Arsenal in second place after Kai Havertz aim dismisses struggling Ipswich

Arsenal moved as much as second place within the Premier League desk with a 1-0 win over Ipswich on the Emirates.

Of their last match of 2024, Kai Havertz scored the one aim of the match halfway via the primary half.

Arsenal’s victory brings them to inside six factors of leaders Liverpool, having performed a recreation greater than the Reds, and one level away from Chelsea following their Boxing Day defeat to Fulham.

Ipswich, though a lot improved within the second half, have now misplaced 5 of their final six video games and stay only one place off the underside of the desk, three factors from security.

Mikel Arteta’s males have been rocked by Bukayo Saka’s hamstring harm which may hold the England winger, who has scored 9 targets and 13 assists this season, out of motion for the following two months.

Gabriel Martinelli was given the unenviable activity of changing Saka on Arsenal’s proper facet and the Brazilian was concerned in the one aim of the night.

The Ipswich protection did not cope with Martinelli’s cross, with the ball falling to Leandro Trossard on the opposite facet of the field. Trossard made his solution to the road earlier than fizzing his cross into the field for Havertz to transform from a couple of yards out.

It was Havertz’s third aim in 4 matches, his twelfth of the season, and nothing lower than the hosts, who at that stage of the match had loved a staggering 91.4 per cent of possession, deserved.

Earlier than Friday’s recreation, Arsenal had misplaced simply one in every of their final 75 Premier League matches once they opened the scoring, and their triumph right here hardly ever regarded unsure after Havertz’s strike.

Havertz thought he had doubled Arsenal’s lead within the thirty fourth minute when he transformed Gabriel Jesus’ cross. However Jesus – who earned his third consecutive begin for the primary time in a 12 months – discovered himself in an offside place within the build-up.

When referee Darren England sounded the half-time bell, Ipswich had failed to the touch the ball within the Arsenal field, turning into solely the second workforce to take action within the Premier League this season. Nottingham Forest had been the opposite, at Liverpool, earlier than handing Arne Slot the one defeat of his tenure up to now.

And regardless of all of Arsenal’s possession, once they solely held a one-goal lead, Ipswich knew they had been nonetheless within the recreation. An encouraging begin to the second half adopted for the Tractor Boys, however with out testing David Raya within the Arsenal aim.

Shortly after the hour mark, Gabriel ought to have calmed the Emirates’ rising nerves when he arrived unmarked from Declan Rice’s nook, however the defender headed off Arijanet Muric’s put up because it regarded simpler to attain.

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Martin Odegaard then pressured a advantageous fingertip save from Muric at his close to put up after a labyrinthine run and shot from the Arsenal skipper. Rice’s stinging volley from the next nook was blocked by Dara O’Shea as Arsenal pushed for a decisive second.

Havertz ought to have hit Trossard’s head however he inflated his strains. And some moments later, substitute Mikel Merino’s shot was diverted from hazard by a Muric dive.

Ipswich regarded to catch Arsenal on the counter, however the match ended with out them registering a single effort on Raya’s aim. Ipswich supporters goaded their opponents with chants of “Arsenal boring and boring”, nevertheless it was the Gunners who had the final snicker as they headed into 2024 with a victory that stored the stress on Liverpool.