Leif Davis: Can Ipswich’s creative force step up to the Premier League?
As Ipswich Town return to the Premier League after a 22-year absence, they have been presented with one of the toughest opening fixtures they could have asked for, but may have a trick up their sleeve.
By James Nalton
At midday on Saturday they face a Liverpool side who will be looking to challenge Manchester City for the title this season, led by their new manager, Arne Slot.
Though Liverpool themselves won’t be taking anything for granted, many will see this as a comfortable start for the Slot era against a team expected to be relegated.
But Ipswich may have a secret weapon. One they hope could give them a chance to mount a surprise challenge to stay in the league.
Ipswich are one of the original Premier League teams, having been present in the English top flight when it was rebranded in 1992. Since then they have only spent five seasons in the division, but as a club, historically, they are not unfamiliar with top-level football.
Throughout the 1970s and early 80s, they were one of the standout teams in the English top division, regularly competing in European competition, and won an FA Cup in 1978.
When Ipswich were last promoted from the second tier, in 2000, they finished 5th in a remarkable Premier League season under manager George Burley, only to be relegated a season later.
Repeating such a feat following promotion this time around will be nigh on impossible, but in Leif Davis, they have a player who might at least offer them a Premier League lifeline from the unlikely position of left-back.
In the past two seasons, Davis has been one of the most creative players in English football. Lots of this chance creation has come from set pieces, and he takes the majority of Ipswich’s corners and free kicks.
There is a variety to his set-piece delivery. His left-footed crossing from corners can be accurately aimed at the near post, centre, far post, or even drilled low to a player peeling away from the chaos in the penalty area.
Though set-pieces are Davis’s most obvious route to chance creation, he does create from open play, too.
His shot map shows the kind of positions he gets into and, like his set pieces, his crosses and balls into the box from this area can arrive in a variety of ways, from precise cut-backs to the more hopeful but nevertheless defence-worrying crosses into the danger area.
Per 90 stats can be useful for making comparisons between players when there is a difference in total minutes played, but totals are also useful and show that a player can consistently perform at a high level on a regular basis.
That is the case for Davis, who started 43 games in the Championship last season, and no outfield player at Ipswich played more than the 3,786 minutes he racked up in the league in 2023/24.
Such regular, consistent output is a valuable asset for any team, and this saw him lead the Championship for assists (18) and chances created (125) last season.
The rise of Ipswich to the Premier League, and their impressive performances last season, can make it easy to forget that they spent the previous four seasons in League One.
As he did in the Championship last season, Davis led League One for assists (14) and chances created (132) During the 2022/23 campaign in which Ipswich finished second to secure promotion to the Championship.
These back-to-back seasons of creativity were also Davis’s first seasons as a regular starter at any club, making him relatively inexperienced for a 24-year-old.
But in those seasons, the Newcastle-born left-back found a role and excelled in it. It’s a role he’ll keep into his first season in the top flight—Ipswich’s first season back at this level since they were relegated from the Premier League in 2002.
Such creativity from the full-back position has led to comparisons with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, but a more accurate comparison could be made between Davis and another Liverpool full-back, Kostas Tsimikas, especially with their left-sided similarities and creativity from wide, whereas Trent also does so from central positions.
The Greek left-back would be an elite chance creator at Championship and mid to low Premier League level, and despite Tsimikas not being a regular for Liverpool, he still has high levels of chance creation from the minutes he does play for them.
The odds are heavily stacked against Ipswich staying in the Premier League, especially after successive promotions, but set pieces can be an opportunity for newly promoted teams to find a level playing field within games against more established top-level sides. In Davis, Ipswich at least have the delivery aspect of these boxed off.
It is a big step up for a player who has two seasons of regular football under his belt, but the isolated nature of set pieces—detached from the rest of the game and providing a moment of control—should see some kind of continuation, even if there is a natural, expected drop off due to the increased level of opposition.
He’s a player to look out for as Ipswich open their 2024/25 season at home to Liverpool, and perhaps one for their opponents to be wary of, too.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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