Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna admits his side are in 'a difficult spot' heading into Newcastle United clash

Ipswich Town will be relegated from the Premier League this weekend unless they beat Newcastle United and West Ham are beaten by Brighton.

That would be a tall order for The Tractor Boys at the best of times, having already shipped four goals to Newcastle at Portman Road.

West Ham need to pick up just one more point this season to confirm Ipswich Town's relegation, even if they do beat Newcastle and Brighton do the business over the Hammers.

It really is a case of when and not if Ipswich's fate is confirmed.

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Kieran McKenna has 10 first team players missing ahead of the trip to Newcastle

Already facing a monumentally difficult task, Kieran McKenna has no fewer than nine players missing through injury as he gets ready to face Newcastle on Saturday, telling reporters (via Suffolk News) that the squad is in a difficult spot.

"We're in a challenging spot in terms of availability, to be honest.

"I'm not going to go through every single one because I'll probably be naming the fit players that we have left for Newcastle, but we're in a really difficult spot in terms of availability.

"We're working really hard to get a team and a squad together that can go there and be as competitive as we can be.

"We're still going to be waiting on a few right until tomorrow and we'll try and make the right decisions and hopefully we'll have enough to be competitive."

Ipswich Town have certainly angered the football gods somehow

In addition to Ipswich's nine injured players, lifelong Newcastle fan Leif Davis is suspended after picking up a red card in the game against Arsenal last week.

To say the odds are stacked against Ipswich would be putting it lightly. We're not sure what Ed Sheeran has done, but he's certainly angered some deity.

Despite all of this, Newcastle can't go out there expecting to win on Saturday, they will still have to fight and earn it. We can be complacent as fans, but our players can't afford that luxury.