Premier League: Ipswich Town 2 (Delap 12, Hutchinson 53) Chelsea 0
Liam Delap’s barnstorming display helped Ipswich register a first Premier League home win in 22 years with a memorable 2-0 victory over Chelsea to further damage their faint title prospects.
Delap had been tipped for an England debut by former Manchester City Under-23s boss Enzo Maresca ahead of this fixture and proceeded to haunt his ex-boss during a historic occasion at a buoyant Portman Road.
It was Town’s leading scorer Delap who won an early contentious spot-kick, which he fired past Filip Jorgensen in the 12th minute after Chelsea’s backup goalkeeper had been penalised for minimal contact.
The goal gave Kieran McKenna’s team a crucial lead to hold on to and, after Joao Felix had an effort ruled out for offside for the visitors in the 24th minute, the hosts doubled their lead straight after half-time.
Omari Hutchinson made the most of an Axel Disasi error to ensure Ipswich won at home in the top-flight at the 10th time of asking this season – and for the first time since 2002 – to make it three games without a win for Chelsea.
Blues boss Maresca shuffled his pack after a shock Boxing Day loss at home to Fulham, with Noni Madueke recalled and Jorgensen given a rare league outing in goal.
Chelsea had beaten the other newly-promoted teams during a recent eight-match winning streak, but Delap highlighted the task at hand by knocking both centre-backs to the floor inside two minutes.
It added to an already raucous atmosphere and, not long after Nathan Broadhead was denied, the hosts took the lead through Delap’s penalty.
The marauding Delap raced on to Leif Davis’ inch-perfect pass and although his momentum meant he started to go down after he got a touch ahead of Jorgensen, the faintest of kicks by Chelsea’s goalkeeper meant referee John Brooks awarded the spot-kick.
Delap drilled into the bottom corner for his seventh goal of the campaign, but the shell-shocked visitors did eventually regroup.
Cole Palmer – the talisman of Chelsea’s young team – almost levelled, but his free-kick from 22 yards smacked against the post and Christopher Nkunku’s follow-up was gratefully claimed by Christian Walton.
Walton had been recalled for only his second league appearance this season and had to pick the ball out of his net after 24 minutes before a lengthy VAR check disallowed Felix’s effort.
Palmer had been the creator with a superb left-footed cross, which Felix smashed into the roof of the net, but he had strayed offside and that decision was greeted with glee from the home faithful.
Chelsea had started to turn the screw, with pantomime villain Marc Cucurella blazing off target before Moises Caicedo followed suit after a poor pass by Ipswich defender Davis.
A slick breakaway by Ipswich almost produced a second for Delap but Jorgensen pulled off a smart near-post save before that was bettered by Walton in first-half stoppage-time.
Palmer’s superb 20-yard curler looked destined for the top corner after Felix’s lay-off only for Walton to brilliantly parry on to the crossbar and over to ensure it remained 1-0.
The second half continued in a similar manner with a Felix header cleared off the line by Wes Burns before Walton thwarted Madueke’s low effort.
Ipswich continued to be pinned back, but received an almighty gift from Disasi in the 53rd minute and Hutchinson gratefully made the most of it.
Disasi carelessly passed straight to Delap by the halfway line and he ran at Levi Colwill before passing back to Hutchinson, who worked a yard of space and drilled into the bottom corner for a special goal against a club which released him twice as a youth product.
Maresca reacted immediately with Nicolas Jackson sent on before Jadon Sancho quickly followed, but all Chelsea managed in between was a wayward Disasi strike.
Pedro Neto was introduced next for the frustrated visitors but Ipswich stood firm to finish a memorable 2024 with an eagerly-awaited first top-flight victory of the season.
Aston Villa 2 (Watkins 36, Rogers 47) Brighton and Hove Albion 2 (Adringa 12, Lamptey 81)
Tariq Lamptey spent most of his night worried about how his direct opponent Morgan Rogers was the most-likely match-winner, but it was the right-back who settled the result with a fine equaliser as Brighton secured a draw at Aston Villa.
Rogers and Ollie Watkins had put Villa into the lead after a Simon Adringa opener and the hosts sensed victory until Lamptey scored his third goal in almost 100 Premier League games for Brighton to level with less than 10 minutes to go.
On a cold night, proceedings were stopped within a minute when Boubacar Kamara and João Pedro clashed heads, leaving the Brighton forward bleeding from a cut above his left eye. The Brazilian was lucky to be playing after throwing an elbow in the draw against Brentford last week. João Pedro required four minutes of treatment before being bandaged up and allowed to play on.
Aston Villa were the more threatening against a team that arrived without a win in six matches but Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres were feeling generous, and gifted Adringa the first goal. Lewis Dunk punted a long ball over the top that the full-back and centre-back failed to deal with under light pressure from João Pedro, before Adringa stepped in and curled his shot into the corner from inside the area, leaving Ezri Konsa bellowing at his own ineptitude.
The opener brought the fans’ frustrations to the fore as misplaced passes and lost possession were met with weighty groans inside Villa Park. There were further problems for Unai Emery to address when Pau Torres was forced off with less than a quarter of the match gone, needing to be helped down the touchline, unable to put weight on his right leg.
Rogers was causing Brighton’s defence problems with direct running but Villa were unable to produce a final pass or shot to threaten Bart Verbruggen’s goal. The Villa forwards were unable to get their pressing right, allowing Brighton to play through them. The Seagulls would have had a second when Julio Enciso took advantage of a quick break, only to see Emiliano Martínez tip his shot from distance wide.
Emery spent his programme notes bemoaning VAR and was once again irritated by the officials when they ruled that Jan Paul van Hecke had got the ball after an ill-advised lunge on Rogers in the box. The Spaniard threw out his arms when the VAR declared there was no need to overturn the original decision. He need not have worried because in the next action, João Pedro kicked Rogers when trying to clear a corner and this time Craig Pawson changed his mind after consulting the screen. Watkins, celebrating his 29th birthday, did the rest to ensure the finished level after 12 minutes of added time.
It seemed only right that Rogers’ terrorising of Brighton was rewarded when the visitors failed to clear their lines in the 47th minute. Watkins chipped a pass over the defence, that Rogers chested down and immediately fired the ball into the corner for his sixth goal of an electrifying season. The winger was the best player on the pitch by a distance, having already earned a penalty, and was causing panic to those dressed in yellow.
Villa were in the ascendancy thanks to Rogers, leaving Brighton on the back foot, worried about when the next attack would come down the left. It’s been an incredible year for the 22-year-old, who was playing for Middlesbrough in the second tier until February. Since then he has become a Champions League player, made his England debut and scored in a win over Manchester City, the team that deemed him not good enough. Something he is proving wrong.
Fabian Hürzeler did what he could to get Brighton into the game by making a triple change before the hour. Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh brought some much-needed verve to their output and it was the Japanese winger that helped create the equalise when he found João Pedro in the box, who laid the ball into the path of Lamptey to take a touch and fire into the corner from 18 yards. Lamptey had earned greater freedom by the fact Rogers had been moved centrally after a tactical tweak, allowing him to push further forward without fear of being exposed.
The leveller punished Villa for being wasteful in their endeavours getting four of 20 shots on target. The closest they came to a winner was Dunk heading towards his own top corner, but Verbruggen was alert and the points were shared. – Guardian
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