rewrite this title McKenna must now drop Szmodics and unleash “unplayable” Ipswich star

Ipswich Town have endured a difficult Christmas period in the Premier League, with the narrow 1-0 defeat to Arsenal last time out the Tractor Boys’ unwanted fourth defeat from their last five top-flight outings.

Of course, the one result that wasn’t a loss was a dramatic 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, but Kieran McKenna’s men find themselves in 19th position all the same off the back of a lack of festive cheer.

Still, the Suffolk strugglers will pray that 2024 can be ended on a surprise good note when facing off against Chelsea, with Sammie Szmodics in danger of dropping out of the XI altogether for this tie.

Szmodics’ struggles vs Arsenal

The Republic of Ireland international struggled to leave his mark on proceedings in North London, as the Tractor Boys very rarely flirted with scoring a goal at the Emirates Stadium.

Indeed, the goal-shy away side only managed three shots on the Arsenal goal all night, with Szmodics acting as one major culprit who faded in and out of the contest when amassing only 18 touches of the ball when on the pitch.

Only registering six accurate passes too, the affair ended up mainly passing the ex-Blackburn Rovers man by, who was then hooked off on the 71st-minute mark by his manager.

With Liam Delap also majorly struggling – as the usual sharpshooter failed to even register a single shot on David Raya’s goal – it will be up to McKenna to try and re-energise his troops in the attacking positions to try and pull off a shock result versus Enzo Maresca’s men.

He could well decide to bring in this face to replace Szmodics at Portman Road, therefore, who had a major part to play in Ipswich’s late heroics away at Molineux in their last league win.

The Ipswich star who could replace Szmodics

Jack Clarke might well be preferred to the quiet number 23 for the test of Chelsea later on, having assisted Jack Taylor’s crucial header away at the Old Gold.

The former Sunderland man managed to pick up that vital assist despite only being present on the pitch for 15 minutes, with the hope now that Clarke can terrorise a ropey Blues defence down the left channel if he is picked from the start, after the Premier League title challengers fell to an unanticipated 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Boxing Day.

Ipswich will look to expose the likes of Malo Gusto in the full-back spots, who put in some rather unconvincing numbers versus the Cottagers, which enabled stars for Marco Silva’s side such as Harry Wilson to find the back of the net.

Moreover, the relegation candidates will also want to exploit Marc Cucurella’s weaknesses through Omari Hutchinson on the right, who will be chomping at the bit to get one over on his former employers, especially when realising the Spaniard only won one of his six duels against Fulham.

But, Clarke’s ability to float in an inch-perfect corner like this one could also catch Chelsea cold, with the 24-year-old an assist king when he played week in week out at the Stadium of Light by boasting 23 from 114 clashes.

He was even noted as being “unplayable” by football pundit Adrian Clarke at the top of his game on Wearside, with glimmers of his best coming to the surface in Suffolk already, having registered two assists from 16 contests.

Szmodics does have three strikes next to his name away from Clarke’s assist numbers, but after such an unmemorable display against the Gunners, a personnel switch like this could work wonders for Chelsea coming to town.