Since Nicolas Jackson’s 80th-minute goal against Brentford around 16 days ago, Chelsea have had 48 shots in the Premier League. In that time three matches have been played and only one goal has been scored by the Blues.
Chelsea had 76% of possession. Seventy-six. And yet, you left Portman Road on Monday – or turned off your television in rage – feeling as if Ipswich completely deserved it.
It wasn’t as if those opportunities created by the visitors were not good chances. Chelsea ended the game with 2.22 xG in comparison to the hosts’ 1.55. Enzo Maresca, while accepting there were defensive frailties – to be kind – on show in Ipswich, could reiterated the fact that his Chelsea side did create clear-cut chances in both halves in East Anglia.
“A bit of a strange game,” a frustrated Maresca told reporters at full-time. “We created so many chances in the first-half and in the first five or 10 minutes of the second-half, we had two clear chances; the header from Joao [Felix] and another shot.”
Ipswich, though, for want of a better phrase; wanted it more than Chelsea. That much was clear. The Tractor Boys, winless at Portman Road in the Premier League this season going into the game, wanted to give their supporters – who created a brilliant atmosphere on the night – a high point to end 2024.
Maresca always looking to improve at Chelsea
