BBC football pundit Fara Williams has backed Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap to get an England call-up later this week.

Delap, 22, has been one of few bright spots in a tough top tier season for the Blues, often bullying world class defenders and bagging 10 goals in 27 games so far.

And that’s prompted former England international Williams to suggest that he may get a call-up when new national boss Thomas Tuchel names his first squad on Friday.

Thomas Tuchel in the stands at Selhurst Park on Saturday 

The German has reportedly drawn up a 55-name long list of players who could be included, and was in the stands at Selhurst Park as Delap and Town lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

While he apparently texted Palace’s England hopefuls – the likes of Dean Henderson, Adam Wharton, Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze – a good luck message before the game, he would no doubt have also been keen to have a look at Delap.

And in her latest column for BBC Sport, Williams said she believes Delap offers something that no other English striker does.

“Liam Delap has shone in an Ipswich team that are potentially going to go back down and could be a real option for Tuchel,” she wrote.

Fara Williams has backed Delap for England

“In terms of his goals and his presence, he has an ugly, old-school type of approach to his game. I don’t think any of the other English strikers have that.

“He has that style of being willing to have a fight with a defender even as a lone striker and I don’t think the others have that in their locker.

“In terms of what he does with the ball in front of goal, he’s a really calm finisher. He’s somebody that given time is definitely an option for Tuchel and he could look at him in this squad as a back-up to Harry Kane, who cannot play forever.

“To get those goals and have the season he has had in a very average Ipswich team in the Premier League, it has not been easy.”

Liam Delap has bagged 10 Premier League goals so far this season 

Williams concluded: “In terms of finishing in the box, he is similar to Kane but I don’t think Kane has the physical side in the same way.

“Delap is better at that than him but he is not able to drop into pockets and find forward passes as well as Kane can.

“Delap has some similar attributes to Kane but also offers something different and is definitely in with a shout for featuring in the upcoming international break.”

England host Albania in a World Cup qualifier on Friday, March 21st, in Tuchel’s first game in charge.

They then entertain Latvia in another qualifier on Monday, March 24th.

Ipswich Town captain Luke Woolfenden confirmed that he was subject to interest from Championship promotion hopefuls Sheffield United in the most recent transfer window.

Defender Woolfenden came through the Tractor Boys’ academy to make over 200 appearances for Ipswich, but was heavily linked to a move away in January following the arrival of Ben Godfrey on loan from Atalanta.

But no move was forthcoming, leaving the towering centre-back to remain at Portman Road.

Luke Woolfenden confirms transfer interest from Sheffield United during January transfer window

After earning back-to-back promotions under Kieran McKenna, flying from League One to the Premier League in consecutive seasons, Ipswich strengthened heavily over the summer to reinforce their squad ahead of their top-flight return.

The defence saw multiple new signings, with new centre-backs Jacob Greaves and Dara O’Shea arriving from Hull City and Burnley respectively.

As such, Woolfenden saw his 40 starts during last season’s Championship campaign turn into just 9 starts in Ipswich’s 28 Premier League games so far this year.

With Woolfenden’s gametime limited at Portman Road, naturally there was interest from other clubs.

Sheffield United were attributed with interest, as well as more exotic destinations such as MLS outfit Inter Miami.

Inter Miami, owned by former England star David Beckham, currently boast a squad of seasoned internationals such as Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez, and Lionel Messi.

Woolfenden quickly quashed suggestions that he was wanted by Inter Miami, but did confirm to the East Anglian Daily Times that there had been interest from other clubs, including Sheffield United.

Asked by the EADT about the rumours linking him to Sheffield United and Inter Miami, Woolfenden shared: “There’s interest most windows. I think that’s part and parcel of being a footballer.

“The Inter Miami one was a bit wide of the mark because otherwise I’m not sure I’d be sitting here! I’d be playing with Messi!

“So I’m not sure that one was true, but there was certainly interest from elsewhere.”

Sheffield United have been long-term admirers of Luke Woolfenden

It is not the first time Sheffield United have looked to sign Woolfenden, with the defender first catching their eye in 2020.

At the time, Ipswich were plying their trade in League One, whilst the Blades were in the Premier League during current manager Chris Wilder’s first stint in charge.

Back in 2020, Woolfenden addressed the transfer speculation, sharing: “It’s nice to be linked with big clubs but I’m focused on taking Ipswich back to where we should be.

“I don’t really get involved in all of that (transfer talk). Everybody knows what I’m like. There’s been no bids so there’s nothing to worry about.

“Everyone’s dream and goal is to play as high as they possibly can and for me I obviously want to play in the Premier League, but that doesn’t mean I want to leave right now.

“Ipswich is a massive club so if I could get to the Premier League with Ipswich it would be unbelievable.

“Ipswich Town shouldn’t be in League One so to get them promoted, as an Ipswich lad, would be massive.”

But things quickly changed for Woolfenden when Paul Cook replaced Paul Lambert as manager.

He found himself training with the Tractor Boys’ reserves, believing his future to lie elsewhere.

Woolfenden shared: “I was training with the Under 23s most of the time so I was nailed on to go.

“I was waking up most mornings and wanting to be anywhere else other than Ipswich.”

However, it would take until 2025 for the Blades to reignite their interest in the defender.

But Sheffield United’s hopes of signing the 26-year-old have been diminished by the fact that Woolfenden has signed a new deal with Ipswich.

The centre-back had been set to be out of contract this summer, but will now remain at his first professional club until the summer of 2027.

“I’ve said over the last few years that this is probably the best place to be in the Football League,” continued Woolfenden.

“It’s a club that, besides the manager, has a lot of ambition behind it with the owners, with Mark (Ashton), that it’s driven to keep this club where it is now. So it was a really good feeling to get the contract done.

“I’ve said numerous times that I love working here under the boss and the coaching staff.

“Every session is enjoyable. You don’t need to play every game here to improve as a player, whereas at other clubs you might have a bit of a jolly up and just go through the motions. Here we’re bang at it every day.”

The life of a Premier League footballer can be glamorous and exciting, but there’s often a craving for normality.

That’s what defender Dara O’Shea had on his 26th birthday on Tuesday, the day after Ipswich Town’s FA Cup exit at Nottingham Forest.

Asked what he did to celebrate, he replied: “I was just back home with my son going to the playground. It was nothing crazy, normal life.”

The focus has shifted since then. Town’s Premier League campaign has been pretty brutal, and they face another daunting test this weekend as they head to in-form Crystal Palace.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” O’Shea said. “Going away to Selhurst Park, it’s a tough ground to go to. They are in good form as well, so we know they will be right up for it.

“It’s probably a game where there won’t be much in it, similar to the home fixture for ourselves.

“It’s going to be a front-foot game, quite attacking and aggressive. It’s a game we’re looking forward

“They have some really good one-v-one players, technically very good. They are really sharp and quick.

“It’s going to be a big task for us to keep them quiet. They have been doing so well recently, so we’ll try and limit their strengths as best as possible.

“They are big on one-v-ones, so trying to get two-v-ones ourselves and trying to counteract their main threats will be important for us.”

The season has gone fairly quickly for those watching from afar, but it’s been quite gruelling at times for O’Shea, who played through much of the early stages of the campaign with a nasty back injury.

That has since subsided, and the centre-back is finally feeling back to his best.

“I’ve been pain free, thankfully, for a little while now, which has been great,” he revealed.

“As a footballer, you’re never really pain free, as such, but that back injury was a tough moment for me.

“It wasn’t easy, but I’m glad that I’m through the other end of it now and looking forward.”

While O’Shea has managed to overcome his injury, other team-mates are still struggling. One of them is Axel Tuanzebe, who’s missed a number of games with different issues.

The Blues are visibly stronger when he’s fit and available, and O’Shea is well aware how important he’s been to them this season.

“Whenever Axel doesn’t play, he’s a massive miss to us,” he admitted. “Every time he’s played this season, he’s put a great shift in. He’s really steady in that position, offering us a lot going forward and defensively too, which is massive.

“It’s quite a big position for us as a team, the way we play, the way we shift the back four.

“For him, he’ll maybe be disappointed with the games he’s been unavailable for this season. A lot of them have been out of his control – it’s been disappointing.

“I’ve really enjoyed playing alongside him personally. He’s quite an experienced player, he’s quick and he’s strong too.

“It’s nice for me to play alongside him.”

Town’s injury list is long, with almost half of their Premier League squad dealing with some sort of knock, niggle or worse. Given their current position in the table, it certainly isn’t ideal.

Manager Kieran McKenna is understandably feeling the effects of it, and O’Shea has understandably believes that it hasn’t been ideal for the players either.

“It’s not easy when you have players coming in and coming out,” he claimed. “You’d like to have everyone fit and available, making your choice off that for selection.

“Every team in the Premier League has these problems, it’s probably just been a bit like that for us in recent weeks, we’re feeling it a bit more.

“As a defender, you want to play with people consistently to build that relationship, but for us in our squad, we’ve almost got two players in every position who are really good players, comfortable and able to come in at any time.

“That’s important for us, and keeping everybody fit and available at the time, giving them the best opportunity to come in and put performances in.”

Nonetheless, there are plenty of positives to take from the last week or so. Town conceded little in the way of open-play opportunities against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, but they ended up paying the price from set pieces.

O’Shea, as a centre-back, has a big part to play in clearing those balls from the penalty area, but his side have fallen short in that regard recently. The trip to Old Trafford saw them come unstuck in a way that fans have rarely seen under McKenna.

“Up until the Manchester United game, we’ve been really solid defensively, set-play wise,” he stated. “It hasn’t really been a problem.

“You can have games like that where they come and things just aren’t right. For us, it’s about taking confidence in how well we’ve done up until that point.

“The manager touched on it during the week – we’d rather concede three set plays in one week than three set plays in three different games.

“It’s important for us to learn from that game against United and push on. The Forest game as well, it’s technically a set piece too, which is disappointing.

“Throughout the season, we’ve been so good at them, so we’ve got to get back to that and keep doing what we’re best at in those situations.

“We have to learn from the previous games and what we can improve on in that way too.”

Without a league win in 2025, it’s clear that Ipswich need things to improve quickly if they are to stand any chance of catching Wolves and climbing out of the relegation zone.

O’Shea has been in this position before, having been relegated with West Brom and Burnley in previous years. He’s taken a lot from those experiences, but believes that the feeling around Ipswich is different.

“For me personally, it’s quite strange,” he reflected. “I’m obviously in the same position as I have been before, but it doesn’t feel like I’m in that position as such.

O’Shea is confident heading into the final 11 games of the season 

“I think the whole club and the belief around the group isn’t one of us being in a relegation battle, that things are piling up on top of us. That’s important for us, to keep that same mindset throughout this.

“There’s going to be pressure put on us if we don’t get points on the board. The easiest way to keep the pressure off is to get points on the board and stop that mindset.

“It’s not a nice place to be, and obviously I’ve been there twice before, so I’m trying to use all the experience that I’ve had in these situations and add them to the group.

“Lots of the other lads too, they have been in similar scenarios. It’s tough, it’s not easy. Things have to change.

“As long as we go into each week with the same mindset and mentality, that we’re pushing towards having a positive result and keep doing things right, I think that’s important for us.

“That will put us in good stead towards the end of the season.”

There are many who have written Ipswich off already. They are big favourites to finish in the bottom three, and it will be the third relegation on O’Shea’s CV if it happens.

However, he’s adamant that they are in a good position to finish the campaign in style, which means that there’s a strong belief in the squad that they won’t drop back down to the Championship.

“At the moment, we’re in that position,” he noted. “Nothing is written in the stars, I don’t think we’re going to get relegated and the lads think that too.

“For me, it’s just a matter of time before we start moving on up. We’ve been close, so I don’t think it will be the third time.

“That’s the last thing I want, to get another one. I definitely feel confident in the group that we can turn things around.”

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Derby County moved to the bottom of the Championship table for the first time this season on Saturday following a 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

The Rams’ loss and Luton Town’s first win under Matt Bloomfield sent John Eustace’s side to the foot of the second tier, after losing three straight league games, picking up just two points in their last 12 matches.

It’s been a frustrating season for the East Midlands outfit, and it currently looks as though the team will suffer relegation straight back to League One unless there is a radical change in form, starting against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

Eustace will be hoping that he can get one over his former team after leaving them for Derby just a few weeks ago, but he will need his players to show more endeavour and quality to help get him that first win in charge.

Kayden Jackson named in Derby player debate

Supporters were told by CEO, Stephen Pearce, in March 2024 that the club would have a budget that was going to let them compete in the Championship this season, but those that have arrived in DE24 over the course of the campaign have failed to impress for the most part.

Goals have been hard to come by and the Rams have lacked a cutting edge constantly in the final third, something that will cost them their second tier status if they do not find a fix in their remaining 11 games.

Football League World has asked their Derby Fan Pundit, Shaun Woodward, which one player has surprised him most this season, either positively or negatively.

He told FLW: “I could probably sit here and talk for ages about sadly the players that have surprised me in a negative way this season, so many of them have underperformed. None of them have reached the heights that we thought they would do.

“The likes of Ben Osborn coming in, major flop. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing this season, his stats are just horrific from where they were last year. We could probably go through most of our frontline if I’m honest and just say none of them have performed to a level that we need to stay in this league.

“But for me, the one I would probably highlight is Kayden Jackson. He came in and he started the season really well. I think he’s got three goals in his first five games in all competitions and since then I don’t know what’s happened to the boy, but it’s like he has just fallen off a cliff with his form and his confidence.

“Everything he was doing in the first five games he has stopped doing. He’s not positive, he doesn’t try and beat a man, he doesn’t look to get a shot off. Everything that he did in his first five games, he stopped doing for whatever reason.”

Shaun continued: “I know the team has been struggling, but he has not rolled his sleeves up and really tried to pull us out of this mess. I think he’s got one goal in his last 30 odd games, which is just woeful for a player that’s supposed to be one of our attacking stars. He’s just majorly underperformed.

“He looks like he’s nowhere near the levels we need in the Championship, and I think it is highlighted even more because he had a good start. He’s shown nothing since. People were talking about him potentially going on to get 15/20 goals this season, which is laughable now when you think about it.

“I think he’s got four in all competitions, and three of those came at the beginning. So I’ve been really, really disappointed with Jackson. I don’t really want to just pick him out because I think a number of them have majorly underperformed.

“But sadly, I’ve got to pick one and he’s probably the one that stands out for me above all the others.”

Jackson’s form has been notably poor for Derby

While there are a number of players that have not pulled their weight for the Rams this season, Jackson has been particularly disappointing, especially after his explosive start to life in black-and-white.

A header against Luton in December was the winger’s most recent goal for Derby, and he has not looked a threat since then.

He has been played on the wing, up front and as a wing-back, with neither Paul Warne nor Eustace being able to work out which position he is best suited to.

His record at Ipswich Town in the Championship and in his final three League One seasons was not impressive, and this lack of threat in front of goal has followed him to the East Midlands with no end in sight to this new drought.

If the Rams do not see an improvement from Jackson before the end of the campaign, then he may just find himself as another on their way out of Pride Park in what looks to be a huge summer rebuild at Derby.

The Crimson Tide softball team got off to a slow start but has improved, recently setting a program record by winning six games in a row via the run rule. With SEC play starting in two weeks, the team needs to improve in several areas.

Alabama came into the season ranked No. 10 in the nation, but due to a rocky 5-5 record in its first 10 games, it has dropped to No. 22.

The defense needs to improve. With a .960 fielding percentage, the Crimson Tide currently has the 136th-ranked fielding percentage in the country and has committed 20 errors this season.

“Putting all the components of the game together — pitching, defense and hitting — will just make us a complete team,” outfielder Kristen White said. “We have a lot to work on but will get it together.”

The pitching also needs to improve. The team is ranked 233rd in college softball with 6.63 hits allowed per game, near the bottom of the SEC. It is also ranked 78th in the country in WHIP with a 1.37, showing that the team allows too many runners to get on base.

“The defense needs to be better all around. You cannot give up two to three errors a game, and you have to eliminate walking, as many hitters are on the mound,” head coach Patrick Murphy said.

Pitcher Jocelyn Briski needs to get off to a hot start on the mound heading into SEC play to put the Crimson Tide in a good spot. Through 11 games and seven starts, she holds a 3-5 record and currently has a 3.00 ERA, with 41 strikeouts to 21 walks across 42 innings pitched.

Pitcher Catelyn Riley, who celebrated her Senior Day on Saturday, has been a big part of the pitching staff and needs to keep it going in SEC play. Through 11 games and seven starts this season, she has a 5-1 record, a 2.14 ERA, and 18 strikeouts to 13 walks in 36 innings pitched.

Riley said the team needs to work on “Cleaning up the back-to-backs and freebies both on defense and as pitchers.”

The top three hitters in the lineup, Audrey Vandagriff, Larissa Preuitt and Alex Pupillio, must set the tone early and often in conference play. Preuitt currently has the third-highest batting average on the team at .400. Vandagriff has the highest at .462.

Vandagriff and Preuitt also lead the team in hits with 24 and 22, respectively.

A big part of the Crimson Tide’s offense has been the hot start infielder Kali Hevilin has gotten off to. She is hitting .354 with six home runs, 14 RBIs and a 1.175 OPS. If she can keep that going in SEC play, that will be a big boost for the Crimson Tide in the middle of the lineup.