Boss Kieran McKenna says tough games against the likes of Chelsea, who the Blues face at Portman Road on Monday evening (KO 7.45pm), and Arsenal, who beat them 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Friday, are the challenges he wants and which excite him.

Town go into the match, which marks the halfway point in the season and is the final fixture of 2024, 19th in the Premier League, four points plus goal difference from safety following the narrow defeat to the Gunners and Wolves’ 2-2 draw at Tottenham on Sunday.

Chelsea are fourth following the West Londoners’ 2-1 home defeat to Fulham on Thursday, Nottingham Forest having moved ahead of them and the Gunners via their Sunday 2-0 victory at Everton.

The derby loss to the Cottagers, Chelsea’s third Premier League defeat of the season, followed up a 0-0 draw at Everton, a result which ended an eight-game all-competitions winning run, five in the league.

On their travels this season, Chelsea have picked up more points than on their own turf, 20 compared with 15, having won six, drawn two and lost only one, 2-1 to leaders Liverpool at Anfield in October.

Town boss McKenna, whose team has lost five of their last six, knows it’s another difficult fixture but says these games should be relished.

“A tough test, but a great game,” he said. “These tough tests, let’s get it right, coming to the Emirates Stadium to play against Arsenal at Christmas is a positive, it’s not something to fear, it’s not something to feel hesitant about or feel anything other than feel excited about, and Chelsea at home’s the same.

“We know they’re a top side having a very good season but they’re the challenges that we want. Last home game of 2024, let’s go and give it everything we’ve got.”

Despite having picked a team which was able to restrict Arsenal to very few clear-cut chances on Friday, McKenna says he will look at making changes to his XI for the second game in four days.

“I think usually when you’ve got Friday night and Monday night, there’s likely to be some changes. We’ll assess that over the weekend,” he said.

The match is a reunion of the two bosses who won automatic promotion from the Championship last season, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca having left Leicester to take over at Stamford Bridge in the summer.

The Blues and Foxes played out two enthralling 1-1 draws last season, the Blues getting stronger as the games wore on and coming from behind to claim a point on each occasion.

McKenna was asked whether he learnt anything from those matches which he can take into Monday’s fixture.

“I don’t think I learned anything that I wouldn’t learn from watching Chelsea now, really,” he reflected.

“A lot of the structures in possession in particular are the same, but now, of course, he’s working a different calibre of player - although Leicester had very good players as well - which makes it an even bigger challenge.”

McKenna feels Maresca has made a strong start to life in the Premier League, although recalls the West Londoners ending last season positively under former boss Mauricio Pochettino.

“Without seeing the insides of it, he seems to have done very, very well,” he said. “They went about it a little bit differently but they’ve recruited some fantastic players for quite a few transfer windows now, some fantastic young players, and seem to have really found their way with that.

“Enzo’s done a really good job coaching them and getting them into the structure that he likes and turning them into a good team.

“I have to say, to be fair, the second half of last season, Mauricio had really good results there as well and you could see the talent that was there, you could see the talent was coming through, and they had really good results in the second half of last season.

“But I think Enzo’s taken that on to another level this year and he seems to have settled in very well.”

McKenna was asked whether he believes Chelsea are genuine title contenders this season.

“Their manager says not, doesn’t he?” he said. “He’s in a better position to judge than me.

“Liverpool are obviously in incredible form, but they’re certainly one of the best teams in the league, so I guess they’ll make their judgments on that and time will tell in the end.”

The Team

While McKenna says he’ll make changes of personnel, it’s more likely he’ll tweak his side than make very significant amendments.

Aro Muric will be in goal with the Blues boss perhaps again going with the back three which frustrated Arsenal for much of Friday’s match, from the right, Dara O’Shea, Luke Woolfenden and Jacob Greaves.

Leif Davis will be at left wing-back, while McKenna may swap Ben Johnson with Harry Clarke on the right, or perhaps Wes Burns if he wants to add a more attack-focused player in the role.

Skipper Sam Morsy looks certain to return in the centre of midfield for Kalvin Phillips, who was making his first start since the start of November at Arsenal following his ankle injury. Jens Cajuste will continue in the other central role.

Liam Delap seems certain to be the number nine with Omari Hutchinson on the right and various options for the other number 10 role. Nathan Broadhead has made an impact from the bench in recent games but McKenna may feel that the Welshman would be better utilised in that manner again and Sammie Szmodics’s work-rate might be the best choice from the start.

Hutchinson remains on four bookings with Monday’s game the last in which a fifth would result in a one-match ban.

The Opposition

Chelsea head coach Maresca rates his Town counterpart very highly: “He is doing fantastic since he joined Ipswich. They are doing top.

“Even this year, they are doing well so congratulations to him for the way he is doing everything since he joined the club.”

Reflecting on the challenge the Blues will present, speaking at a press conference on Friday, the Italian added: “I think all the Premier League games are complicated, no matter the other team. You see every game we play, it is always complicated. You see the other team, you struggle to beat teams and I think the Ipswich game will be exactly the same.”

Having gone two matches without a win, Maresca feels ending 2024 with a victory is vital.

“Very important,” he said. “We are going to try to prepare the game in the way we try always - to win the game. We have a bad feeling about the game we just lost against Fulham and hopefully we can come back with three points after this game.

“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.”

Right-back Reece James (hamstring) and centre-backs Wesley Fofana (also hamstring) and Benoit Badiashile all remain sidelined, while midfielder Romeo Lavia is close to a return, also following a hamstring injury, and midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall missed the Fulham game after picking up a knock. Winger Mykhaylo Mudryk is suspended having tested positive for a banned substance in November.

Winger Noni Madueke and left-back Renato Veiga were left out of the squad for the Cottagers match for what Maresca described as a “technical decision” but the Italian says they are in contention to return to the fold at Portman Road.

History

Chelsea have had much the better of Town over the years, winning 23 games (19 in the league), losing nine (nine) and drawing 11 (10).

The Blues are without a win against Chelsea in 10 games in all competitions - seven in the league - since John Lyall’s side won 1-0 at Portman Road in August 1993, recent signing Ian Marshall continuing his goal-a-game record in his third match for the club as Town started the season taking nine points out of nine. That victory is the Blues’ only win in 17 in all competitions against the West Londoners.

The last three league games between the teams at Portman Road have been draws with Chelsea’s last league win in Suffolk a 1-0 success in March 1989, while more recently they won a Carling Cup tie 4-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in January 1998.

The teams last met in the FA Cup third round in January 2011 when the managerless Blues - Roy Keane having been sacked earlier in the week with his assistant Ian ‘Charlie’ McParland in caretaker charge - were thrashed 7-0 at Stamford Bridge, Town’s record defeat in the competition.

After an evenly balanced first half hour, the cup holders and Premier League champions went on the rampage with the goals coming from Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge (2), Carlos Edwards (OG), Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard (2).

The sides also met at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup fourth round in 2009 when Jim Magilton’s team were beaten 3-1.

Superb second-half free-kicks from Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard saw Chelsea to a 3-1 victory, the Blues having matched the Champions League finalists for spells with Alex Bruce equalising Ballack's opener before the break.

The most recent league meeting was at Portman Road in April 2002 with Town on their way to relegation from the Premier League.

George Burley’s side were left rueing Marcus Bent’s first-half penalty miss as a second successive home game ended 0-0.

Chelsea’s Carlo Cudicini was the busier of the two keepers in a game which temporarily took Town out of the bottom three.

Earlier in the season at Stamford Bridge, a last-gasp wonder goal from Sam Dalla Bona won the three points for Chelsea just when Town fans were starting to celebrate a well-won point.

A first-half goal from Gianfranco Zola had put Chelsea deservedly ahead, but as Town improved in the second, Marcus Stewart equalised with a penalty.

Familiar Faces

Hutchinson joined the Blues on a permanent basis from Chelsea for an initial £18 million in the summer, making him the club’s record signing, having spent last season on loan at Portman Road.

The forward joined Chelsea in June 2022 from Arsenal and made two sub appearances - one in the Premier League, one in the FA Cup - while at Stamford Bridge.

Officials

Monday’s referee is John Brooks with Simon Bennett and Sam Lewis his assistants and Darren Bond the fourth official. The VAR official is Michael Oliver with his assistant Nick Greenhalgh.

Leicestershire-based Brooks was the VAR official for the Newcastle match last week and the victory at Tottenham but last took charge of the Blues back in March 2019 as relegation-bound Town were beaten 2-0 at Hull City in the Championship. Gwion Edwards and two Tigers were cautioned.

Brooks was also in the middle for the 2-2 draw at Birmingham City in September 2018 in which Matthew Pennington was given his marching orders for two bookable offences. Cole Skuse was the only other player yellow-carded.

His only other competitive Town match was the 0-0 home draw with Sheffield United in March 2018 in which he yellow-carded Skuse and Stephen Gleeson as well as one Blade.

Squad From

Muric, Walton, Slicker, Davis, Townsend, Johnson, H Clarke, O’Shea, Woolfenden, Burgess, Greaves, Morsy (c), Cajuste, Phillips, Luongo, Taylor, Hutchinson, Chaplin, Szmodics, J Clarke, Broadhead, Burns, Delap, Al-Hamadi.

TWTD

algy added 18:05 - Dec 30 Europablue's the crowd is not a tvstudio audience doing what it's told. How a crowd reacts is affected by what it's seen before, in the case of the game you designed to actually be present the cumulative effect of attending the previous 8 home games is far more relevant than just watching a screen. No substitute for actually being there.
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Leejames99 added 18:58 - Dec 30 The line up eek Burns at right back, Walton in goal, Morsy back in for Kalvin Phillips, well the moaners wanted it so let's see but I fear a drubbing now Omari and Burns on right just ludicrous but ai hope they prove me wrong which I'm to be. COYB Cole Palmer hatrick 1-5 Hutchinson Consolation Or 1- 0 win Delap score and close shop, which I'd obviously rather.
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Leejames99 added 18:58 - Dec 30 The line up eek Burns at right back, Walton in goal, Morsy back in for Kalvin Phillips, well the moaners wanted it so let's see but I fear a drubbing now Omari and Burns on right just ludicrous but ai hope they prove me wrong which I'm to be. COYB Cole Palmer hatrick 1-5 Hutchinson Consolation Or 1- 0 win Delap score and close shop, which I'd obviously rather.
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Leejames99 added 18:58 - Dec 30 The line up eek Burns at right back, Walton in goal, Morsy back in for Kalvin Phillips, well the moaners wanted it so let's see but I fear a drubbing now Omari and Burns on right just ludicrous but ai hope they prove me wrong which I'm to be. COYB Cole Palmer hatrick 1-5 Hutchinson Consolation Or 1- 0 win Delap score and close shop, which I'd obviously rather.
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GrasmereBlue added 19:12 - Dec 30 Walton in goal finally.... COYB
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GrasmereBlue added 19:12 - Dec 30 Walton in goal finally.... COYB
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Europablue added 20:34 - Dec 30 algy, it doesn't alter the fact that it's not helpful to criticize players during the match.
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