Former Leeds United defender wants "coupon-busting" result for Ipswich Town at Elland Road

Pennington conceded that Ipswich were travelling to Leeds with big odds against them despite United suffering their second defeat of the season at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

United lost 2-1 at Ewood Park, dropping to fourth in the table, but they are far ahead of Paul Hurst’s Ipswich who sit in 24th place with nine points having one just once all season - a 3-2 victory away at Swansea City.

Ipswich were beaten again at the weekend, 2-0 at home by Queens Park Rangers, and are gearing up for a lengthy fight against relegation having enlisted Hurst from Shrewsbury Town to replace Mick McCarthy as manager in the summer.

Pennington, who spent the whole of last season with Leeds, said: “It’s pretty much the same team and it’ll be nice to see a few friendly faces but we’re going there to do a job and get something from the game.

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“We showed at Swansea that we can get something from a game we might not be expected to get anything from. Let’s hope Wednesday is another coupon-buster.”

Pennington has been a mainstay in Ipswich’s defence since moving to Portman Road on loan from Everton in August.

Leeds showed an interest in re-signing him in the summer transfer window after his prior stay at Elland Road but head coach Marcelo Bielsa resisted the addition of another centre-back to his squad, believing he already had sufficient resources.

Ipswich are yet to record a home win and Pennington was honest about the nature of Saturday’s performance against QPR, saying: “It’s a collective thing. It wasn’t good enough from us.

“Everyone in the dressing room is gutted that we didn’t put in a performance. It was a great chance to put some more points on the board.”