One of fifteen new signings made by Ipswich Town Women during the transfer window, Aimee Palmer believes that promotion to the top tier is a realistic ambition for the club this season after successfully avoiding relegation at the end of their first campaign in WSL2.

The midfielder previously played in the second tier for Manchester United, Sheffield United, Bristol City and Southampton - winning the title with the Red Devils and Robins - but the 26-year-old believes that this is the strongest the league has ever been.

“One hundred per cent. I look back at my career and maybe the first couple of times I was in WSL2, you used to go into games knowing this is an easy win or this is going to be a tough one this week,” she said.

“Now, anyone can beat anyone. Obviously, a lot of teams come better prepared so you definitely don’t know what you’re going to get.”

While many Ipswich Town fans would be satisfied to see the women’s team consolidate their position in WSL2 following a narrow escape from the drop, Palmer is adamant that their sights should be set higher.

“I think a lot of people will write Ipswich off because of the season that they had last year, but in my head, it was two different teams - the first six months and the last six months - completely different,” she continued.

“When you look at the last six months, I think the stats were that they would have maybe finished second or third in that last six months.

“So, for us, [the target is] definitely promotion. We won’t shy away from that. I think potentially we are the underdogs in that regard. The only people that believe in it maybe are the ones in the room, but that’s all it needs.

“We have had conversations about being together and being on the same page with that goal and I think 100 per cent it’s something that we can definitely do.”

Ipswich Town head coach David Wright revealed that Palmer’s performance against his team at Portman Road in March had alerted him to the quality she possessed.

“Definitely, that was the game,” he recalled. “When you watch people on analysis, on your laptop and then you see them live in the game, I thought she was very good at Portman Road. She actually controlled the tempo for Southampton.”

The Wymondham-born Palmer calls her decision to join Ipswich Town on a three-year contract a “no-brainer”, revealing she didn’t need much convincing from Wright to return home to East Anglia.

“The phone call I had with him and [technical director] Sean [Burt], it was one phone call and I was sold straight away,” she said. “Because he has played at such a high level, you trust him in everything that he says because he’s been there, he’s done it.

“Then I think, just the technical and tactical detail is there, it’s minute, but it’s so important. I never trusted a manager so much as I trust him. I think all the girls feel the exact same, so when all of you are on the same page and all believe in a system, naturally you all come together and play good football.”

For the second successive season, Ipswich Town will play their first home game of the campaign against Nottingham Forest. They will hope to improve on last September’s 1-0 defeat at the JobServe Community Stadium in Colchester on Sunday.

Palmer believes that their demanding pre-season trip to Seville in which they played behind-closed-doors friendlies against WSL sides including Brighton have prepared them to deal with teams who seek to control possession of the ball like Forest.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Palmer admitted. “Every game is going to be a tough game.

“I think, for us, we’ve had such a good pre-season. This is probably one of the first times where I’ve been in a team where I don’t question anything tactically or anything like that. I know 100 per cent what I need to do. I know everyone else feels the exact same as that.

“We can go into that game naturally, not having to think about anything because we’ve had so many tough tests in pre-season.

"In nearly every pre-season game we’ve played a WSL team, which is tough in those moments because they are physically very, very difficult, but we’ve also been very hard to break down. We’ve done it already. It’s not like we’re going into that game on Sunday and we don’t know what to do if they’ve got the ball.”

Expanding on their camp in Andalusia, Palmer added:”It was tough, it was like 41 degrees when we were training out there - triple sessions running. I’m glad I’ve finished it now and I don’t have to think about it for another year.

“It’s what you need in pre-season. At the end of the day, we want Sunday to be the easiest day of the week and the way we have gone about this pre-season, I can definitely can see that being the case.”

Palmer also believes the trip helped bond together the new group. “I think Seville was the best place for us. We played card games together, we played pool together, we’d hang around in the swimming pool together, like it was just like a - not a holiday, because it was very tough - but we also had a lot of downtime together to relax and get to know each other.”

Next weekend Palmer will face another set of players close to her when she makes an immediate return to her former club Southampton.

She said: “I’m looking forward to it. It’s always a weird feeling playing against your old team and especially so soon, but I’ve been at a few clubs now where that’s been the first game of the season so I feel like it’s second nature to me.”

Now playing for her sixth club, Palmer is used to fitting in with a new group of players but for once the new signings may outnumber those retained by the club in the summer.

“I feel like it’s probably weirder for the ones that were here before because it’s probably as much of a new team for them as it is for us newbies coming in,” she reflected.

"It’s like a brand-new team. It’s obviously hard because you’re losing players that you played with for years.

“I feel like the main thing is that they’re a good group of girls, we’re a good solid group off the pitch, which then makes things on the pitch a lot easier.”

Photo: TWTD