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.”