Chelsea 2-2 Ipswich: Jadon Sancho rescues point for Blues with stunning strike after visitors took shock two-goal lead in first half

Supporters are used to leaving Stamford Bridge saying ‘cor, that Palmer.’ Only this time, they were not referring to Cole. 

This was all about Alex, the Ipswich Town goalkeeper who singlehandedly stopped Chelsea from completing the winning comeback they desperately needed to avoid their Champions League chances from dwindling.

It was after Enzo Maresca’s side had clawed their way back from 2-0 down at half-time to drawing 2-2 via Axel Tuanzebe’s own goal and a Jadon Sancho screamer that Alex Palmer produced three saves in particular which made him this match’s biggest difference maker.

First, he thwarted Trevoh Chalobah when the Chelsea defender appeared destined to head home from two yards. Then, he denied Cole Palmer from scoring a 20-yard strike which would have represented a timely first goal since January. Finally, he showed remarkable reflexes to stop Enzo Fernandez deep into stoppage time, arguably the best of a belting bunch.

By the end, Chelsea were less pleased with the point they salvaged and more peeved by the two they missed out on, given even Ipswich’s own manager, Kieran McKenna, concedes they are heading for relegation from the Premier League. 

The visitors did not even have their top, second-top or third-top scorers in Liam Delap, Sammie Szmodics or Omari Hutchinson in the starting line-up – all due to injuries – and yet so nearly did the double over Chelsea.

Sancho found the top corner with a curling effort from just inside the area in the 79th minute

Axel Tuanzebe had afforded Chelsea a chance to get back into the game with an own goal 

Maresca’s side picked up only a single point out of a possible six from Ipswich and that is not form worthy of a place in the Champions League. The Blues boss knows it, too, given the flak he was receiving from a few fans situated close to the press box. ‘This is boring,’ he was told.

The first 15 minutes belonged to Chelsea as the statistics said 47 per cent of the action had been played in Ipswich’s defensive third. Nicolas Jackson struck the post after being set up by Fernandez, Noni Madueke’s volley was stopped by the fingertips of Palmer, Levi Colwill’s header was too close to Ipswich’s goalkeeper, and Marc Cucurella sent a strike towards the heavens.

In the 19th minute, Ipswich struck via a counter-attack after Fernandez lost the ball. George Hirst drove forward with it before giving it to the overlapping Ben Johnson. He sent it into the box where Colwill had fallen asleep, leaving Julio Enciso to tap in for 1-0.

After 31 minutes, it was 2-0 and it came from a Chelsea goal-kick. Robert Sanchez was shaping up to pass from the back as usual, but the fans were fed up with that approach and let it known. Sod it, Sanchez seemed to say to himself as he launched it long into Ipswich’s half instead. But the ball came straight back at Chelsea via the heads of Sam Morsy and then Hurst.

That left Jack Clarke to pick up possession. He passed to Enciso, the Brighton loanee who crossed for Johnson to head in. The Premier League’s new offside technology checked it, and the goal was good. There were 16 seconds between Sanchez’s goal-kick and Johnson’s header.

Chelsea tried to get back into the game before half-time and Palmer started an attack with a pass in behind Ipswich. Pedro Neto could have shot. Cucurella could have. Madueke could have. None did, and inevitably, what was once a promising move came to nothing.

Ipswich had managed two shots on target and scored twice. They now led 4-0 on aggregate if counting their win at Portman Road in December.

Eighteen seconds into the restart, it was 2-1 as Madueke showed his speed in driving into the box and forced an own goal out of Tuanzebe, who tried to stop Cucurella from tapping in.

Julio Enciso had given Ipswich a shock lead as they tried to pull off a late-season revival

Ben Johnson had the visitors in dreamland when he doubled their lead before the break 

But Chelsea didn’t give up and at least retained their position in the Premier League top five

Sancho celebrates scoring his side’s second goal with team-mate Enzo Fernandez

But Enzo Maresca knows his side cannot afford many slip-ups with such a tight race

After 64 minutes came Chelsea’s 28th cross from open play. In no other Premier League match had they produced more this season. Fernandez thought he had a tap-in from one such ball into the box from Sancho, but Conor Townsend calculated his clearance perfectly.

Sancho had not scored for Chelsea since December 8. You could understand why a few fans were less than pleased when he replaced the lively Madueke, therefore. But in the 79th minute, the Manchester United loanee produced a moment of pure brilliance. He was 16 yards from goal and curled a beauty into the top corner for 2-2.

When Cucurella was fouled by Morsy, Chelsea had their set-piece opportunity to score. Chalobah met it two yards from goal and yet somehow, it was diverted wide by Palmer.

In stoppage time, it was Palmer versus Palmer, Chelsea’s superstar against Ipswich’s stopper. The 22-year-old Englishman can only have thought his goal drought was over as he curled for the corner, but his counterpart pushed it wide.

Seconds later, Fernandez thought he had nabbed the winner himself, only for Palmer to produce an even more spectacular stop. With that, it finished all square, leaving Chelsea’s Champions League qualification very much in peril with tougher tests awaiting in their run-in.