Ipswich 2-0 Chelsea (30 Dec 2024) Match Analysis

Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson scored either side of half-time as Ipswich Town finally ended an almost 23-year wait to win a Premier League game at Portman Road with a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Monday.

Not since April 2002, and a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, have Ipswich celebrated home success in the top flight, but on Monday moved themselves up a place to 18th with a hard-fought triumph and dealt another blow to Chelsea’s title hopes.

Delap’s 12th-minute penalty and a fine 53rd-minute finish from former Chelsea product Hutchinson provided the perfect end to an exciting year for the club, who were promoted at the end of last season.

Defeat to Chelsea, on the other hand, left them with a point from their last three outings and down to fourth place, 10 points behind Liverpool and having played a game more than the leaders.

Home hopes were sparked early with the award of the penalty when Leif Davis’ probing pass found Delap, who slid in to try to reach the ball and had his dangling leg caught by Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jørgensen when he came rushing off his line.

It was Ipswich’s first penalty of the league season and Delap slotted it under Jorgensen to the delight of the home crowd.

A strong save from Jorgensen soon followed as Delap curled a firm effort across the face of goal from a tight angle before Chelsea took control of the encounter and did almost everything but score.

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Joao Felix had the ball in the back of the net after coming in at the back post with an effort in the 24th minute that was ruled offside after a lengthy VAR check.

Cole Palmer hit the woodwork twice, first with a quickly taken and curling free-kick, where the rebound fell to Christopher Nkunkuit hit just at Christian Walton.

The Ipswich keeper also denied Palmer with a sharp stop near the end of the first half.

But the expected equalizer never came, with Ipswich instead leading 2-0 early in the second half.

Hutchinson, who moved from Chelsea to Ipswich in a club-record £20m deal before the start of the season, repaid some of his transfer fee with a smart finish for the second goal.

It came thanks to an errant pass from Chelsea’s France international Axel Disasisnapped by Delap, who was full of hard running throughout the match, often the lone man back in front.

Delap checked as he ran into traffic before laying it out to Hutchinson who had to step in before firing off the perfect finish.

Ipswich have let potential wins slip away this season so it was a tense atmosphere as the final whistle approached before exuberant celebrations got underway.