At the end of the year, Chelsea FC missed the chance to move back into second place. The Blues were beaten 2-0 by newly promoted Ipswich Town after a weak performance.
Chelsea had left points on the table twice in a row in the league and, after losing 2-1 in the West London derby to Fulham, had also had to surrender second place in the table to city rivals Arsenal. The plan was to put this right at the end of the year with a game against bottom-of-the-league Ipswich, who had not yet won a home game – at least temporarily, the rank as first pursuer of Liverpool would be back on the table.
But the outsiders from Ipswich caused the Blues, who fielded former Leipzig man Nkunku in place of former Dortmund man Sancho, a lot of problems. The Tractor Boys took a brave approach to the game, pressing aggressively and playing bold, high-tempo football, and were rewarded with a penalty after ten minutes. Jörgensen had touched Delap in a one-on-one situation, the striker gratefully accepted and converted from the spot to take an early lead (12′). Only two minutes later, Delap almost added his second goal, but Jörgensen made a strong save.
Joao Felix offside: VAR cancels out equalizer
Chelsea were largely short of ideas offensively against the hosts’ narrow 5-4-1 block, and it took a set-piece situation to get the Blues into the game: Palmer blasted a free-kick against the post, and Nkunku put the rebound exactly into the arms of keeper Walton (21′). The guests improved and also scored to equalize. But since Joao Felix had been in an offside position when Palmer crossed, the VAR rescinded the goal (24′).
Chelsea now dominated, but Ipswich put up a passionate fight in defense. Caicedo shot just centimeters over (35), and just before half-time Walton pushed a Palmer shot onto the crossbar with his fingertips (45+1). On the other side, Jörgensen was on hand to save against Delap in the near corner (39). So it was that the underdog went into the break with a narrow lead.
Hutchinson scores in Chelsea’s pressure phase
Chelsea wanted to avoid embarrassment at the underdog’s hands, started the second half with furious attacks and immediately created good chances. First Burns cleared a Joao Felix header on the line (47th), then Walton was on hand in the near post against Madueke (50th). But then Ipswich struck back: after a bad pass, Delap seized the ball and served Hutchinson, who scored against three opponents in the right corner (53′).
Chelsea would not recover from this setback. Rather, the home side remained dangerous on the counterattack: Jörgensen first saved against Delap (74) and then prevented Madueke from scoring an own goal (76). Except for a shot on target by Jackson, who shot wide from 15 meters out on the right in front of the goal (77), the Blues didn’t create any more scoring chances.
And so, after 90 minutes, the sensation was clear: Ipswich took their first home win of the season against the big favorite Chelsea and moved to within a point of the safe haven in the relegation battle. Chelsea, on the other hand, missed out on moving into second place and will enter the new year in fourth place. The Blues will continue their campaign next Saturday (4 p.m.) at city rivals Crystal Palace. Ipswich are also playing in London the next day (3 p.m.) at Fulham.
