Arsenal fail to curb Bukayo Saka doubts as familiar one-track problem emerges after brief hope vs Ipswich

Mikel Arteta critics who claim the Arsenal manager is too focused on not losing games of football rather than winning them could hardly have any gripes about his team selection against Ipswich. In the absence of Bukayo Saka, Arteta played as many attacking players as possible.

Declan Rice was the nominal holding midfielder behind Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz, with Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli the front three. They were all over the visitors in the first half, from the 22-second mark onwards.

We didn’t expect Sammie Smodzics’ failure to get anything on Leif Davis’ deflected cross before the Emirates faithful had finished their rendition of North London Forever to be Ipswich’s only sniff in the entire game, but through a combination of Arsenal verve and disproportionate respect for Arteta’s side from the visitors, it literally was.

The Gunners enjoyed 83 per cent possession in the opening 45 minutes, which told midway through that first half as Kai Havertz tapped in Leandro Trossard’s fiercely struck ball across the six-yard box, with the headlines at that stage looking likely to be something in the realms of No Saka, No Problem For Arsenal as Ipswich looked overawed against a collective eager to prove they remain title challengers even without the star player that individuals appeared keen to replace as The Main Man.

Gabriel Martinelli looked sharp and more effective on the right, Gabriel Jesus continued to look a threat on the back of his recent goalscoring resurgence, Trossard got the assist and provided balance to the Arsenal attack that’s usually so lopsided in Saka’s favour, and Havertz was enjoying the chance to make late breaks into the box from a deeper position. The floodgates looked destined to open at some stage.

But after the break, at which point Kieran McKenna apparently reminded his absurdly passive players that they too are a Premier League side, a familiar one-track pattern emerged to Arsenal’s football, with the reliance on the remaining half of their attacking whole clearly evident.

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On two occasions Odegaard took a F*** It approach in the absence of his literal right-hand man, dribbling wonderfully past the outstretched legs of his vastly inferior opponents before missing the target having assessed his options and taken the wise decision to go it alone rather than passing to one of the three of four players that aren’t Saka who had rapidly turned back into a hodgepodge of mediocrity in comparison.

We struggled to contain our mirth upon hearing Les Ferdinand claim Saka got injured “at the perfect time”, admittedly before knowing the extent of that injury, with his view being the Arsenal star could return refreshed in the new year.

But that return will come too late for an Arsenal side already well behind league-leaders Liverpool if they play as they did here against Ipswich in the “many weeks” they have left without him.

Havertz failed to get anything much on an opportunity that fell to him in the six-yard box, Gabriel somehow missed a head at the back post, Mikel Merino had a decent effort well saved by Arijanet Muric, with the other clearcut Arsenal chance in the second half entirely of Odegaard’s making, with his sublime corner drilled to Rice, whose fine volley was well blocked.

“It’s for all the players to take responsibility,” Arteta said when asked how they can cope without Saka. “I think it’s something collective. Everybody is going to have to add something else because Bukayo, who we rely a lot on, is not going to be with us.”

He’s understandably keen not to put the Saka load on one player’s shoulders in the knowledge that it’s too big a burden for any of the current squad (quite possibly anyone in any squad for that matter) to carry.

But while they got the job done here, and in the first half that responsibility was shared to a degree, their toothlessness after the break against a really poor Ipswich side will only increase the concern among Arsenal fans that their title chances hobbled off with Saka last time out against Crystal Palace.