A goal from Havertz is enough for the Emirates to overtake Chelsea in the standings. Long stop confirmed for the attacker
Arsenal aren’t special, but right now they’re the closest thing the Premier League has to an anti-Liverpool. The Gunners took second place in the table by beating Ipswich 1-0 with a goal in the 23rd minute from Kai Havertz, the only moment of the match in which their control of the match was transformed into a winning action. In the first match without Bukayo Saka, the star who has to stop until March due to injury, it was enough for a success worth 36th in the standings, -6 behind the Reds at the top of the class and with a game to recover. For a team like the Gunners who want to fight for the title right now it’s the only thing that matters.
the keys
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To replace Saka, Arteta chooses to divert Gabriel Martinelli to the right, inserting Leo Trossard on the left and confirming the hyper offensive structure with Gabriel Jesus at center forward and the creatives Martin Ødegaard and Havertz behind him. It works because Arsenal control the game and find the advantage early on, but all that ball possession which in the first half was close to 85% and in the end still close to 70% is worth chances but not goals. It is the main flaw of the Gunners in recent times, that of creating a lot and producing decidedly less, constantly ending up making mistakes in the last pass. However, it was enough to overcome Ipswich, to extend to 11 games in all competitions an unbeaten run that has lasted since 6 November, since the defeat at San Siro against Inter in the Champions League. It’s also enough to take second place, to overtake Chelsea and Nottingham Forest in one fell swoop and put Liverpool in the crosshairs. With this success, the Gunners have officially closed 2024, given that they will return to the field on New Year’s Eve against Brentford: Arteta knows he potentially has a racing team in his hands, but he must also find a way to unlock it, to ensure that the majority of what he produces becomes goals. Ipswich knew that their salvation did not lie with the Emirates, but they didn’t even try, finishing with 3 shots on target and suffering their fifth defeat in the last six games
the match
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Arsenal controlled from the start and broke the deadlock at the first real opportunity with Havertz, who in the 23rd minute collected a cross from Trossard, smoothed by Woolfenden, at the far post. The Gunners almost had 85% of ball possession in the first half, but ended it with just two shots on target (nil) and were ahead 1-0. Ipswich were a little more enterprising at the start of the second half but so was Arsenal: the chances came more frequently (the most sensational mistake was made by Gabriel, who in the 63rd minute with the goal wide open, sent Rice’s corner wide ), the goals however are not seen. And Havertz’s midway through the first half remains the decisive one.
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