Ipswichvs.Arsenal

Defeat could officially spell the end of the Gunners' title charge, while Kieran McKenna's men will be relegated to the Championship if they lose and results elsewhere go against them.

Match preview

La remontada this, La remontada that - Mikel Arteta and his players had been forced to listen to incessant noise surrounding a remarkable Real Madrid turnaround at their intimidating Bernabeu home, after teaching the 15-time European champions a footballing lesson at the Emirates.

Manchester City and Chelsea have both succumbed to captivating Blancos comebacks in the past few Champions League seasons, but Real's Bernabeu factor was powerless against Arsenal's collective might, as Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli emulated Thierry Henry 19 years before them.

UCL semi-finalists for the first time since 2009, Arsenal - who meet Paris Saint-Germain in a final-four blockbuster - cannot take their eye off the ball domestically just yet, though, even if their wafer-thin chances of title glory could officially come to an end at Portman Road.

After last weekend's forgettable stalemate with Brentford, Arteta's side will be out of title contention if they lose and Liverpool beat Leicester City, and one could also forgive them for peering over their shoulder, as Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest are just four and six points behind respectively.

However, two separate 10-game streaks stand Arsenal in good stead ahead of Easter Sunday's battle; not only are they unbeaten in their last 10 matches across all competitions, they are on a 10-game Premier League winning streak against teams starting the day in the bottom three of the table.

All of the above makes for extremely unpleasant reading for those of an Ipswich Town persuasion, especially as the Tractor Boys may be officially down and out if they cannot spring a surprise against the Gunners in their first-ever Easter Sunday league game.

Fourteen points behind West Ham United - who face Southampton this weekend - and Wolverhampton Wanderers - who take on Manchester United - with just six games remaining, McKenna's men will be consigned to the Championship for 2025-26 if they lose to Arsenal and both of their relegation rivals prevail.

The Tractor Boys' situation would have been slightly less precarious had they not blown a 2-0 lead at Stamford Bridge last weekend, where Ben Johnson and Julio Enciso both struck and set up each other before Axel Tuanzebe's own goal and a Jadon Sancho stunner.

The 18th-placed hosts have now dropped a whopping 27 points from winning positions in the current Premier League campaign - more than any other team - and having also lost each of their last six top-flight games at Portman Road, Ipswich are at risk of suffering seven straight home league defeats for the first time ever.

McKenna's men did at least give Arsenal a decent run for their money at the Emirates in December, but the Gunners got over the line by a goal to nil to extend their Premier League unbeaten run against Ipswich to 11 games; the Tractor Boys have not faced another team more often in the competition without ever winning.

Ipswich Town Premier League form:

L

L

L

W

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D

Ipswich Town form (all competitions):

L

L

L

W

L

D

Arsenal Premier League form:

D

D

W

W

D

D

Arsenal form (all competitions):

W

W

D

W

D

W

Team News

While Ben White and Thomas Partey both shook off knocks to take part in the brilliant Bernabeu win, Jorginho missed Wednesday's second leg with the chest injury he suffered vs. Brentford, and the Italian is not expected to return until the final couple of games of the season.

Jorginho joins Gabriel Jesus (knee), Gabriel Magalhaes (hamstring), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kai Havertz (hamstring) in the Arsenal infirmary, and it remains to be seen if Riccardo Calafiori's knee problem will settle down in time for him to be involved.

As the Gunners have Crystal Palace to come on Wednesday, do not be surprised to see Arteta make a handful of alterations, the beneficiaries of which should be White, Leandro Trossard and maybe even the seldom-seen Oleksandr Zinchenko.

On Ipswich's end, injury was added to insult at Stamford Bridge when Jaden Philogene suffered a knee injury in the second half, and McKenna is concerned that the attacker may have sustained some damage to his MCL.

Kalvin Phillips is also struggling with an Achilles concern, while Wes Burns (knee), Sammie Szmodics (ankle), Arijanet Muric (shoulder) and Chiedozie Ogbene (Achilles) are out for the long-term, but Omari Hutchinson (thigh) may recover in time to face his old club.

Hutchinson's prospective return could be one of two attacking boosts' on Ipswich's end, as star striker Liam Delap was restricted to a substitute outing last weekend owing to a rib injury, but the in-demand Englishman ought to be given the green light to start this one.

Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:

Palmer; Tuanzebe, O'Shea, Burgess, Davis; Morsy, Cajuste; Johnson, Enciso, Hutchinson; Delap

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Raya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Tierney; Odegaard, Zinchenko, Rice; Saka, Merino, Trossard

We say: Ipswich Town 1-3 Arsenal

Ipswich may be effectively down and out, but while it is mathematically possible for McKenna's side to pull off a great escape, the hosts should not hesitate to go gung-ho in search of goals.

Written by

Ben Knapton

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