Ipswich Town have now last back-to-back games in the Premier League by a single goal, as Oliver Glasner's Crystal Palace just about got the better of the Tractor Boys on a cold winter's night at Portman Road.
The 1-0 win was secured in Palace's favour courtesy of a sumptuous Jean-Philippe Mateta strike, after the number 14 had somehow wriggled free of various Ipswich markers, before then delicately lifting the ball above Arijanet Muric.
Jean-Philippe-Mateta
Kieran McKenna was crying out for one of his players to come up trumps in a similar way, but in the end it was a drab defeat for his men to take, with a number of Ipswich shirts underwhelming.
Ipswich's underperformers vs Palace
Not even the likes of Liam Delap could spark into life for the Premier League strugglers in order to attempt to pull off a result, with all three of the former Manchester City striker's shots unfortunately not finding the back of Dean Henderson's net.
In truth, it was a poor overall showing from the Suffolk side in the forward areas, with Omari Hutchinson lackadaisical in the number ten role just behind a misfiring Delap, as the ex-Chelsea midfielder squandered possession a hefty total of 19 times.
Liam-Delap
There were some positives to cling onto defensively at least, with Jacob Greaves standing out as a powerful presence in the heart of defence by completing 12 successful duels, but that wouldn't matter much considering Ipswich lacked end product up the other end.
On top of that, even for all of Greaves' glowing numbers, Mateta still managed to waltz through and break Ipswich hearts with his solo strike, with the slim defeat sending McKenna's men all the way down to 19th spot in the league standings.
The frustrated Tractor Boys boss could well need to be more cutthroat with his team selections moving forward to try and get more out of his up-and-down troops, therefore, with Wes Burns in danger of being axed after a poor showing versus the Eagles.
Burns' performance in numbers
Away from Delap regularly fluffing his lines and Hutchinson continually losing possession, Burns really struggled to get going against Glasner's visitors too, which would act as a detriment to his side attempting to fashion an opening down the right wing.
Only managing one assist to date since making leap up to the Premier League, it could be that the Welshman isn't cut out for the huge step-up in quality from the EFL, as the lacklustre Ipswich number seven failed to strike any sort of fear into the Palace defence whenever he roamed forward.
Burns' performance in numbers
Stat
Minutes played
Goals scored
Assists
Shots
Touches
Accurate passes
Accurate crosses
Possession lost
Total duels won
Stats by Sofascore
Looking at the table above, not a lot went right for Burns at Portman Road, with his 33 touches coming in at less than Muric's 51, whilst the experienced attacker regularly failed to beat the first man when firing crosses into the box, resulting in just one accurate cross being tallied up from eight attempted.
Also giving up possession a costly 15 times, it wasn't a great shock to see East Anglian Daily Times journalist Alex Jones dish out a 5/10 rating to the 30-year-old post-match, as he could now find his right wing spot is taken up by a new face for Ipswich's next league encounter versus AFC Bournemouth.
wes-burns-ipswich
Beloved in Suffolk for his heroics last season on the way to promotion being reached, with Burns helping himself to an impressive ten goal contributions in the Championship, it's clear that the Premier League might just be a bridge too far for the out-of-sorts forward to handle.
Therefore, a fresher option could be thrown into the XI by McKenna next, who will want a reaction from his camp when the Cherries travel to Portman Road shortly.
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