Arsenal climbed to second in the Premier League with a 1-0 win against Ipswich secured thanks to Kai Havertz’s first-half poacher’s finish.
While a win and clean sheet is nothing to be sniffed at, it’s fair to say it wasn’t a performance to get the juices flowing.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos made of the action…
Mikel Arteta on the nature of tonight’s win…
Frustration when you win? No. Things to improve? Yes. We give some very simple balls away that allow them to generate belief. The first half, the stats are very significant. We are used to that. Credit to them because they are a very organised and well-coached team.
Source: Amazon Prime Video
__
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna on his side’s performance…
The players worked really hard and we got the game to a good place in the second half after a good 20 minutes. Early on we were pinned in and couldn’t get out but to where we were after 89 minutes I was really pleased. In the first half, it was only the goal where I thought we needed to defend better. We were resilient and compact when we needed to be. Arsenal spent a lot of the first half in our defensive third but unable to penetrate.
Source: BBC Match of the Day
Arsenal (2.16) 1-0 (0.15) Ipswich
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) December 27, 2024
Declan Rice on not winning by a bigger margin…
It’s been a kind of constant theme for us. We’ve been dominating games but teams have been coming here, low blocks, and it’s hard to break down a 5-4-1. We could’ve had more and we just have to keep going. It was an important win. Hopefully the new year brings trophies, this club deserves that. You have to win stuff. We can keep winning games but it means nothing if you don’t win anything at the end.
Source: premierleague.com
__
Ipswich midfielder Kalvin Phillips on how his side coped with Arsenal’s threat…
Arsenal are very good team and they had a lot of the ball, created a few chances. We created a few in the second half but we just need that extra bit of special play at the end. It’s always difficult coming to Arsenal and we didn’t have much to lose a 1-0 so we came out and tried to force them into mistakes in the second half.
Source: Amazon Prime (via BBC Sport)
7 – No side has kept more clean sheets (7) or conceded fewer goals (16) in the Premier League this season than Arsenal, while the Gunners have kept a shutout in four successive home matches in the competition for the first time since December 2021. Mentality. pic.twitter.com/zRcZ2RrA4A
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 27, 2024
Arteta on his side’s professionalism…
The margins are small, their [the players] behaviour and the understanding of the defensive part is unbelievable. On the attacking side, credit to them, it’s not easy to break those sides down, we had some big chances as well that we didn’t put away.
Source: Viaplay Fotball
__
Rice on the title race…
Liverpool are full throttle, they were under (Jurgen) Klopp and now under (Arne) Slot. They don’t let anyone breathe. We need someone to help us out so they can drop points as we can only focus on ourselves and hopefully, something can happen.
Source: Amazon Prime
3 – Ipswich attempted just three shots tonight; of the seven occasions of a side managing three or fewer shots in a Premier League game this season, three have been against Arsenal, all this month (also Fulham and Everton, 2 shots each). Shutdown. pic.twitter.com/Drwkc3atFo
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 27, 2024
Leandro Trossard on not scoring more goals…
Especially first half, we were dominant, we should have scored more than one. Second half, we started a bit sloppy, we made it hard for ourselves, we didn’t score the second or third, they were still in the game and the ball has to land well for them at one point (and we’re in trouble). We defended well in the end and it’s three points for us. Everyone defended well, when the ball doesn’t want to go in for a second or third you have to defend well in your own bnox and that’s what we did. Every game is different and every opponent will approach us different, if they see we’ve won by five in the game before, they don’t want to concede the same amount of goals.
Source: Viaplay Fotball
__
Arteta on Bukayo Saka’s injury…
He had a procedure, everything went well. But unfortunately, he will be out for many, many weeks. I think it will be more than two months. It depends… how the scar tissue starts to heal, the mobility of that.
Source: premierleague.com
Arsenal 1-0 Ipswich Town FT
Arsenal go back up to second with a narrow but fully deserved victory over Ipswich.
It was one-way traffic at the Emirates #ARSIPS
— Opta Analyst (@optaanalyst.optajoe.com) December 27, 2024 at 10:14 PM
Mikel Arteta on Santi Cazorla’s presence at the Emirates…
He’s one of the best players that I’ve played with but then it’s about the person, he’s a very special character, he was loved by everybody in the dressing room, at the club and even without speaking English he was loved by all the crowd which is a big compliment.
Source: Amazon Prime
__
Rice on Lewis-Skelly…
He can go to the top, this kid is just special, very special. For an 18-year-old to be that good, that comfortable, that strong – it was like he was built in a lab!
Source: Arsenal.com
David Raya has now kept 23 clean sheets in his 50 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, which is a club record. #AFC
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) December 27, 2024
Arteta on Myles Lewis-Skelly’s growing stature…
He’s a special character. It’s well ahead of his age, he’s so mature. He has qualities that adapt very well to our way of playing. That’s theory but then you have to go out there and compete at this level. Credit to him.
Source: premierleague.com
__
Arteta on Sterling’s injury…
The news with Raz, I think it’s better. We have to see this week how he evolves. But we expect it, the knee injury to probably take longer than actually the way the knee is evolving in the last few days. So, hopefully, that’s good because we need him.
Source: Post-game press conference
Capping off 2024 with a W!
Thanks for all the support this year Gunners ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5o8qIS6Dzq
— Kai Havertz (@kaihavertz29) December 27, 2024
Emmanuel Petit on Arsenal’s win…
Oh my God – very hard, and I was scared at the end that Ipswich would come back, get a goal and get a point, but thankfully Arsenal held on. They should have killed the game off.
Source: premierleague.com
__
Roberto Martinez on Arsenal’s forwards…
I would be disappointed today, as we didn’t see a connection between Kai and Gabriel Jesus.
Source: BBC Sport
Ipswich tried but they are not Everton. Did Raya make even one save?
We missed our Starman and it sounds like he could be out until March. We looked better with Kai up top when Jesus was subbed.
Still 3 points, a clean sheet and we are above Chelsea. Just need Liverpool to start dropping points.
Can someone please remind me what Martinez ever accomplished in the Premier League, besides relegation?
FA Cup (and relegated).
His teams never lacked threat. They just defended like Spurs.
Santi always puts a smile on my face- and he’s still playing at 40!
Arsene would coach, prepare, train develop nurture prsonalities and then let them get on with their skills/charisma/talent. Everything super pro off course, super scientific, super intellectual. One touch mastrclass again and again. And again with multi generations/cycles/teams. Vision, standards, know-how, technicracy, quality, Japan. You fucking ungrateful little shits with your blogs with your youtube channels and your opinions. Fuck you all. Wenger could deliver top4 with barca style football and budgets like fiorentina. In the premier league. Against Romans, arabs, glazers etc etc. Fuck you all again repeatedly till you learn your lessons of Hubris you fucking know nothing little… Read more »
Youre like that Japanese fella on the island who didn’t know that the war was over.
That’s a serious boxing day hangover there.
Someone needs a hug 🤭
Awww, come here child
What an absolute load of shit. Fuck off yourself, idiot.
Jesus I didn’t know we had fans like this…….feel like I have to get off my high horse now
Someone got discharged too early
Don’t feed the troll, guys. He or she comes back to zero up votes, down votes or comments and it would drive them mad. Rest assured they’re checking in and loving the reactions.
My thoughts exactly.
Out of possession it was again 99%, A+. You can’t ask for much more. In possession, the buildup was good, nothing much wrong with phase 1 or 2. Myles worries me sometimes with how he tries to turn through contact but he seems to pull it off more often than not, credit to him. There was a little sloppiness when they upped their intensity in the beginning of the second half but for the most part we got up the pitch when we wanted to. 90%, A. In possession in the final third is what is getting to people. But… Read more »
Newcastle pumped that lot 4-0 last week. The 19th team in the league. We struggle to get a single goal against them. But yeah, our off the ball work was world beating…
They played for more than a point against Newcastle and left space that was exploited. They parked the bus yesterday (understandbly). We still won the game,
I was at the Ipswich vs Newcastle game. Far fewer tractors parked in that game compared to vs Arsenal. Town were way more compact at the Emirates with barely 0.5 player up the field.
People seem to forget even for our best teams going back to 1971, through the GG & AW years, could struggle to break a blanket defence. Those title winning years are littered with games & results like this. It is a tribute that so many teams now feel they have to totally ‘park the bus’!
For Rice, a player who was clearly built in a lab, to say that MLS was built in a lab, well I just want to thank the scientists working in those labs and wish them a happy new year.
Same to you!
Seeing Roberto Martinez talk gives me PTSD