Ipswich Town will be looking forward to this weekend as Premier League football gets back underway, as Kieran McKenna‘s Tractor Boys travel to Brighton and Hove Albion for their next taste of top-flight action.
McKenna and Co will hope they can put up more of a fight away at the Seagulls, knowing full well what they’re facing having watched the South Coast outfit beat Manchester United on their own patch recently, after being humbled by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City last time out on their travels.
Liam Delap might well have been disappointed with the lack of venom in his display at the Etihad, having just left the reigning Premier League champions this summer for a new test in Suffolk, but will hope he can net for two league games on the trot this coming weekend after bagging a sumptuous strike versus Fulham last match.
Delap’s start at Ipswich
Delap would have been very relieved to score against Marco Silva’s Cottagers before the international break came into full swing, having fired blanks during his opening two Ipswich matches.
Costing a bumper £20m to get in through the door this summer, the Tractor Boys masses will be expecting the former Man City wonderkid to now go on a purple patch of goalscoring form, after hammering home a sublime effort past Bernd Leno that sent Portman Road into momentary pandemonium.
The brand new Ipswich number 19 only amassed 23 touches of the ball against Fulham but still managed to leave his impact on the contest, showing off that killer instinct that made him a deadly finisher in the Man City youth ranks.
The five-time England U21 international would bag a ridiculous 35 goals for the Man City U21s from just 36 contests, before making the leap to the Tractor Boys to find his feet further in the senior game.
Starring out on loan with Hull City last season before this major move too – with eight goals registered in a Tigers strip in the Championship – this is now Delap’s time to shine in the big league.
McKenna will just hope that he doesn’t regret offloading this former striker down the line if Delap does end up enduring a dry patch in front of goal, with this loyal Tractor Boys servant walking out of the building for nothing this summer, who is now outscoring the shiny new 21-year-old in his fresh surroundings.
Jackson’s start at Derby
Kayden Jackson would play a background role in Ipswich’s rapid rise up to the Premier League, helping himself to 28 goals in total for the Tractor Boys across his lengthy stay at the club.
But, unfortunately for the 30-year-old, his game time would dry up by the time the likes of George Hirst and Conor Chaplin took over the main goalscoring duties as the Suffolk side edged closer to the Premier League.
Only managing three goals last season for Ipswich led to the underdogs allowing Jackson to leave the club for nothing this summer, released from his contract to free up space for Delap to join as a newer striker option.
Jackson’s numbers for Derby in the Championship – 24/25 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stat | Blackburn | Middlesbrough | Watford | Bristol City |
Minutes played | 90 | 90 | 90 | 89 |
Goals scored | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Assists | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Shots on goal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Touches | 19 | 36 | 28 | 33 |
Accurate passes | 8/12 (67%) | 9/13 (69%) | 7/10 (70%) | 13/18 (72%) |
Duels won | 2/7 | 5/9 | 5/9 | 5/10 |
Stats by Sofascore | ||||
From his four Championship appearances this season for new employers Derby, however, Jackson is only one goal off matching his league total for last campaign, as the 30-year-old continues to excel as a clinical finisher for Paul Warne’s men with limited touches per clash but with two goals and an assist from those matches to date.
Warne labelled his new recruit as an “intelligent” player for his breakaway strike against Middlesbrough, which helped the Rams to pick up their first three points of the campaign, courtesy of the ex-Accrington Stanley man continuing to cut a rejuvenated figure at Pride Park.
Jackson obviously wouldn’t have started over his potential £20m teammate, but he could well have given the Premier League side more depth up top as a useful utility figure.
Either way, the Derby number 19 will hope more goals come his way soon for Warne’s men, as his ex-employers focus instead on fending off relegation.
