Ipswich 0 Arsenal 4: Gunners make light work of Championship-bound Tractor Boys… but Saka in another injury scare
IT would not have just been Mikel Arteta who held his breath the moment Leif Davis sunk his studs into Bukayo Saka in the 32nd minute.
If their team are to sweep away Paris St Germain in the Champions League semi-finals and book their spot in the Munich final, they obviously need a fit and firing Saka.
Having tormented doomed Ipswich for the first 30 minutes, Saka collapsed to the ground and was left screaming with agony after a stupid tackle from behind by Ipswich left-back Davis.
Yet Arteta and every Arsenal fan were not looking at referee Chris Kavanagh brandishing a red card. They were praying for Saka to get up unscathed.
And the England international dusted himself down and continued playing, even though he then should have scored a hat-trick before half-time.
Saka had set up the opening goal for Leandro Trossard for his 11th Premier League assist and then played a part in the second for Gabriel Martinelli.
Trossard made it 3-0 and sub Ethan Nwaneri scored a deflected fourth but before then, Arteta made his changes and substituted Saka and as soon as he arrived on the bench, the club’s medical staff strapped his right ankle in ice.
Although he should be okay, Arsenal will now face a nervous wait to see whether there is any major swelling when Saka reports for training tomorrow at London Colney.
Arteta’s team face Crystal Palace on Wednesday in their final match before the first leg clash against PSG at the Emirates on Tuesday week.
Arsenal delayed Liverpool’s title celebrations by a few more days with this win while it pushed awful Ipswich a step closer to their inevitable relegation.
Throughout the second half, Arsenal’s fans sang: “we’ll never play you again.” That might be incorrect as Ipswich should be strong in the Championship next term but having spent £130million in the last two windows, they should have been better than this.
Meanwhile, while their manager Kieran McKenna is planning for the Championship, Arteta can continue to focus on their unlikely semi-final against PSG.
And that means keeping his players ticking along by resting a few of the tired ones, giving minutes to those who need a run-out and most importantly of all, avoiding a nightmare injury – and silly tackles like the one from Davis.
Saka was making only his third start for Arsenal since spending three months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
And while he featured from the beginning in both matches against Real Madrid, this was his first Premier League start since a 5-1 win at Crystal Palace on December 21.
With Thomas Partey to miss the PSG first leg with a suspension, Arteta has to look at how to fill the gap.
So it was also only the fourth time this season that Arteta started with a midfield three of Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino. And for Rice, it was his first game at No.6 for three months.
One option is to keep Merino in midfield and keep Trossard up front and both did their jobs well enough here.
While PSG, like Ipswich, play in blue shirts, the similarities certainly end there, so Arteta could still have done with an available Partey.
Yet Trossard, who has been inconsistent this season, was certainly playing against the right side to boost his goals tally of seven.
The Argentine had a close-range shot blocked but it was inevitable he would get a few more chances as Arsenal caused so many problems, particularly down the right.
And in the 14th minute, Martin Odegaard had a ridiculous amount of time to run forward with the ball, Saka delivered a first-time cross and Trossard, despite falling to the floor under a challenge from Sam Morsy, stuck a shot through the legs of Dara O’Shea and into the bottom corner.
An unmarked Merino should have made it 2-0 but missed a close-range header from Saka’s corner.
And it was Saka again who was involved in the brilliant second goal as he accelerated past Jacob Greaves and cut the ball back to Merino who delivered a magnificent flick with his back heel which bamboozled the home defence and gave Martinelli an easy tap-in.
Maybe it was frustration that Davis delivered a silly tackle on Saka even though there did not seem to be too much malice in the challenge.
After continuing, Saka then found himself jeered each time he touched the ball, which did seem a bit harsh, and much to the amusement of the home supporters, he could have had that hat-trick before half-time and two of the chances were quite easy.
Arteta made his changes just before the hour, which included replacing Saka, and Arsenal then made it 3-0 as Ipswich switched off at Rice’s short corner and Trossard threaded a shot through the legs of George Hirst and past keeper Alex Palmer.
With less than 10 minutes less, Trossard was replaced by 22-year-old Nathan Butler-Oyedeji whose only previous senior appearance came against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League in January.
After Odegaard saw his shot hit the post, sub Nwaneri grabbed the fourth with a shot deflecting off Cameron Burgess’ backside.