Hello and welcome to football.london for live coverage of Chelsea's Premier League clash with Ipswich Town this afternoon.
The Blues have seven games remaining of the 2024/25 top-flight season as they hunt down a Champions League spot. A victory against Tottenham last time out at Stamford Bridge could not be built on a few days later at Brentford, where it ended in a goalless stalemate.
Chelsea were beaten at Ipswich earlier in the season, with the Tractor Boys securing a 2-0 win at Portman Road on December 30. Goals from Liam Delap and former Chelsea winger Omari Hutchinson were enough for Kieran McKenna's side to claim all three points on the night.
The west Londoners will be keen to get some form of revenge this afternoon and if they were to do that, it would edge Ipswich even closer to relegation. Kick-off at Stamford Bridge is at 2pm (BST) and you can follow every kick right here with Bobby Vincent on hand to keep you updated...
Key Events
So close from Palmer
Palmer from the edge of the box and he goes so close. Fantastic save.
More on the goal
Sancho picks the ball up on the edge of the box, sets himself, and curls one into the top corner. Beautiful goal from Chelsea's winger.
Close!
Ipswich nearly have a third goal. Hirst cuts in on his right foot and his effort goes just wide. He then has a free header but cannot guide it on target.
Goal! Chelsea 1-2 Ipswich Town (Cucurella)
Good work from Madueke on the right and his low cross his turned home by Cucurella. Within 20 seconds, Chelsea have halved the deficit. Game on.
Half-time player ratings
Robert Sanchez - 4
Trevoh Chalobah - 5
Tosin Adarabioyo - 4
Levi Colwill - 4
Marc Cucurella - 5
Moises Caicedo - 5
Enzo Fernandez - 6
Noni Madueke - 6
Cole Palmer - 5
Pedro Neto - 4
Nicolas Jackson - 5
Half-time
And Chelsea trail by two goals here at Stamford Bridge. Enciso and Johnson give the visitors a shock advantage at half-time. Serious work to do here.
VAR call explained
#CHEIPS – 31’ VAR OVERTURN
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) April 13, 2025
VAR checked the referee’s call of no goal for Ipswich - and determined that Enciso was in an onside position in the build-up and recommended that the goal was awarded. pic.twitter.com/NvQvMzWxbf
Against the run of play
Where did that come from? It had been a dominant start from Chelsea but Ipswich lead. The away fans chant: "Can we play you every week?", of course having won 2-0 in the reverse fixture at Portman Road.
Goal! Chelsea 0-1 Ipswich Town (Enciso)
Enciso gives the visitors the lead. Ipswich break and Johnson finds Enciso with a low cross and he guides it past Sanchez.
Close!
Another chance for Chelsea, who have started really well. Madueke's cross finds Colwill, whose header brings Palmer into action in the Ipswich goal.
Close from Madueke
Madueke has started really well. Firstly he cuts inside well and O'Shea is forced to block his shot, which was goal-bound and he then goes close again a minute later with a right-footed volley but it is tipped behind for a corner. Alex Palmer calmly collected the cross from the corner.
POST!
Jackson hits the post. Fernandez finds Chelsea's No.15 at the near post but his shot rebounds off the woodwork. Huge opportunity for Jackson.
Lively start
And Cucurella - as always - is in the thick of it. He goes down twice early on and wins a free-kick for the second one. Ipswich fans singing some not so nice chants in relation to the Spaniard.
Teams are in
The two sides have now headed back down the tunnel as we close in on kick-off here at Stamford Bridge.
Maresca explains the nine changes
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has detailed the reasoning for nine changes in his Blues side this afternoon:
Against Brentford, there was a game plan, and today we have another game plan. Hopefully with the ones we start we are going to win the game. It's important to create chances. Even the last game against Brentford, we shot more than 20 times. That means the volume is quite big, we are there, and sometimes you can score goals and sometimes you don't score. The important thing is that we are there.
Warm-ups underway
The two sides are now on the pitch at Stamford Bridge beginning their warm-ups. We're around 40 minutes away from kick-off here in west London.
Milestone for Fernandez
A 100th appearance in the Chelsea blue for Enzo Fernandez this afternoon. Signed from Benfica in January 2023 for £106million, the Argentine will make it a century of games for the Blues today.
Delap on the bench
Liam Delap, Ipswich Town's star player, is on the bench this afternoon. The 22-year-old is a big target for Chelsea this summer but he starts as a substitute at Stamford Bridge.
TEAM NEWS
Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Chalobah, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson.
Chelsea subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Badiashile, James, Gusto, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Sancho, Nkunku.
