Evening Standard
·28 December 2024
Evening Standard
·28 December 2024
The Blues must recover quickly from their third Premier League defeat of the season
Chelsea need to get back to winning ways against Ipswich after seeing their Premier League title charge falter during the festive period.
A draw at Everton followed by a first home loss to Fulham in 45 years brought an end to a five-game winning streak and allowed Arsenal to leapfrog the Blues into second and Liverpool open up a seven-point gap, with a game in hand.
Ipswich, though, pose less of a threat and should offer Chelsea plenty of chances to sign off for 2024 with a win.
Ipswich vs Chelsea is scheduled for a 7.45pm BST kick-off on Monday, December 30, 2024.
The match will take place at Portman Road.
TV channel and live stream: In the UK, the game will not be televised live.
Live blog: You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog, with expert analysis from Malik Ouzia at the ground.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has confirmed he will rotate his side giving the busy festive schedule.
He said after the loss to Fulham: "In December, we already played eight or nine games in 25 or 27 days ... It's important to recover the energy and go again on Monday and then if we are going to make one change, two changes or three changes, we will see. Now it is a bit early but for sure, we are going to change something."
Christopher Nkunku is in line to start, which would see Nicolas Jackson drop to the bench, while Joao Felix could get the nod ahead of Pedro Neto or Jadon Sancho. It remains to be seen if Noni Madueke is in contention after being dropped.
Ipswich have Sam Morsy available again after suspension, but Chiedozie Ogbene, Janoi Donacien, George Hirst and Axel Tuanzebe are all still sidelined.
Chelsea have not been firing as freely of late having been well marshalled by the opposition, but Ipswich will do well to do the same after an exhausting night at Arsenal last time out.
It’s these types of games where Chelsea can rotate and still prove far too much, and expect Cole Palmer to be pulling the strings again for what is expected to be an otherwise changed attacking line-up.
Chelsea to win, 3-0.
Ipswich wins: 9
Draws: 10
Chelsea wins: 26
Ipswich: 5/1
Draw: 11/4
Chelsea: 4/11
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).