On facing the club where he started out as a coach...
“To be honest, my focus is 100% on the game. I’ve not given it a lot of thought in that context. We played them earlier in the season, it was nice going back there as a manager having worked there as a coach, but this is all about Ipswich Town and a big game for us in the Premier League.
“Tottenham coming to Portman Road is fantastic for the club from where it was a few years’ ago. It’s got the makings of a really good game."
On whether he has any sympathy for under pressure Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglu...
“He certainly doesn’t need that from me! He’s done brilliantly in his career and is an excellent manager.
“He’s gone through a spell where they’ve had a lot of injuries and challenges – we all know that comes at some point for any team and any manager.
"I think he’s handled that situation well and I’m sure they’ll be looking to pick up form in the months ahead and we have to try and make sure that doesn’t continue on Saturday."
On Town producing just one win and nine goals in their 13 Premier League home games so far...
“It’s mostly really small margins, to be honest. If you look at our home games we have had much more opportunities to win than we have in our away games.
"We’ve been a few seconds, a hair’s breath, a few millimetres away from winning games. We could easily be sitting here with treble or four times the amount of homes that we have.
“Away from home, whenever we’ve managed to compete really well and stay in games, we’ve managed to be a little bit more clinical, see them out a little bit better and get the margins to go our way.
“I don’t think there’s loads in it to be honest. On a par score we’d have picked up a lot more points at home.
“Most of the home performances have been good. We’ve put ourselves in good situations to win games, we just haven’t been able to get as many over the line as we’d like.
“We’ve got to try and perform to a top level which gives us a chance to compete in games and then, when we’re in games and the result’s on the line, we’ve got to try and take care of everything we can to make the margins go our way."
On the importance of a good start against Tottenham...
“You always want a good start at home. Home or away, Tottenham always go for a fast start and look to impose themselves on the game.
“We need to make sure we hit the intensity at the start, try and impose ourselves on them in different ways, but also know they are a really dangerous team if you leave yourselves too open.
“We have to set the right tone and hopefully carry that on for the 90 minutes."
Only two newly-promoted teams in Premier League history have done a league double. Can Ipswich become a third?
“That’s a good stat! The first result was incredible, we can’t play it down, it was a top, top result. I know Tottenham have had a difficult couple of months since then, but we faced a really strong Tottenham team at their stadium at a moment when they were in good form. I think if they’d have won they would have gone third in the league.
“For newly-promoted teams to win games in the Premier League is really tough. To beat a team of Tottenham’s ilk was a big one and if we could do it again it would be absolutely fantastic.
“But we know they are going to be desperate for the points as well. I think their players will have the pride to want to make sure they get the result this time.
“We know we can take some belief from the first game, but it also probably makes it an even bigger challenge. That’s what we have to try and rise to."
Is this the wrong time to play Tottenham given they've got several players back from injuries, have signed Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel in January and have had two weeks without midweek fixtures?
“Look, it is a reality that, over the course of the season, there are better times to play teams than others. One clear one, to be honest, is you kind of want to play teams straight after they’ve played European football on a Thursday night, because that is a challenge.
“Other than that, our mindset is always that we’re going to face the very best version of the opponent. We can’t control how they are, of course.
"A couple of weeks ago their squad was really thin and they were playing weekend-midweek for a very long period of time. They’ve now had new players come in and players come back, plus a couple of clear weeks of training. So I’m sure the message in their camp will be that they’re feeling better and going to try and come here and deliver a top performance.
“You have to always prepare for that. You’d certainly be on the wrong track if you went into any game at this level expecting the opponent to be anything short of their best.
“We’re expecting to face a really strong Tottenham and that’s a great challenge for us. All we can control is making sure they face a really strong Ipswich Town, hopefully in a hostile environment at Portman Road. Let’s see where that takes us."
On both teams ranking highly for number of sprints and distances covered...
“I think both teams play really intense football. There are maybe more similarities with them at the start of this season and us last year in terms of the way they can really take the game to teams and really look to outscore teams.
“We know this year is a different challenge for us, but both of us like to play with a really good intensity and work very hard. I think there will be moments where we have a really intense game on Saturday.
“We also know that we need to manage the game well. For us, this season, going hell for leather for 90 minutes against every opponent isn’t the right way to do it. There are times we have to play with a big intensity and take the challenge on head-to-head and there are times where we need to control the game in different ways. Saturday is clearly one of those games where we’ll need to find the balance right between both of those."