Chelsea continue their push for Champions League qualification when they host struggling Ipswich at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues will kick-off one point outside the top five and know a win could move them to within one point of third-placed Nottingham Forest after they lost on Saturday.
Chelsea go into Sunday’s contest at Stamford Bridge with renewed confidence despite their ongoing struggle to rediscover some consistency in their fight for Champions League qualification, having produced a stirring second-half performance to brush aside Legia Warsaw 3-0 in Poland on Thursday night and put one foot firmly in the Conference League semi-finals.
Enzo Maresca’s side will be among the teams buoyed by this week’s news that England will receive an additional Champions League spot for next season.
The hosts will be strong favourites to overcome an Ipswich team who look destined to join already-relegated Southampton in making an immediate return to the Championship next term, with Kieran McKenna’s men sitting 17th and 12 points adrift of safety with only seven games left to play after a hugely damaging 2-1 home defeat by nearest rivals Wolves last time out - their 19th league loss of the season and sixth straight at Portman Road.
Here’s everything you need to know about the game...
Date, kick-off time and venue
Chelsea vs Ipswich is scheduled for a 2pm BST kick-off time on Sunday April 13, 2025.
The match will take place at Stamford Bridge in west London.
Where to watch Chelsea vs Ipswich
TV channel: In the UK, the game will not be televised live with Liverpool vs West Ham instead selected for the early Super Sunday window ahead of Newcastle vs Manchester United.
Chelsea vs Ipswich was ineligible for broadcast selection having not originally been picked for TV and then pushed back a day due to the Blues’ progress into the Conference League quarter-finals.
Free highlights: The Sky Sports app and YouTube channel will show highlights with Match of the Day 2 broadcasting on BBC One at 10:30pm BST on Sunday night.
Chelsea vs Ipswich team news
Cole Palmer returned to the Chelsea starting lineup in Warsaw in one of five alterations made by Maresca from the draw with Brentford, though was taken off at half-time along with Tosin Adarabioyo as part of pre-planned changes.
The likes of Nicolas Jackson, two-goal Noni Madueke, Levi Colwill, Enzo Fernandez, Trevoh Chalobah, Moises Caicedo and Marc Cucurella were all named on the bench in Poland and will be eyeing starts on Sunday with Legia unlikely to mount a comeback in the second leg at Stamford Bridge next week. Robert Sanchez should also return in goal.
Wesley Fofana has been ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury along with Omari Kellyman, while it remains to be seen exactly when Romeo Lavia will return. Marc Guiu is closing in on a comeback, though Mykhailo Mudryk remains unavailable.
For Ipswich, ex-Chelsea winger Omari Hutchinson remains a doubt. Sammie Szmodics, Chiedozie Ogbene, Wes Burns and Arijanet Muric are all out, though Leif Davis returned off the bench against Wolves.
Chelsea vs Ipswich prediction
Chelsea just cannot seem to put a run of wins together in the league to mirror their impressive start to life under Maresca, following up the victory over Tottenham with a stalemate in another London derby at Brentford.
However, their statement second-half performance in Warsaw should provide a decent confidence boost and the Blues should once again take the handbrake off at home to a team who now look all-but relegated after Wolves’ dramatic comeback win last weekend.
There is no need to rest players for the second leg against Legia and a strong Chelsea team should have more than enough to see off a spirited but limited Ipswich side who have won only once in the league in 2025.
Chelsea to win, 3-0.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
Chelsea are the only Premier League team to lose at Portman Road this season, surprisingly going down 2-0 back in December after an early penalty from Blues transfer target Liam Delap and further effort from Hutchinson.
Before that, the two sides had not met in the league since 2002 and only twice since then in the cups, with Chelsea hitting Ipswich for seven in 2011.
Chelsea wins: 26
Ipswich wins: 10
Draws: 10
Chelsea vs Ipswich match odds
Chelsea to win: 2/9
Ipswich to win: 10/1
Draw: 11/2
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
