Ipswich Town will hope they can catch Everton on an off-day this coming Saturday when the two sides face off at Portman Road in the Premier League.
Kieran McKenna’s men will know the Toffees can be breached at will if they’re feeling charitable defensively, having seen Sean Dyche’s side leak a disastrous seven goals during their opening two clashes of the season, before shoring up in recent weeks with far stauncher displays.
The Ipswich boss will feel confident about his side’s chances at putting goals past Jordan Pickford with Liam Delap leading the line once more, who has proven himself to be a superb buy for the newly promoted side so far this campaign.
Delap's form this season
Delap was known to be a prolific striker on youth pitches for Manchester City before his bumper £20m move to the Tractor Boys, but Ipswich fans would have expected some teething issues to be present as he grew accustomed to being Ipswich’s leading attacking force in the men’s game.
It hasn’t been an uphill challenge for the 21-year-old whatsoever, however, as the ex-Man City wonderkid already has an impressive four strikes next to his name from seven top-flight contests.
Therefore, if Ipswich stand any chance at picking up their first three points of the season when met with the challenge of Sean Dyche’s visitors, Delap will have to continue performing at his A-Game.
He certainly was performing at the peak of his powers versus Aston Villa last time out at Portman Road, with the Tractor Boys hotshot only needing 22 touches of the ball against Unai Emery’s men to fire home two crucial strikes, to secure his side a well deserved 2-2 draw.
Delap would be too hot to handle for the Villa defence all afternoon with his full-throttle energy, and with Michael Keane and James Tarkowski not exactly the quickest defenders for the Toffees on their day, the entertaining Ipswich number 19 could experience more joy this weekend.
If he isn’t at the races and has a quiet day at the office though, McKenna could be prepared to throw this striker into the mix late on, who he utilised as an impact man in the Championship last season to devastating effect.
The player who could be Ipswich's own Duran
The player in question is Iraq international Ali Al-Hamadi, who was given a shot at the Tractor Boys last season after plying his trade in League Two with AFC Wimbledon previously.
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Although he wasn’t front and centre of Ipswich’s promotion efforts – unlike the main first team names of Conor Chaplin and Nathan Broadhead – the ex-Dons man still played his role perfectly from off the bench to fire home some big goals in his side’s ongoing promoton hunt, to almost be Ipswich’s own Jhon Duran in that super-sub role.
Stat
Duran
Al-Hamadi
Games played
7
14
Games started
0
1
Minutes averaged
26 mins
22 mins
Goals scored
4
4
Assists
0
0
Scoring frequency
46 mins
76 mins
Stats by Sofascore
As can be seen looking at the table above, there are parallels to be made between Duran’s instinctive finishing for Villa currently off the bench and Al-Hamadi’s background role for McKenna’s men last season, with the 22-year-old only starting one Championship game but managing to fire home an impressive four strikes all the same – all of which came from a substitute role.
Referred to as an “unreal” talent by football analyst Tom Williams on social media – when charting his rise at Wimbledon – the time could be right for McKenna to spring Al-Hamadi onto tiring Premier League defences more often, with the reserve striker remaining rooted to the bench for his team’s last four league clashes.
Having taken to the Championship well after leaping up from League Two action, time will only tell if the Ipswich number 16 – who did net against his former side in the EFL Cup earlier in the campaign – can hack it at the very top of the English game.
But, McKenna will know he cannot rely on just Delap to come up trumps, with Al-Hamadi perhaps the answer off the bench when he isn’t performing at his finest.
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