Risers & Fallers: Ipswich (a)
Six Risers and one Faller from a dominant and straightforward win at one of this year's promoted (and soon to be relegated) teams.
The thing about magical nights is that, sadly, they are not permanent. After Wednesday’s delectable win at Real Madrid, Arsenal — and we, their devoted fans — returned to the old grind of the Premier League. Up next was Ipswich Town, whom the Gunners traveled to face on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta made multiple changes to the side, replacing Jurrien Timber with Ben White, swapping Myles Lewis-Skelly for Oleksandr Zinchenko, dropping Declan Rice into the six position in place of Thomas Partey, and playing Leandro Trossard at center forward while Mikel Merino took over at left eight. The result was a thoroughly professional 4-0 drubbing of the home team by Arsenal. From the first minute, the Gunners put their foot on Ipswich’s neck and never really let up, dominating about as completely as you can in the English top flight. Ipswich didn’t lay a glove, accepting their fate early in the match before Kieran McKenna stated in his post-match presser that Arsenal displayed the “highest standard” of any team his side had faced this season.
The win sees Arsenal tighten their grip on second place, moving seven points clear of Newcastle in third and eight points clear of Manchester City in fourth (Nottingham Forest have a game in hand and will be six points behind if they win it). In the meantime, Liverpool took the penultimate step toward clinching the Premier League title, courtesy of yet another instance of overly favorable officiating and a late goal by Trent Alexander-Arnold against Leicester, who are now relegated. And, well, yeah. It’s a very boring end to the season domestically, which clearly infuriates Liverpool fans based on their online behavior.
With the Premier League having been turned into a dull spectacle by a combination of Mohamed Salah and sheer circumstance, the trip to Ipswich really felt like a tune-up ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League semifinal tie against PSG. The Gunners’ clash with Crystal Palace on Wednesday will be more of that, too. The fact is, that is the focus of the season now. That’s where the excitement is. As long as Arsenal do the job in their remaining league matches, they’ll finish second or thereabouts again and have Champions League football for another season. That is, if they don’t already have it through winning the competition itself this time around. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Speaking of doing the job, here are six Risers and one Faller.
Risers
Leandro Trossard
Am I the only one who’s surprised that Trossard’s brace against Ipswich was his first in the Premier League for Arsenal? The Belgian put in a great performance at center forward, which is encouraging considering he will probably be deployed there in the Gunners’ first leg against PSG. Trossard combined well with his teammates in the final third, flitting out to either wing when required and playing off the eights and wide players to great effect. The Belgian registered 50 touches in total due to his involvement in buildup. But he also did well at popping up centrally to attempt the final action. Trossard finished with four shots, half of which found the back of the net, marking a more efficient shooting display than we’ve seen from recently. Hopefully he can keep this going for a little while.
Martin Odegaard
At long last, we have a great performance from the skipper. Odegaard may have scammed his lone assist somewhat, miscontrolling a pass from Bukayo Saka across the box before Trossard slid the ball past Ipswich’s keeper for Arsenal’s first goal of the match. But the Norwegian created five chances in total, looking back to himself in buildup with the right flank’s band finally back together. In particular, Odegaard was especially efficient in transition. He consistently made the right decision on the break, putting adequate weight on most of his passes. Also encouraging was the captain’s willingness to shoot. Odegaard finished with three shots, with one attempt clanging off the post. All in all it was a great display, which hopefully marks a return to form.
Mikel Merino
I think it’s safe to say the doubters (including myself) were wrong. Merino put in another tremendous showing on Sunday, running the show in midfield instead of from the center forward position we’ve come to love him in. His physicality in the center of the pitch really helped Arsenal dominate proceedings. The Spaniard registered four tackles and ten duels won, both the most in the match. His efficacy in winning the ball back in the final third in particular is so useful for Arsenal when trying to control a game. Of course, his best moment came when Merino flicked on another cross from Saka to Gabriel Martinelli at the back post for the Brazilian to smack into an empty net. However, a close second was his ball in behind Ipswich’s defense to put Saka in on goal, very similarly to the assist he recorded at the Bernabeu. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t become an assist for the Spaniard on Sunday. It was yet another successful outing for Merino, who has really established himself as a reliable player for Arsenal heading into the Champions League semifinals.
Ben White
White made his first start in two weeks, and only his second since returning from a knee injury that kept him out for almost three months. I felt my heart beating in the back of my throat when he went down after taking a shot attempt to the ribs, but the Englishman encouragingly made it through 90 minutes. And he was involved, registering 110 touches and completing 77 of 87 passes. More notably, White regularly bombed down the right flank and looked to immediately restore the chemistry on that side of the pitch for Arsenal. He ultimately created three chances, and Odegaard certainly seemed to benefit massively from his presence as well. It was a good return and White showed that even though Jurrien Timber has been phenomenal this season, the Englishman still has a role to play at right back.
Bukayo Saka
I could talk about several other things that reflect how good Saka was at Ipswich (and I still will), but perhaps the most indicative of that is Leif Davis’ horrific challenge on the Arsenal man. The Gunners absolutely dominated Ipswich, to the point where the home team quickly accepted their inferiority and shifted their focus to leaving one on the players who were outclassing them. In that spirit, Davis stamped on the Achilles of Saka’s standing leg in the 32nd minute, bringing the Englishman down in serious pain and earning the Ipswich player a straight red card. Why? Because Saka had had the beating of Davis, playing balls that led to Arsenal’s first two goals and getting in behind him through his combination play with Odegaard and White. He made Davis a pair of saloon doors, and was unlucky not to walk away without a goal contribution by the time he was subbed off. Ultimately, he created five chances and registered an xG + xA stat of 1.39. He missed three quite decent chances on the day, but I can forgive it considering the overall result and elite production Saka has put up this season.
Declan Rice
Playing at left eight for most of this season, Rice has made his case to be considered one of the best midfielders in the world. But on Sunday, he was deployed once more at the base of midfield at Ipswich. Despite not having played there much during the 2024/25 campaign, the Englishman once again showed the two-way capabilities that make him a world class player. Defensively, he helped keep the back door shut, preventing most of Ipswich’s counterattacking threat and allowing Arsenal to press more aggressively. When called into action, he remained effective. Rice finished with both of his tackles won, one block, one interception, twelve recoveries, and no instances of being dribbled past. At the other end of the pitch, the club’s record signing continued his excellent form. He made five passes into the final third, created three chances, and registered an assist — a clever ball slid to Trossard in a pocket of space in the penalty area that allowed the Belgian to slot home for his second goal of the match. Rice continued to show that whether it’s at eight or at six, he will make a big impact.
Fallers
This season’s promoted teams
Southampton, Leicester, and Ipswich might be the worst class of teams promoted into the Premier League that I have seen in my lifetime. All three of them are set to go right back down to the Championship after one season in the top flight, which is both a little pathetic and also indicative of a massive gulf in resources between established Premier League teams and the rest of the clubs in the country. But on top of that, this has occurred in a season in which we also bore witness to the worst Manchester United and Spurs teams in generations. At the time of writing, United sit in 14th on 38 points while Spurs are 16th with 37 points (albeit with a game in hand as well). For context, West Ham are 17th with 36 points and Ipswich in 18th have 15 fewer points.
And that’s my gripe here — because the promoted teams were so far behind everyone else, we have been robbed of potentially the most hilarious possible ending to this campaign. United and Spurs deserve to be relegated because of how bad each of them have been this season. But they will escape the ultimate punishment by a hefty cushion because the promoted teams this time around turned out to be placeholders for the next trio. And for that, I will be quite bitter for a long time.
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