Omari Hutchinson sends clear Chelsea message after spectacular Ipswich celebration
There seemed to be no love lost between Omari Hutchinson and Chelsea as the former Cobham youth rolled out a cartwheel after scoring against his former side.
Enzo Maresca's Blues fell to a damaging 2-0 defeat at Ipswich Town on Monday night, in more ways than one.
For a start, against a team in the relegation zone they would have been expected to make light work of a task rivals Arsenal barely struggled with just days before.
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Then there is the record to end 2024 to look upon - one draw and two defeats, with Everton and Fulham preceding this meeting. As a result of that all Chelsea have sunk from second to fourth in table, 10 points off league leaders Liverpool.
In tonight's match at Portman Road, Hutchinson put the game beyond reach for the disheartened visiting team in the 53rd minute.
Running onto a cutback from earlier goalscorer Liam Delap, the 21-year-old took a touch before calmly rolling the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of Filip Jorgensen goal.
That kind of finishing was honed on the fields of Cobham, where he spent four of his childhood years between 2008 and 2012. He would move on to play for the youth teams of Charlton Athletic and Arsenal, before eventually returning for a shot at Stamford Bridge stardom in 2022.
That return would only amount to two senior appearances, before he found his big break in football with Ipswich after their promotion to the Championship for the 2023/24 season.
Their fairytale story continued as they shot straight up to the English top-flight. Hutchinson scored 10 league goals with six assists, and he was bought from Chelsea for a club-record £22.5m.
Footballers sometimes show respect to former clubs with muted celebrations, but on this occasion. Hutchinson pulled out an entire cartwheel and flip in front of his new supporters.
Chelsea could not hit back, having been denied a Joao Felix goal by VAR for offside shortly after Delap had netted the opener from the penalty spot.