Mikel Arteta detractors who think the Arsenal manager is overly focused on not losing games of football rather than winning them could hardly have any gripes about his team selection against Ipswich. Arteta used as many attacking players as he could when Bukayo Saka wasn't playing.
Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus, and Gabriel Martinelli were the front three, while Declan Rice was the designated holding midfielder behind Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard. In the first half, they dominated the visitors from the 22nd minute on.
We didn't anticipate that Ipswich's only sniff of the game would be Sammie Smodzics' inability to get anything on Leif Davis' deflected cross before the Emirates supporters had completed their performance of North London Forever, but thanks to a combination of Arsenal zeal and the visitors' outsized regard for Arteta's team, it actually was.
At that point, the headlines were likely to be something along the lines of No Saka, No Problem For Arsenal, as Ipswich looked overwhelmed against a team eager to prove they remain title contenders even without the star player that people seemed eager to replace as The Main Man. The Gunners had 83 percent possession in the first forty-five minutes, which was evident halfway through the first half when Kai Havertz tapped in Leandro Trossard's fiercely struck ball across the six-yard box.
Havertz was relishing the opportunity to make late breaks into the box from a deeper position, Trossard got the assist and brought balance to the Arsenal attack, which is typically so lopsided in Saka's favor, Gabriel Martinelli looked sharp and more effective on the right, and Gabriel Jesus continued to look a threat on the strength of his recent goalscoring comeback. At some point, it seemed inevitable that the floodgates would open.
However, following the interval, when Kieran McKenna reportedly told his ridiculously passive players that they, too, are a Premier League team, Arsenal's play took on a recognizable one-track pattern, with their reliance on the other half of their attacking lineup being made abundantly clear.
Having weighed his options and decided to go it alone rather than pass to one of the three or four players who aren't Saka, who had quickly reverted to a hodgepodge of mediocrity in comparison, Odegaard twice took a F*** It approach without his literal right-hand man, dribbling brilliantly past the outstretched legs of his vastly inferior opponents before missing the target.
Les Ferdinand's assertion that Saka was hurt "at the perfect time," albeit before the full depth of the injury, had us laugh uncontrollably.
He believed the Arsenal star may return in the new year in better shape.But if Arsenal plays like they did against Ipswich in the "many weeks" they have left without him, any comeback will come too late for a team already far behind league leaders Liverpool.
The other clear-cut Arsenal chance in the second half was entirely Odegaard's doing, with his brilliant corner drilled to Rice, whose fine volley was well blocked; Gabriel somehow missed a head at the back post; Mikel Merino had a decent effort well saved by Arijanet Muric; and Havertz failed to get much on an opportunity that fell to him in the six-yard box.
When asked how they would handle Saka's absence, Arteta responded, "It's for all the players to take responsibility." "I believe it's a group effort. Since Bukayo, on whom we rely heavily, will not be joining us, everyone will need to contribute something else.
Given that the Saka load is too heavy for any member of the current squad—or perhaps any member of any squad, for that matter—he is understandably cautious about placing it on one player's shoulders.
Although they performed well here and shared some of the responsibility in the first half, Arsenal supporters will be even more concerned about their title chances being hampered by Saka's absence against Crystal Palace due to their lack of play after the break against a very weak Ipswich team.
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