Ipswich claim historic home win as Omari Hutchinson haunts Chelsea | Premier League

Ipswich’s wait is over. Portman Road would not be denied its first Premier League win since April 2002. Chelsea’s title challenge, such as it was, does not reach 2025. Two defeats and a draw over the Christmas period leave them ten points behind Liverpool, not holding on too much. coattails as left to dust.

Liam Delap did the damage, winning a penalty he tapped home and then setting up Omari Hutchinson for the second in a barnstorming performance. If Ipswich and Kieran McKenna revived hope in their battle against relegation, then Enzo Maresca’s goal for Chelsea will be drawn to stay in the top four.

Maresca’s reputation as a decisive manager was enhanced by dropping Robert Sánchez for Filip Jörgensen after a costly goalkeeping error against Fulham, amid five changes from the Boxing Day defeat. With a sizeable squad available and clear signs of fatigue, the selection looked like a selection from the Conference League, especially with the presence of João Félix in the forward line. Nicolas Jackson had been given a break, with Christopher Nkunku being the most central part of the attacking unit. A selection borne out of fatigue or Ipswich’s status as a bottom-three club without a home win all season?

McKenna, facing a club he was heavily linked with last summer only for the job to end up in the hands of Maresca, a competitor in last season’s Championship promotion race, sought to prolong Chelsea’s blue Christmas. He also had a goalkeeper shuffled out, Christian Walton replacing Arijanet Muric. While Walton made his first appearance since opening day, Nathan Broadhead made his first Premier League start.

As so often, his team started with real spirit and Delap burst into Levi Colwill with sinister intent. Broadhead was almost on the scoresheet in the opening moments, only for his shot from a Hutchinson pass to rattle off Tosin Adarabioyo and into safety. Such early energy brought reward. Leif Davis’ ball sent Delap away and Jörgensen was hasty in his challenge. The penalty was duly meted out. Did Delap accentuate contact? It looked like this. Chelsea’s case was decent, but the referee’s call was followed.

Delap drilled home, he could have had another shortly after, only for Jörgensen to partially redeem himself. Chelsea were lethargic, as lethargic in attack as defence, Félix seemingly unable to stay upright when any Ipswich player came near him. His re-signing remains a mystery. Nkunku was also slow to pounce when Cole Palmer’s free-kick, swept with trademark indolence, hit the post. The Frenchman failed to beat Walton and franked his choice where Jörgensen had previously failed.

Ipswich’s soft underbelly weighing on a team that wins hearts through their commitment to attacking play was exposed when Palmer’s pass found Félix in position to score and then execute an elaborate celebration aimed at the haters. Problematic for the previous €100 million. plus playmaker he had been half a yard offside. Worryingly for Ipswich, Palmer now went willfully in far too much freedom, while Moisés Caicedo, thrashing an effort, grew in influence.

Keeping his danger on the counter, Delap forced a near-post save from Jörgensen, which was again matched by Walton, who acrobatically tipped over a Palmer rocket. The Wythenshawe wizard could only smile ruefully, trusting to expect more where that came from.

As if fired up by an Italian dressing room, Chelsea began the second half with greater energy. Wes Burns had to head a Félix header off the line. Noni Madueke added to Walton’s save tally at his near post. Such great pressure posed existential questions for Ipswich; Life in the Premier League is surely about more than last-ditch defense and heading for clear aerial bombardment.

The answer came in the explosion of noise and joy that followed their second goal. Close to a headline writer’s dream, Axel Disasi played a terrible no-look pass into Delap’s path. The striker looked back as back-pedaling defenders tried to guess the intentions. A poked pass set Hutchinson up to score against a club who dumped him after two senior appearances. He celebrated that with a backlash of justification.

Maresca’s immediate response was to end Félix’s night after a screening to further deepen the mystery. On came Jackson to add more familiar form to the forward line. Nkunku soon departed after a no less ineffective night, Jadon Sancho the latest attempt to respond to what had become a creative fug, with Palmer forced to drop deeper to find a way back. Delap, a one-man hitting frame, holding back defenders and winning offenses, meanwhile, was having the time of his life.

He teased the ball past Caicedo and then held off Marc Cucurella, and he forced another save from Jörgensen, whose performance as the game dragged on suggested the wisdom of Maresca’s choices in that department. Jackson’s attempted rescue mission saw him miss a one-on-one and his colleagues began to boil over in frustration, Palmer gave a passenger. Ipswich could think that, after the previous disappointments, this could be the one.