Ipswich 2-0 Chelsea: Omari Hutchinson returns to haunt his former club after Liam Delap's early penalty as Enzo Maresca's side slip to second successive defeat

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Don’t celebrate against your old club? Says who? Omari Hutchinson may have been made in Chelsea, but it was Ipswich who gave him his big break, and for confirming their first Premier League home win of the season, he had an acrobatic routine reserved.

Hutchinson flipped over frontwards and then backwards as he careered towards the corner, so grateful was he and everyone else at Portman Road that Chelsea ignored the three right backs they had on their bench to name a central defender in Axel Disasi in that position instead.

That was one of a few mistakes made by Enzo Maresca here with Disasi responsible for Hutchinson’s second-half strike. It was his lazy pass which presented possession to their opponents. It was his flat-footedness which then saw Hutchinson shimmy beyond him to score.

That followed a first half in which Filip Jorgensen, who started ahead of Robert Sanchez in goal, fouled Liam Delap so that he could give Ipswich the lead from the penalty spot.

Chelsea gifted Ipswich chances but took none of their own and after all the praise, Maresca must now take his medicine after such a woeful week. A draw with Everton, a loss to Fulham, and now defeat by Ipswich, a game in which the visitors paid the price for their changes.

The only silver lining for Maresca, if there is one, is he can being quizzed on the Premier League's title race. He may wish to expect a few on how much harm they are doing to their top-four chances, mind.

Omari Hutchinson sealed a stunning win for Ipswich as they beat Chelsea on Monday night

Liam Delap had given Ipswich an early lead from the penalty spot at Portman Road

It was a disappointing night for Enzo Maresca as his side slipped to a second straight defeat

‘We expected this moment in the season,’ Maresca said afterwards. ‘We know these moments belong to football. It’s almost impossible to go through a season without a moment. Not one of us in this room expected us to be where we are.’

Ipswich had six players in their starting line-up who played for the club in League One, and their manager Kieran McKenna said of their first home win: ‘To get one over the line, at home, to do it against a team like Chelsea, a night game, the last in 2024, is special. There were so many outstanding individuals. Liam was fantastic. He’s a different beast now to what he was in July.’

Delap will know Chelsea are looking at him – Premier League players cannot escape the tattle of transfer columns, no matter how hard they try – and within two minutes, the 21-year-old Englishman barged into Tosin Adarabioyo in one challenge and clattered Levi Colwill in another.

He was a wrecking ball and that increased the volume at Portman Road as Nathan Broadhead was only denied the opener by Adarabioyo’s goal-line clearance.

In the 10th minute, Leif Davis played a pass in behind Chelsea which Delap reached before Jorgensen as he dropped down. Referee John Brooks judged that the goalkeeper clipped him and while contact was minimal, VAR Michael Oliver concurred it was enough to warrant a penalty.

Cole Palmer pulled Jorgensen to the side for a word, presumably telling him which way to dive. He guessed correctly, but the ball was struck too powerfully into the bottom-left corner by Delap as Ipswich led 1-0 in front of the watching Ed Sheeran. In the 14th minute, Jorgensen was needed at full stretch to stop Delap from doubling Ipswich’s lead.

When Christopher Nkunku was fouled, central to goal and from 25 yards, Chelsea finally had a chance after 20 minutes. Palmer curled the free-kick into the post and Christian Walton – starting in goal over Arijanet Muric, much to the supporters’ delight – stopped Nkunku’s rebound from rolling in.

With Palmer, you can never count Chelsea out of a match and in the 24th minute, they were celebrating an equaliser courtesy of his exquisite cross for Joao Felix. However, Portman Road was roaring when VAR – after an eternity – ruled it out for offside.

Joao Felix had a goal ruled out by VAR and that was as close as Chelsea came to scoring

It was a famous night for Kieran McKenna whose side are now just point from safety

Marc Cucurella called for a yellow card for Hutchinson when the floppy-haired full back acted as if he had been karate-kicked by the touchline. Brooks did not buy it and from then on, Cucurella was booed by Ipswich’s fans whenever he had the ball. The only exception was when he smashed one shot well wide of Walton’s goal.

A flurry of chances followed for Chelsea as Noni Madueke messed up a finish from Colwill’s cross, Moises Caicedo blasted one over the crossbar, and Felix failed to place the ball into the bottom-right corner. Palmer came closest when the fingertips of Walton pushed his curler on to the crossbar, as Ipswich still had their lead at half-time.

Chelsea started the second half as they finished the first, with Felix’s header cleared off the line by Wes Burns and Madueke denied by Walton’s legs at his near post.

And then, Ipswich made it 2-0, courtesy of a Disasi cock-up. The pretend right back played an erroneous pass which Delap pounced on. He held on to the ball before setting up Hutchinson. With a shimmy to his left, he skipped by Disasi, and scored into the far corner.

Hutchinson celebrated, boy did he. He loved every single of it, and so did Portman Road, who knew the visitors were rattled.

Chelsea went in search of a way back into the game as Nicolas Jackson was thrown on, but this was a defeat of Maresca’s own making and an opportunity which Ipswich seized upon emphatically.