Ipswich Town

Image source, Getty Images

Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones believes Kieran McKenna has done a "terrific job" as Ipswich Town manager so far, but says his former Manchester United coach has a "mammoth job" ahead of him this season.

Speaking on Match of the Day 2, after Ipswich managed to hold Aston Villa to a 2-2 draw at Portman Road, Jones said: "He is terrific. His range of knowledge and his understanding of the game is second to none.

"He was really good at Manchester United. You could see, from the sessions he took there, what kind of an influence he had on our side.

"I think he has done a terrific job so far at Ipswich. He has got a mammoth job this year trying to keep them in the league but, if they keep picking up points like this and make Portman Road a fortress and a really tough ground to go to for teams, they have a great chance of staying in the league.

"It is a huge point for Ipswich. They have come up against some really good Premier League teams already this season. I think they will be pretty happy with getting four points on the board so far."

Catch up on Match of the Day 2 on BBC iPlayer

Highlights and analysis from Sunday's two Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Arsenal 4-2 Leicester City

• Wolves 1-2 Liverpool

• Ipswich Town 2-2 Aston Villa

• Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham

Phil Cartwright
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, PA Media

When you enter the Premier League as a promoted club, your chances of survival are increased greatly if you have a striker who can contribute important goals to your cause regularly.

The early signs are that Ipswich could have that in Liam Delap.

Signed for an initial fee of about £15m from Manchester City in July, the 21-year-old has netted three goals in his first six Premier League appearances for the Tractor Boys - including two in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.

Delap has already shown that he can score different types of goals, too.

He got off the mark with a powerful long-range shot against Fulham, his first against Villa was a first-time finish from 12 yards, while his second on Sunday was created by a wonderful piece of individual skill.

Allowed to carry the ball from the halfway line, Delap strode into the box and his stepover got the better of Diego Carlos before he thumped home past Emi Martinez.

A first Premier League victory of the season may still elude Ipswich, but manager Kieran McKenna will take plenty of positives from his side's fourth successive league draw - not least the goalscoring form of his centre forward.

Image source, Getty Images

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has been speaking to Sky Sports after today's draw: "I thought we managed to do that [make Aston Villa uncomfortable] for much of the game. They are a top team and they resorted to going long with many of their goal kicks. We dominated and controlled the ball and created more than enough chances to win. It's a good step for us.

"It is not easy to create chances in the division. Aston Villa haven't given up many big chances so to create the chances we did showed the boys are growing into it. The next step is taking a couple more. We are showing that we are an improving side.

"Four games unbeaten doesn't come easily in the Premier League. It is a fantastic first step and we still feel there is a lot of improvement to come."

On Liam Delap: "It was another good day for Liam Delap, he does really well and he takes a lot of credit. But the team at 2-1 down never dropped their heads and we were always competitive in the game.

"I think there's loads to come [from Delap], I still don't think fitness-wise he is anywhere near the level he can get to after a big injury at the end of last season. The impact he has had and all-round play, and to have so much growth left in him, we are rally happy to have him here.

Image source, Getty Images

Ipswich Town midfielder Kalvin Phillips has been speaking to Sky Sports following today's draw: "It was a good point and I feel like we dominated in the second half.

"We really took it to them and they really struggled to deal with us and we were unlucky not to score at the end."

Team-mate and goalscorer Liam Delap added: "It was really good and we showed what we are about from minute one and we created so many chances.

"It was a really good result for us and we probably deserved the win after the second half performance.

"I think it’s the fourth time we’ve got something from a game so we are happy."

Image source, Getty Images

Liam Delap became the first Ipswich Town player to score a brace in a Premier League match since Marcus Bent in March 2002 (v Newcastle United) and the youngest to do so in the Premier League for the Tractor Boys (21y 234d).

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Ipswich’s performance, external

What did you make of Villa’s display?, external

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Follow reaction and read the match report

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.

For week six, he takes on Maximo Park singer Paul Smith, whose latest album, Stream Of Life, is out on Friday.

Ipswich host Aston Villa at 14:00 on Sunday.

Sutton's prediction: 1-2

Ipswich are still waiting for their first win of the season, but they have impressed me - and they have only lost to Liverpool and Manchester City in the Premier League so far.

Kieran McKenna's side left it late to score their equaliser against Southampton last week, and it is results like that which will boost their confidence.

I don't see them getting anything here, though. Aston Villa do concede goals, and are already fighting on all fronts so this is a test of their squad.

Ipswich will have a go and I think they will score, but again I think that Villa will have too much for them.

Paul's prediction: I am going to go for a Villa away win. I feel bad for saying it because Ipswich play good football and they are not going to be overrun by any means but Villa are just finding a rhythm.

I feel like Morgan Rogers is on good form, Ollie Watkins has missed a few and scored a few now, and obviously they have got their super-sub, Jhon Duran, to get them over the line if they need it. Stick him on in the 70th minute and he will win the game for them - it would be amazing for him to keep doing it. 1-2

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Aston Villa (kick-off 14:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• On the fitness of Kalvin Phillips and Nathan Broadhead: "Kalvin has trained with the group today so we'll make a judgement on how many minutes he's available for. Nathan has been training well for the last week or so, so we've almost got a fully fit squad. The group is getting stronger in numbers and every other capacity so we've got good depth at the moment."

• On captain Sam Morsy's celebration following the last minute equaliser against Southampton: "It's one of the shortest knee-slides I've got to say, so I think there's a bit of work to do on the technique of the slide. He's scored a few big goals for us to be fair and he's always come up with a slightly different celebration so maybe he isn't a regular enough scorer to have a stock or custom one. If he can keep popping up with big goals, he can do whatever he wants!"

• On Unai Emery: "I think he's done a fantastic job I have to say. He's a manager that I admire a lot and I've studied his teams for many years. I've come up against his teams at Arsenal and Villarreal and he built a fantastic team at Villarreal with a lot of the same sort of ingredients from a tactical level as he has with this Aston Villa side. We share some principles I think in terms of how both teams are set up but they are executing at a fantastic level."

• On coming close to signing Morgan Rogers in the past: "I think Morgan Rogers was a fantastic signing [for Villa]. We were there or thereabouts to bringing him here a couple of times earlier in his career. He's a player I've known for a number of years and the signing by Villa and how they've improved him and the impact he's having at Premier League level is, apart from this weekend, great to see from a young player."

• On how resilient the team need to be this season: "It [resilience] is right at the very top of the ingredients we need to be successful this season. It's been running through the team and the club over the last couple of seasons and it's something we're going to need this season. We can only show that to the public outwardly each week with how we commit and fight in every performance for the whole 90 minutes but we can also show that day-to-day in here with how we develop, train and push ourselves."

• On whether there was any ever doubt about Sam Morsy remaining captain in the Premier League: "It was never in doubt in my mind. Sam was always going to be the club captain and be an absolutely integral part of the football club as we move forward and how we try and establish ourselves as a Premier League club. Performance wise, his performances were very strong in the Championship and I think he more than deserved his chance to be a big part on the pitch this season as well."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Image source, Getty Images

There has been a lot of conversation this week about "dark arts" in football following the draw between Manchester City and Arsenal on Sunday.

Realistically, everyone who has watched football for longer than one game has seen things they would perceive as "dark arts"; whether it is a player always going down winning free-kicks to take the sting out of the game, kicking the ball into row Z when there was no multi-ball system or time-wasting on goal-kicks.

These are things we see all the time but our perception of it is dependent on the context of a game. You always see some version of it somewhere, and you hope your team would be doing the same thing if in the same situation - because why should you do something that would benefit the opposition you are against?

It is the same as going down a bit more easily to win penalties - some people will say "this guy is a cheat", but then on the other side of their mouth, if it is something that could benefit them, they say "he has tried too hard to stay up, he needed to go down there".

You can have rulings, Ifab can get involved to change this and that, but there will always be a way to push the rules to their limits.

What we saw with Arsenal in that game, where David Raya sat down to get some treatment while the teams gathered, we have seen those moments before. It is not just new to Arsenal - other teams do it.

It is always based on certain moments. You do get more frustrated if it happens against you, but when you need to do it, you encourage people to do it. That is one of the beauties of football - the way you see things is always going to be down to perception, context and just whether you think it is benefiting you or not.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Phil Cartwright

Image source, Getty Images

We asked you what the one thing is that nobody is talking about but really should be when it comes to Ipswich Town.

Here are some of your comments:

Patrick: Our resilience; it was a key factor in getting us through our two promotions, (the vital late goals and making sure we didn’t lose games) and again shown last weekend at Southampton - it will be needed more than ever this season.

Alan: I believe Ipswich are ahead of schedule to achieve the points required to survive this season. Two points achieved against top-10 teams and a point away against one of the seven teams in our own mini league. We will remain on track by reaching 12 points after the Leicester home game on 4 November.

Joe: Ipswich Town need to put Sam Morsy’s statue outside Portman Road. Greatest club captain ever.

John: One thing we shouldn’t be talking about is relegation. All this six pointer nonsense about the game against Saints. Last time we were promoted we finished sixth in our first season back. Not as good as finishing top in our first season back in the Sir Alf days. Can’t see us repeating those feats now, the game has changed, but less of the negativity.

Tom: McKenna has always taken his time integrating new players. With time our many new players will learn the McKenna way and the team will get stronger as the season goes on. We also have Hirst returning from injury who is a real favourite of McKenna’s so expect him to start some matches over Delap in the coming weeks.

Tim: Everything that surrounds the team shrieks out Premier League. The right to remain there will be fought out on the pitch. But the club’s history, the ground and training facilities, the fan base, the club culture, the local passion in Ipswich and Suffolk (and beyond) are all Premier League worthy.

Three draws but no wins from Ipswich's opening five games back in the Premier League and that's why they sit just outside the relegation zone.

But what have you spotted with Town so far?

We want you to tell us the one thing nobody is talking about - good or bad?

Tell us over here, external

Ipswich Town forward Sammie Szmodics has spoken about the rivalry between the Tractor Boys and his former club, Colchester United.

An academy graduate of his hometown Colchester, Szmodics said growing up he "always wanted to beat Ipswich".

But Szmodics went on to say: "To score for Ipswich at Ipswich Town, would be amazing for me to turn those boos into cheers."

Szmodics scored for Ipswich in a game against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season, but is yet to score at Portman Road.

Seb Brown
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

As the cries of "it's happened again" rang out from the away end at St Mary's Stadium in the 95th minute this weekend, it was reassuring that something remains a constant in the world of Ipswich Town, despite a few months of so much change.

This side simply never know when they are beaten.

The desire, fitness and tactical set-up to continue pushing forward until the dying moments of matches has become routine for the watching supporters.

Our substitutions are designed to ensure the intensity and quality does not diminish, with our 'finishers' playing just as an important role as our 'starters'.

During Kieran McKenna's first full season in charge - the League One promotion campaign - Ipswich scored 14 goals after the 81st minute of matches.

The Championship promotion campaign last season saw this increase to 17 goals, one of which went down in Ipswich Town folklore in a showdown against Southampton back in early April.

Regardless of the new summer signings and the tweaks we have seen in our tactical set-up this season - the heart, passion, desire and sometimes sheer bloody mindedness to never give up has carried through to this current crop.

It is therefore fitting that the late winner against the Saints was scored by Sam Morsy. He has now become the first Ipswich captain to score for the club in the top three flights of English football. He also remains the central midfield heartbeat of this new-look team, driving the standards and leading by example each week.

The vast majority of matches this season will see us facing off against higher quality players and opposition, but one thing we are unlikely to be beaten on is heart or desire. That will always give us a chance, regardless of the time on the scoreboard.

Find more from Seb Brown at the Blue Monday Podcast, external

Antalyaspor and former Premier League midfielder Andros Townsend speaking about the Premier League's promoted clubs on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club: "I don't think at the moment (they should be concerned) because especially watching the Ipswich and Southampton game, both teams have got a clear identity of how they want to play and I think if you go back to Luton last season, we didn't get that until maybe the end of October, early November so I think they're already ahead of where we were.

"For Southampton, obviously it's just cutting out the silly mistakes. They're playing out from the back and they're losing it and conceding goals but I don't think they should just throw everything out that they learnt from the Championship. I think they should continue doing it and improving those players and players will improve.

"With Ipswich, the majority of that group have come up from League One into the Championship then into the Premier League so there's always going to be a bit of adaptation and I can see they're improving every game. I think it's still too early to see which teams are going to be in big trouble this season."

Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer or listen on BBC Sounds

Image source, PA Media

Five games into the Premier League season, Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton - the three clubs promoted from the Championship - are yet to win a league match.

They have taken a combined seven points from those games, which is the joint-second lowest tally from a set of promoted teams since the Premier League began in 1992-93.

Only last season's promoted trio - Burnley, Luton and Sheffield United - have collected fewer points from their first five league matches of a campaign.

The good news - for Leicester and Ipswich, at least - is their three points apiece are enough to keep them out of the relegation zone at the moment.

Statistics collated by BBC Sport statistician Chris Collinson

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy scored a dramatic injury-time equaliser to bring home an away point against Southampton.

Here are some of your comments:

James: We rode our luck at times, like at Brighton last week, but ultimately this is another good point which continues our current three-game unbeaten run. We are still searching for that elusive first win of the season, but Sam Morsy's last-gasp strike makes it feel more like a victory. It has set us up nicely for another tough match against Aston Villa next week.

Trevor: The two weakest teams played off against each other and inevitably the match finished equal. Ipswich can consider themselves lucky, as their equaliser came in the 95th minute, but to be fair they deserved it. I think both teams will be relegated at the end of the season.

Henry: If Ipswich can't beat these teams, they hardly have a chance of staying up in the Premier League.

Tim: We lacked penetration and threat. George Hirst made a difference. Our defence wasn't switched on for the breakaway. To be honest, we were very fortunate to get a point. Having said that, the build-up play in the first half was good but again we are lacking a finisher.

Martin: I think the team still need time to gel, but I am a little worried about the fact that we are not scoring enough goals. I think that could be concerning as we go further into the season.

Gary Lineker presents highlights and analysis from Saturday's eight Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth

• Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester United