It took Ipswich 19 matches and until 30 December to rack up three wins the last time they were promoted to the Premier League, in 2024-25, but their new-look side have already matched that total in their first six games.
“Whenever you get promoted there is going to be a large amount of player turnover because, if you want to stay up, then you need to bring some players in who are going to be game-changers, and are going to offer you the different perspectives or different outlets you will need at this level,” Wardley told BBC Sport.
“With a bunch of new players and a new manager in Gary O’Neil too, there was always going to be a question mark as to how well they would gel, or even how quickly, but the team are looking great.
“You only have to look at the start we’ve made to the season to answer the question of whether we look like we belong in the Premier League.
“Three wins from six games is a great start for any team coming up from the Championship and the boys are doing really well right now.”
Wardley has seen two of those wins for himself, with both of them coming thanks to last-gasp goals.
“My training camp has been very strict and very stringent so I’ve been very busy with a lot of what I’ve got going on, but of course I’ve tried to make it to Portman Road as much as possible,” he added.
“I went to the first game of the season against Sunderland, which ended with a nice little last-minute winner for us, with Jack Clarke sticking that one in.
“And just before I came away for the build-up to my fight, I was at Saturday’s game against Fulham, which ended in a similar fashion really.
“We went 1-0 down early on but clawed it back and then scored two goals in three minutes, with the winner coming in added time.
“Winning like that proves the team have got character. The boys are showing a lot of resilience and we are going to need it this season.”
Chris Sutton and Fabio Wardley were speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
The AI predictions were generated using Microsoft Copilot Chat – we simply asked the tool to ‘predict this weekend’s Premier League scores’.
