Arsenal vs Ipswich preview

Arsenal will look to keep pressure on the top of the table when they host Ipswich at the Emirates on Friday.

Arsenal will be in high spirits after their 5-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park whilst Ipswich will hope to not be embarrassed again after their 4-0 loss to Newcastle at St. James Park,  both games taking place last Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s men will have to continue without star player Bukayo Saka, as the Arsenal manager says Saka will be ‘out for many weeks’ in Mondays news conference. Loanee Raheem Sterling will also be unavailable, and is expected to be sidelined for a similar length of time to Saka.

The sudden resurgence in form for Gabriel Jesus gives the gunners reason to believe hope is not lost, especially with the versatility shown by Kai Havertz to embody his new role in arsenals eight role.

The return of Declan Rice will help sure up Arsenals wobbly midfield, which left many worried despite the scoreline at Selhurst Park.

A win for Ipswich could seem them leapfrog both Wolves and Leicester and into 17th, just outside of relegation spots, if results go their way.

Kieran McKenna’s men will be lifted by Arsenals recent goalless draw at home to Everton and their last trip to North London where they left with all three points beating Tottenham 2-1.

This will be the first fixture between the two sides since their goalless draw in 1992 boxing day, so history will not help indicate who may have the better chances in this game.

At the start of the season, this is not a game Ipswich would have gone into being able to expect any returns from, but the newly promoted side has done well against capital teams since their promotion.

Ipswich gained their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw with Fulham and have gone on to win 2-1 in their most recent visit to North London against Tottenham in November.

They lost narrowly to Brentford at the Brentford Community stadium in a 4-3 thriller, but were torn apart by West Ham at the London Stadium in a 4-1 schooling. A further 1-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace adds to Ipswiches mixed bag of results.

McKenna's men conceded three inside the first half in their trip to St. James Park, and with Arsenals history of putting teams away at this point of the season, this will be a scary prospect.

A settling thought for the visitors will be their main relegation rivals are likely to drop points this weekend. Wolves host Manchester United whilst Leciester are away to Liverpool. These are fixtures that could not be better timed for Ipswich.

For Arsenal however this becomes a must win fixture week, as forementioned Liverpool have an easy game and Chelsea host Fulham in the West London Derby, a game Chelsea will be expected to win.

Arsenals strategy of giving the ball to Saka and expecting him to work miracles must end with his absensce, and the rest of the team will be expected to perform to the standards their salarys would suggest they are capable of.

This is now a true litmus test of Arsenals chances of winning the league this seaosn, as if they are unable to win without Saka, they will not be able to win the league.