Arsenal moved into second place in the Premier League after a 1-0 win over Ipswich, courtesy of a first half Kai Havertz goal.
It’s fair to say that the result was good, but the game itself was not a classic. With a front three of Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, and with Havertz and Martin Odegaard behind them, Mikel Arteta picked what I thought was the right team for a home game against a struggling side. Get attacking players on the pitch, and hopefully the goals will follow.
What we got was outright domination in the first half. By the half hour mark, we were a goal to the good, and had ‘enjoyed’ 88% possession, which is almost unheard of in Premier League terms. It was turning that domination into chances that was the issue. There was a Jurrien Timber effort that he made for himself, and Rice fired one not far over, but apart from the goal that was it.
Let’s not downplay the goal by the way. Trossard did well to beat his man on the outside and put in a left footed cross, but how it found its way to Havertz with so many Ipswich defenders in there, I’m not quite sure. The German was there though, like a good poacher, and his first time finish nestled into the back of the net for 1-0. A couple of minutes later Jesus had the ball in the back of the net but the flag went up for offside, and that was about it for the first 45 minutes.
I think we were a bit better in the second half, but not significantly. With only Ethan Nwaneri as a nominal attacking option on the bench, there wasn’t much scope for change. Martinelli and Jesus were quiet, Odegaard came to life briefly with a super run into the box but couldn’t find the finish, and the best chance of the second period fell to Gabriel who inexplicably headed wide from close range after we’d won a corner. By his own very high standards, that was a bad miss.
Mikel Merino came on for Jesus and saw a shot saved, but Ipswich were hanging on and as we got into the final 10 minutes, I feared the sucker-punch. The classic scenario where a team that has done nothing all game – in part because of how well Arsenal controlled it – finds a goal from nothing. When the lead is so precarious, even one moment of quality or one mistake is enough to drop more points, something we absolutely could not afford to do.
I don’t think it’s wrong to say Ipswich never looked like scoring, but that’s only true until it isn’t. At this level, when you can’t add a bit of daylight to the scoreline, it’s always going to be a worry. It was a boring 1-0 win, but I prefer my boredom at 2-0 or 3-0 (admittedly more goals make it less boring though).
Running through the core of this performance was the thought: ‘Is this is what it’s going to be like without Bukayo Saka?!’. Which is understandable. That said, we’ve seen this kind of game play out plenty of times with him on the pitch. Think Everton just a few weeks ago, but the lack of firepower on the bench was obvious, as was our inability to change things in-game – and given the further bad news about Saka (more on that anon), it ought to give everyone at the club even vaguely associated with recruitment pause for thought.
Let’s finish with a couple of positives though. First, three points are three points, however you come by them. We found a way to win this one, and after a 4-0 defeat in their last game, you could see there was a concerted effort from Ipswich to not get battered again. However, I think the balance between them defending well and Arsenal lacking attacking threat was skewed far more towards the latter than the former.
Secondly, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and continued emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly at left-back. Completing 58/59 passes, often operating in midfield too, his bravery on the ball stood out. As was his willingness to mix it with the opposition. When Liam Delap got zero from battling William Saliba, he tried his luck with MLS and came out second best, and I loved the way the 18 year old took umbrage with Kalvin Phillips and just left a bit on him after a tussle with Gabriel. This young man has got it, and it’s really exciting to see him grow into this team.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta was obviously pleased with the win, but his answer when James asked him if he thought this was a more complete performance than the 5-1 win over Crystal Palace was really instructive:
In terms of how well we control the position, 10 times, because we conceded 14 or 15 shots against Palace. And it’s nothing that we normally do. So overall, I think this one was much better. But, it’s about the goals as well, and the beauty of it, and entertaining people, and that one probably was better for them.
I think we all know this about him now. He wants to give the opposition nothing. He’s the kind of man who would go home after a 5-1 win and stew over the 1 rather than fully enjoy the 5. As we all wonder what we might do in the January window to replace Saka, there’s part of me that wouldn’t be at all surprised if the answer was another defender just to make sure we concede even less. I’m only half-joking here, by the way.
I think if Gabriel scores that header, we’d be carrying a bit less anxiety into this morning’s analysis, but IFs are very big in football, and another way to exert control over football matches is to score goals. You absolutely eliminate risk when you’re 2-0 or 3-0 up and defending as well as we did. I do think we need to give the Arsenal team credit for how defensively solid it is. Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna said afterwards that his team was facing the ‘some of the best defenders in the world’, and I don’t think he’s wrong, but last night it was hard not to think the defensive control came at the cost of some attacking threat.
Anyway, this game is done, let’s never think of it again and just take the three points. The major post-game news was the fact that Bukayo Saka has had surgery on his hamstring tear, which is obviously really bad news. Any kind of operation is a last resort, and it now means we’re going to be without him for the longest possible time-frame when a player picks up a problem like this.
It’s awful news for him, so first and foremost let’s hope he has a speedy and full recovery, but now it’s about what Arsenal do to react. Despite the gap to Liverpool, I don’t rule Arsenal out of the title race as it stands. However, while you can never say never in football, I don’t think I’d be alone to suggest it would be an almost impossible task unless we did something in January to bolster the squad.
I read last week that our mindset for this window was going to be ‘reactive’ – well, here’s a big problem we have to react to. I don’t believe we can get through the next three months without Saka, and with the attacking players we have, and score enough goals to keep us in that race. The news on Raheem Sterling is apparently a little better than expected, but nor do I think we can expect much from a player with just 146 minutes of Premier League football this season and who has never looked sharp enough or dangerous enough for a side hoping to win the biggest domestic prize of the season.
Let’s look at this as a situation that goes beyond Saka too. There’s always been room for improvement in the attacking third. Trossard is not getting any younger, Jesus has been barren until the last two games, and Martinelli’s inconsistency has been an issue for nearly two seasons now. It’s not just about replacing Saka for three months, it’s about augmenting the squad with a player who can improve us over the medium/longer term. Who that is, and who might be available in January is a great question, but Arsenal need to move heaven and earth to try and find him when the window opens.
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Right, let’s leave it there. We’re gonna have an Arsecast Extra for you in a little while too. We’ve put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.
Pod should be out around noon. For now, have a good one.
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