McKenna has found an Ipswich “warrior” who’s become as undroppable as Delap

The next seven matches of Ipswich Town’s voyage this season in the Premier League rest on attempting to restore some pride, with survival looking a very distant possibility at this moment in time.

12 points is now the sizeable gap between Wolverhampton Wanderers sat in 17th spot and the Tractor Boys stuck in that last relegation spot in the division in 18th, meaning upcoming games against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle United this April are somewhat free hits.

Ipswich Town's Liam Delap applauds fans after the match

If the Suffolk underdogs stand any chance at picking up a shock result at Stamford Bridge later today, they will need Liam Delap to be firing on all cylinders, with the ex-Manchester City man also eager to keep up his rich vein of goalscoring form before a likely summer departure.

Delap’s goalscoring heroics this season

Even as Ipswich sink closer and closer to the relegation drop, Delap continues to be a blistering goal machine.

Indeed, Delap would initially gift his side the lead against Wolves before Vitor Pereira’s men mounted a comeback, with the 22-year-old also on the scoresheet the match before when Kieran McKenna’s side surprised AFC Bournemouth on their own patch.

These two strikes in quick succession have bumped up the clinical number 19’s goal count in the Premier League to a high 12, with one of those goals even coming about in the reverse fixture when Delap and Co unsettled Enzo Maresca’s visitors in a 2-1 victory.

Even if Delap is at his free-flowing best, Ipswich will know a staunch defensive effort will still be necessary to secure a surprise result in West London, with this defender – who has now become as undroppable as the £30m striker – also needing to be at his imposing peak.

The Ipswich “warrior” now as undroppable as Delap

It has been a deeply frustrating campaign at Portman Road, with terrific attacking displays often let down by porous defensive offerings, seen in Ipswich conceding a steep 65 goals across their 31 games to date.

But, there have been some standout performers at the back regardless of error-strewn performances regularly seeping into their game defensively, with Dara O’Shea one figure that’s managed to cement himself as a first-team regular.

O’Shea’s PL performances in April
Stat	Bournemouth	Wolves
Minutes played	90	90
Goals scored	0	0
Assists	0	1
Touches	54	71
Accurate passes	17/28 (61%)	41/51 (80%)
Clearances	14	10
Blocked shots	5	2
Interceptions	1	1
Tackles	1	1
Total duels won	5/6	7/12
Stats by Sofascore

Looking at the table above, O’Shea has managed to show off his well-rounded game as a defender versus Andoni Iraola’s Cherries and the Old Gold, with the Irishman putting in a far more back-to-basics display on the South Coast when tallying up 14 clearances in the slim away win.

Only losing out on one of his duels from six attempted too, the ex-West Bromwich Albion colossus definitely lived up to his previous “warrior” billing from one of his former managers in Valerien Ismael.

But, he also showed off his composed game against Pereira’s side when assisting the only goal of the afternoon, with his concrete presence in McKenna’s starting XI only growing stronger off the back of these standout showings, even as relegation looms large.

Not missing a single minute of Premier League action that has been available to him this year, the 6 foot 1 powerhouse also has bags of Championship experience under his belt with 70 career games at the level managed, meaning his minutes won’t deplete whatsoever when second-tier football likely returns to Portman Road.

Before that eventuality beckons, however, Ipswich will want to add as many points to their low top-flight tally as they can, starting potentially with a bolt from the blue result at Stamford Bridge.