analysis confirms that this dominance has been building across decades of competition. The two perspectives—one immediate, one historical—together tell the full story of a fixture where one club has pulled steadily ahead.

Summary

Nottingham Forest against Ipswich Town is a fixture defined by decades of competition and an increasingly one-sided modern narrative. Across 83 meetings, Forest have won 42 times to Ipswich’s 22, establishing themselves as the dominant force in this rivalry. Their current 3rd-place Premier League standing and five-match unbeaten run against the Tractor Boys reflect a club building something genuinely special, while Ipswich fight for survival in their first Premier League season in four years. The H2H record offers historical context, but the present tells a clearer story: Forest are Champions League challengers, Ipswich are learning how to compete at the top level, and their next encounter will likely reinforce that gap further.

Related reading: Newcastle vs Ipswich Town · Ipswich Town vs Brentford

Forest’s H2H edge and third-place standing set the stage, where confirmed lineups and key events reveal tactical choices influencing Ipswich’s survival bid.

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