The novelty of a visit to Portman Road won’t have worn off for Arsenal supporters heading to Suffolk for Sunday’s encounter with The Tractor Boys.
We haven’t played there since a 1-0 defeat in the League Cup in 2011, and we’ll be looking for our first win at the ground since 2002.
Turning attention back to Premier League football following Wednesday’s thrilling UEFA Champions League success in Madrid, our manager said it hasn’t been difficult to adjust his focus.
“Quite easy, just review the Madrid game and immediately go to Ipswich and start to do all the preparation, start to watch the games, the games we play against them and what we learn over the last few months since we've played them,” he said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“How can we hurt them, their qualities, and start to do the preparation towards the game.”
Last time we met Ipswich was for a 1-0 win at Emirates Stadium in late December, Kai Havertz scoring in the 23rd minute to earn us the three points that day.
With Kieran McKenna’s side now firmly in the relegation zone, 14 points away from safety, Sunday’s meeting takes on a different complexion. Ipswich could be relegated this weekend if they lose to us and Wolves and West Ham both win their games away to Manchester United and at home to Southampton respectively.
“Yeah, I understand where they are at the moment and they're playing at home and as you said, it's one of the few chances that they have [to survive],” Arteta added. “But for us it's a big game, we need to start to win football matches in the Premier League to at least maintain the position that we are in and to push into the last few games with some hope.
“And we know how tough it's going to be. They are a really well-organised team. What Kieran McKenna and the staff have done is remarkable and you see every week how they perform and the amount of issues they give to the opposition. So we expect a tough game.”
Asked about the prospect of all three promoted teams going straight back down to the Championship for the second season in a row, Arteta says it’s a sign of the trajectory that the quality of the Premier League is going in.
“I mean, the level, the difficulty of staying in this league… whatever happens, the way those three teams have performed and have created a lot of issues to any of the other teams tells you the level and the steps that everybody has to take because next season will be harder for sure,” he explained.
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.