Ipswich 2-0 Chelsea: Omari Hutchinson returns to hang-out his former membership after Liam Delap’s early penalty as Enzo Maresca’s facet slip to second successive defeat

After all the praise, Enzo Maresca must now take his medicine. For as spirited as Ipswich were in securing their first Premier League home win of the season, Chelsea were equally as culpable.

Maresca got away with making wholesale changes for their trip to Southampton, but not this time. Not when Portman Road is this ready to rattle its visitors. Not when Kieran McKenna has his players believing they can pounce on any opponents who underestimate them.

Maresca named three right backs on his bench and yet chose to use a central defender in Axel Disasi in that position on the pitch. It turned into a Disasi disasterclass as one mad moment from the makeshift full back allowed Omari Hutchinson to confirm this victory in the second half.

That followed Filip Jorgensen, who replaced Robert Sanchez in goal, fouling Liam Delap so that he could score from the penalty spot in the first half.

Adding to that awkwardness at the back was their lack of ruthless from the front, Cole Palmer striking the post twice and umpteen other opportunities going to waste.

The only silver lining for Maresca, if there is one, is he can forget answering questions 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. A draw with Everton, a loss to Fulham, and now this defeat by Ipswich, it has been a week of setbacks.

Chelsea’s team news was intriguing, to say the least, as Reece James returned to the match-day squad for the first time since November 10 after his latest hamstring injury. Alongside Josh Acheampong and Malo Gusto, James was one of three right backs on the bench, and yet Maresca sided with Disasi. That was a risk, along with opting for Christopher Nkunku over Nicolas Jackson, which Maresca hoped would bring rewards.

But Ipswich smelled an opportunity from the start. Delap will know Chelsea are looking at him. Premier League players cannot escape the tattle of transfer columns, no matter how hard they try. Within two minutes, the 21-year-old striker barged into Tosin Adarabioyo in one challenge, and clattered Levi Colwill in another, showing what a wrecking ball he can be.

That increased the volume at Portman Road, and Nathan Broadhead was only denied the opener after Hutchinson’s cutback when Adarabioyo produced a 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.

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 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, as Chelsea were suddenly being dominated by a team who had not won at home in the Premier League all season.

When 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 – disallowed it for offside.

Marc Cucurella called for a yellow card for Hutchinson – the attacker formerly of Chelsea – when he acted as if he had been karate-kicked. 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 the floppy-haired full back 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.

And then, Ipswich made it 2-0, courtesy of a Disasi cock-up. The makeshift right back played an erroneous pass which Delap pounced on. He held on to it 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. There was refusal to go doing backflips this time, just because he grew up at Chelsea. He loved every single of it, and so did Portman Road.

Chelsea went in search of a way back into the game, as Jackson was thrown on, but in the end, this was a defeat of Maresca’s own making.