Michael Chopra believes his recent scoring burst is a sure sign that he is beginning to show the form that persuaded Ipswich boss Paul Jewell to sign him from Cardiff in a £1 million deal last summer.
Chopra, who has netted four times in his last three outings, will line up against his former team-mates at Portman Road on Saturday as Town aim to make it four league wins in a row and continue their climb up the Championship table.
The 28-year-old striker’s well documented gambling addiction is not yet a thing of the past but he believes he has benefited from his decision to go public and confront the problem head-on.
Chopra admitted: "With what’s been going on in my life in the last year or so it’s been hard at times. I’ve made sacrifices but now what’s happening is that everything is going well.
"I believe I’m getting back to my best the way I’m playing and helping the team. I am getting a lot of chances to score goals. When we played Brighton at home I was getting close to my best but then I had to go into the Sporting Chance Clinic for a period of three weeks.
"It was hard because I wasn’t really training. The gaffer left me out of the team to enable me to get my confidence back. I know my problems won’t disappear in days or even months. It’s going to take years and I just have to take each day as it comes.
"At the start of the year it was disappointing to be left out of the side, but I wasn’t playing well and my confidence was low. It was the right decision by the gaffer and I think you can see from my recent displays that I am starting to be the player that he thought he was bringing to the club last summer.”
Chopra’s recent run has seen him score in the 5-1 home thrashing of Championship leaders West Ham, bag a brace in the 3-2 win at Coventry and then net the only goal in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at Portsmouth.
But he added: "I’ve been getting a lot of help from everybody at the club. I’m the one getting the plaudits for scoring but it’s not just down to me. All the lads are playing their part. "If they didn’t create chances for me I couldn’t score, but I have always had a lot of belief in myself and my ability. I still believe I will get 20 goals this season. "We could have been three of four goals up at Portsmouth the other night. When I first came to Ipswich it was the usual story of a new club and pressure to score goals. Because of what I had going on in my life people probably doubted me. That’s why I want to repay the club by scoring goals and it is great to be enjoying my football again.” Photos: Action ImagesWhat to read next:
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