Arsenal vs Ipswich LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Kai Havertz goal earns three points
Arsenal 1-0 Ipswich: The German’s first-half goal was enough to Mikel Arteta’s side to end 2024 with a win
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal climbed to second in the Premier League as they overcame a defensively-strong Ipswich at the Emirates Stadium.
An early goal from Kai Havertz, converting a fizzed cross from Leandro Trossard, proved enough for the hosts to re-take their place as Liverpool’s closest chasers after a 1-0 win. Mikel Arteta’s side were far from their fluent best against a tightly-packed visiting side, though were seldom troubled as Ipswich struggled to escape their own end.
Trossard had been brought into the starting line-up for the first game after Bukayo Saka suffered a hamstring injury that will sideline the Arsenal star for several weeks. Arteta could have done with Saka’s spark, with clear chances relatively few and far between even if Gabriel should have added a second from a corner routine in the second half. Ipswich’s best opening came in the first 30 seconds, though Sammie Szmodics could not make contact with a bouncing ball. They remain 19th.
Re-live all of the action from the Emirates below:
Arsenal 0-0 Ipswich, 6 minutes
Nope. Arijanet Muric comes and punches confidently. His clearance travels as far as Martin Odegaard 20 yards out, but the Arsenal captain’s swing is wild and wayward.
Arsenal 0-0 Ipswich, 5 minutes
Ipswich are dropping into their back five quickly and effectively so far, Ben Johnson and Leif Davis adding extra defensive strength on either side. Davis can’t prevent Gabriel Martinelli from getting a cross in, though, and Ipswich are forced to concede a corner from his dangerous delivery.
Can Arsenal pounce at the set piece?
Arsenal 0-0 Ipswich, 4 minutes
A raking diagonal pass in the direction of Martinelli just evades the forward, stretching to try to hook the ball back into play but unable to get a toe on it.
Arsenal 0-0 Ipswich, 2 minutes
It is Gabriel Martinelli on the right for Arsenal, the Brazilian with chalk on his boots as he stays in close proximity to the touchline in these first passages. Kai Havertz appears to have been given freedom to roam.
Arsenal 0-0 Ipswich, 1 minute
So nearly a brilliant start for Ipswich! A deflected cross from the left loops across the six-yard box and Sammie Szmodics prods at it, failing to make connection with the goal seemingly at his mercy! What an opening in the first 20 seconds - but a chance goes awry!
Arsenal vs Ipswich
It’s a mizzly night in London, greasing the pitch and dampening the hair of the players as they emerge.
Arsenal vs Ipswich
Tonight’s other game is already up and running, with Brighton and Brentford a rather intriguing little fixture. It’s the hosts who have begun the brighter down in Sussex, with Julio Enciso striking the post early on - though the young forward should really have found the back of the net.
It’s 0-0 about 15 minutes in to that one.
Arsenal vs Ipswich
Three points tonight would re-establish Arsenal as Liverpool’s closest chasers after Chelsea’s defeat against Fulham yesterday. Arne Slot’s side do still have that game in hand, though. Assuming that they beat Everton in that rescheduled fixture, nine points feels like a huge gap given how frail the other contenders have looked and the confidence coursing through the Anfield club.
Even a win tonight is unlikely to lift the visitors out of the bottom three given Wolves’s golden week. Kieran McKenna would need a six-goal win to see his side climb out of the relegation places, which feels unlikely for the division’s third lowest scorers.
Team news - Ipswich
Kieran McKenna rings the changes, with Liam Delap returning and Dara O'Shea taking the captain’s armband in the absence of regular skipper Sam Morsy. It looks like a back five.
Ipswich XI: Muric; Johnson, O’Shea, Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis; Phillips, Cajuste; Hutchinson, Szmodics, Delap.
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