Ipswichvs.Chelsea

At one point on Boxing Day, the Blues were well on their way to cutting the gap to leaders Liverpool to one point as they led Fulham in the West London derby.

However, Chelsea conceded twice during the final 10 minutes plus added-on time to succumb to a 2-1 reverse to their neighbours at Stamford Bridge.

With Liverpool overcoming Leicester City later in the day, Chelsea now sit seven points adrift of the Merseyside giants in the Premier League table ahead of the trip to Portman Road.

Maresca promises Chelsea changes

A criticism after the loss to Fulham was Maresca opting against making more than one substitution. The only alteration came when replacing Nicolas Jackson with Christopher Nkunku in the 73rd minute.

The Italian responded by insisting that the players already on the pitch were performing to a high-enough standard, yet it appears that he will take a different approach on Monday.

When being quizzed on the defeat, Maresca stated that he intends to make a number of alterations to his starting lineup.

As quoted by football.london, he said: ""For sure, after a game, you need to go again no matter the result. Especially this month; I think in December, we already played eight or nine games in 25 or 27 days.

"So now it is also 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."

Who could start for Chelsea at Ipswich?

Although there is now a four-day gap between fixtures, Maresca may choose to hand Nkunku just his third Premier League start of the season ahead of Jackson.

Joao Felix may also start in place of either Pedro Neto or Jadon Sancho, with Cole Palmer potentially moving into a wide area.

Despite being dropped from the squad versus Fulham, Noni Madueke is available for the trip to East Anglia, while Renato Veiga may be considered for a start in central-midfield if Romeo Lavia is not able to return from injury.

With regards to the defence, Axel Disasi is the only senior player who may realistically be restored to the defence.

Written by

Darren Plant