Ipswich Town

Michael Emons
BBC Sport journalist at London Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Ipswich Town have scored six goals in the Premier League this season - and Liam Delap has four of them.

The striker, who was named in the England Under-21s squad earlier this week, is already looking a bargain at £20m after Town signed him from Manchester City in the summer.

His two goals in the 2-2 draw last Sunday earned Ipswich a superb point against an Aston Villa side that would go on to beat Bayern Munich three days later.

After Town fell behind against West Ham after only 48 seconds, Delap did superbly to spin away from his marker, create space on the edge of the penalty area and fire a low shot past Alphonse Areola, although the goalkeeper got an arm to the effort but could only steer it into the roof of the net.

Delap also had a chance midway through the second half when the game was alive, but this time was denied by the home stopper.

Kieran McKenna's side have won back-to-back promotions playing an attacking, possession-based, attractive front-foot style of football, willing to risk conceding by pushing men forwards.

There's no sign Ipswich will change their style, although this defeat was a painful one for the fans as the visitors' defensive errors were to blame for three of West Ham's goals.

But Delap will gain more confidence from another goalscoring outing and is looking a real handful this season. If Ipswich are to stay up, they need him to maintain his form all campaign.

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Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "It was a poor game for us and a strange game. We were competitive for long spells of the first half and we gave away a goal early, came back with a good attitude. We conceded poor goals at poor times and in general we didn't deal with the direct play well enough.

"They are the first team we've faced with that style, a lot of direct balls to [Michail] Antonio, a lot of balls to [Tomas] Soucek and we didn't deal with those well enough and made poor mistakes for the goals that made the game difficult and took all the momentum away from us.

"Everyone is out there with the right intent but it is how we cover each action. I don't think it is anything we don't know but the game can change very, very quickly for a team in our position. When you drop your level the game can get away from you very quickly."

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

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Ipswich's Kalvin Phillips has spoken about his loan spell at West Ham on the latest episode of My Mate's A Footballer with Leeds striker Patrick Bamford and comedian Joe Wilkinson.

The trio also chatted about an incident where Phillips was allegedly caught making an offensive gesture towards Newcastle fans while on loan at the Hammers last season.

Ipswich travel to West Ham this afternoon where the 28-year-old is set to lineup against his former club.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Seven matches make up Saturday's Premier League action, and we will bring you every moment.

• Crystal Palace v Liverpool - 12:30

• Arsenal v Southampton

• Brentford v Wolves

• Leicester v Bournemouth

• Man City v Fulham (listen live on BBC Radio 5 Live)

• West Ham v Ipswich

• Everton v Newcastle - 17:30 (listen live on BBC Radio 5 Live)

Kick-off 15:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

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

For week seven, he takes on Will Champion and Jonny Buckland from Coldplay, whose latest album, Moon Music, came out on Friday.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

This is hard. I don't like to give credit to Ipswich if I can help it, but they have really impressed me.

At this moment in time, they are a better structured team than West Ham. They showed it with the way they finished their draw with Aston Villa last week, and the only downside from the way they have started the season is the fact they don't have a win yet.

With the quality the Hammers have got, eventually it has to click for them, but it has not happened yet.

As much as I hate to predict an Ipswich defeat, I am going to stick my neck out and say the Hammers will get their act together this time.

Basically, I am backing them to produce a performance that they have not managed all season under Julen Lopetegui.

They have to really. There was so much made of him taking over from David Moyes, that he really needs a result - West Ham fans are not always the most patient bunch, and they are expecting more than they have seen so far.

Will and Jonny's prediction: 1-1

Read the rest of their predictions and have your own say here

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Earlier, we asked you for the two players who have scored more than 15 Premier League goals for Ipswich.

Marcus Stewart scored 25 goals in the top flight for Ipswich, while Chris Kiwomya netted 18 times for the Suffolk club in the Premier League.

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No player has more Premier League yellow cards this season than Ipswich midfielder Sam Morsy (four). Since his Ipswich league debut in September 2021, only one player has more yellow cards in England’s top four tiers than Morsy's 40.

Can you name the two players who have scored more than 15 goals in the Premier League for Ipswich Town?

Answer will be revealed at 17:00 BST

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game at West Ham United (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• McKenna confirmed Jens Cajuste has a "'a little issue with his knee" but is hopeful he will be back after the international break. There will also be late fitness calls for other players who have picked up knocks.

• He said players are "learning every week" but there will still be "mistakes along the way" and they just have to "keep the right mindset, then we will put ourselves in a good position."

• On what the mood has been like since the dramatic draw against Aston Villa: "It’s been good. We enjoyed the game. We are still a group and I am still a manager and staff that are used to winning a lot of games. I don’t think we will ever be euphoric after a draw but it was a really good game to be involved in."

• He added: "It is a pretty quick turnaround from Aston Villa to West Ham but it hasn’t been hard to get the players to turn their attention. I know it is another big game, another big challenge and one to look forward to."

• On how close he thinks it will be against the Hammers: "Let's hope we can make it really competitive. I don’t think there [will be] many weeks this year where we are going to blow teams out of the water so we need to work really, really hard to be competitive."

• The Ipswich boss feels they have "begun to impose our football a bit more", but it "always comes down to margins and moments": "We hope we can be really clinical in our execution when we have our moments, and defend their moments well to give ourselves a chance to get a result."

• On Kalvin Phillips importance: "He is settling in well and enjoying it day to day. He is getting fitter. Each performance he has had for us has probably been stronger than the last. It doesn’t always work like that [but] if he can keep working as he is, then he has a good chance of working himself into some really good form."

• On the progress of Liam Delap: "He has really committed himself well to that [intense] process and is working really well with the staff. He is a popular member of the group and for 21 years of age, the start he has had in the Premier League is really promising. But it is a handful of games [and] he knows there is still a long way to go and there is still lots to improve on. But he has made some really good first strides."

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