swerteplay Ipswich Town 2-0 Chelsea: Delap Inspires Stunning First Home Win For Mckenna's Side

Liam Delap stole the show at Portman Road on Monday Liam Delap stole the show at Portman Road on Monday

Liam Delap powered Ipswich Town to their first home win of the Premier League season after stunning Chelsea with a 2-0 victory on Monday.  (Schedule & Results | Points Table)

Kieran McKenna's side failed to win any of their first nine league matches at Portman Road, but those troubles were halted with a huge scalp against Enzo Maresca's visitors.

Delap won and converted a penalty awarded for Filip Jorgensen's ill-timed lunge in the 12th minute, before setting up Omari Hutchinson to score against his former side early into the second half.

Joao Felix had earlier seen a first-half equaliser disallowed for offside after a VAR review, while Christian Walton produced an eye-catching stop before half-time to thwart Cole Palmer.

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Chelsea star Palmer saw his effort tipped onto the crossbar by Walton, having also struck the post with a free-kick in the opening period as Christopher Nkunku was unable to convert the rebound from close range.

Earlier in the match, a raucous crowd gave the Chinese players full support as they faced a formidable Pakistan. The game started slow with both teams struggling to find space in each other's defence. However, China kept control of the ball and made more attacks than Pakistan.

A massive victory lifted Ipswich to 18th, one point and place behind Wolves, while Chelsea's profligate showing left them three matches without winning and fourth in the table.

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Ipswich pick up their first home win of the season #IPSCHE pic.twitter.com/hMYutY5Gyu

— Premier League (@premierleague) December 30, 2024

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Ipswich will be relieved to finally secure a first top-flight win at Portman Road this season, and they avoided becoming just the fifth team to go winless in their opening 10 home games of a Premier League campaign.

That was in large part thanks to Delap, who managed four shots on target from five attempts – both the most of any player – and won a game-leading three fouls in his attempts to guide Ipswich up the pitch.

It was a superior quality of finishing that proved decisive – Ipswich scored twice from just 0.99 expected goals (xG), while Chelsea somehow failed to convert from 20 shots worth 1.99 xG.

Maresca will know improvements are desperately neededswerteplay, having seen Chelsea fall to back-to-back league defeats for the first time since losing to Wolves and Liverpool in January and Februrary last season.