Chelsea team news vs Ipswich and predicted lineup | OneFootball

Chelsea will be hoping to hold onto their spot in the Premier League top four when they host Ipswich Town at Stamford Bridge on Sunday at 2pm.

Chelsea predicted lineup vs Ipswich

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson

Top five is actually enough to secure Champions League football for next season, with the Premier League now guaranteed to get one of the two extra spots. But there’s no difference between fourth and fifth in the Premier League right now.

Chelsea currently sit fourth, ahead of fifth-placed Newcastle United on goal difference. But the Magpies have a game in hand over the Blues. And sixth-placed Manchester City are only one point back. Chelsea cannot afford to be dropping points.

Chelsea team news vs Ipswich

There’s an interesting question about how Enzo Maresca approaches this game. Chelsea are 3-0 up on aggregate in their Europa Conference League quarter-final against Legia Warsaw, and may look to rotate for their second leg. So, we could see as full-strength a team as possible for Chelsea.

Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez were rested on Thursday for Chelsea’s Europa Conference League win so should return to the midfield here, replacing Reece James and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. But Caicedo is just one yellow card away from a two-game suspension, with this being the final match before the threshold is increased to 15. So Maresca might have that on his mind. But this game is expected to be too soon for Romeo Lavia.

Malo Gusto started at left-back for Chelsea with Marc Cucurella coming off the bench, but he should return to the right with the Spaniard starting. Maresca will surely want to avoid starting James in three consecutive matches, so the Chelsea captain should drop to the bench.

Levi Colwill and Trevoh Chalobah should return as centre-backs too, starting over Benoit Badiashile and Tosin Adarabioyo. Wesley Fofana has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury.

Cole Palmer is the only Chelsea attacker from Thursday likely to retain his place in the starting XI. Noni Madueke, Pedro Neto and Nicolas Jackson should all come into the starting lineup, ahead of Tyrique George, Jadon Sancho and Christopher Nkunku. Marc Guiu remains injured.

Robert Sanchez will start in goal, ahead of Filip Jorgensen.

The importance of Nicolas Jackson

Chelsea have been linked with a move for Ipswich striker Liam Delap in recent days, amid reports of a £30 million relegation clause in his contract. Maresca was asked about Delap in his pre-match press conference, and led onto explaining his ideal profile for a striker.

“My perfect No.9 is exactly Nico Jackson. We already have a No.9. It’s not summer now,” Maresca replied.

“If we can have a copy of Nico, it’s OK. I have said many times, and you can see as well, with Nico we are a better team. Nico is the one we need.

“Last season, he scored goals without penalties. This season he scored goals until he was injured. Now, hopefully he can score more goals without penalties. We are happy with Nico.”

Jackson has come under criticism at times during his spell with Chelsea, but largely among opposition fans. Although there may have been frustration from Chelsea supporters, the Blues generally back Jackson. And it’s easy to see why.

Chelsea are absolutely a better team with Jackson in their starting XI. He’s a good goalscorer, averaging 0.43 goals per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season, without penalties. Last season he averaged 0.45 goals per 90. Jackson has also averaged 0.24 assists per 90 this season, up from 0.16 in 2023-24.

For all the jokes about his finishing, Jacksons Expected Goals and Expected Goals on Target aren’t too different. The Senegalese striker has averaged 0.56 xG per 90 in the league this season, with 0.54 xGOT. That’s a shot placement ratio of 0.96. While it is below 1.0, it’s not too far off. And all of his xG and xGOT are without penalties. Only two players in the Premier League with at least 1,000 minutes played have a higher non-penalty xG per 90 than Jackson. And those are Erling Haaland (0.67) and Alexander Isak (0.6)!

During Jackson’s time off due to injury, Chelsea scored six goals across five league games. Four of those came against now-relegated Southampton, with Chelsea failing to score twice. He also struggled in the first half against Brentford last Sunday, having left Jackson on the bench for the first half.