After the high of beating Real Madrid on Wednesday night in the Bernabeu, we’re on the road again on Easter Sunday when we head to relegation-threatened Ipswich Town (2pm UK).
It’ll be our first league visit to Portman Road for over 23 years, and you have to go back to 1984 for the last time we lost a top-flight encounter there. In fact, Ipswich have never won in 11 previous Premier League meetings with us home and away, the most they’ve faced a side without ever winning in the competition.
The Tractor Boys’ fate in the division could be all-but sealed this weekend should they lose to ourselves as we aim to get back to winning ways domestically to keep the feel-good factor flowing, as a Champions League semi-final date with PSG gets closer.
drop down to Dropped points
Finding himself 14 points from safety with six games left, Kieran McKenna will be ruing his side’s inability to hold onto leads. Of the three promoted clubs the Suffolk side have impressed most, but they’ve squandered a massive 27 points from winning positions, with just four victories obtained in their first season back at this level since 2001/02.
Only one of those have come from 13 matches in 2025, but their form at Portman Road throughout the campaign has hampered them. December’s success over Chelsea was the only time their fans have tasted home success, and defeat against us would see them set an unwanted club record of seven straight on their own patch.
Four of their 21 points have come from their last three games, having beaten Bournemouth 2-1 to ignite a bit of belief which was soon extinguished when they lost to Wolves by the same scoreline in a six-pointer. Their season was encapsulated in their last encounter though when they found themselves 2-0 ahead at Chelsea, but were pegged back to 2-2 as yet more points, as well as hope and confidence, ebbed away.
What the managers say
Arteta: "I understand where they are at the moment and they're playing at home and it's one of the few chances that they have [to survive]. 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.”
McKenna: "We have full respect for them. Of course we have to prepare thoroughly and we know the game is going to take a lot, but also we’ve shown against some of the better teams this year that we can be competitive against lots of teams in this division.
“We’re excited for the game, three more at Portman Road in the league this year and we want to try to finish on some really big performances and hopefully big results. They wouldn’t come much bigger than what we’re trying to get on Sunday.”
Team news
Jorginho will remain unavailable after suffering a chest injury against Brentford last week, while Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel all remain out long-term. Riccardo Calafiori is also not going to be available.
Injuries have plagued McKenna’s planning, and Kalvin Phillips is a doubt after picking up a knock last week, while Jaden Philogene was forced off against Chelsea with a knee complaint.
Former Hale End graduate Omari Hutchinson has missed the past three matches with a hamstring injury, while first-choice goalkeeper Arijanet Muric has damaged a shoulder. Sam Szmodics could miss the rest of the season with an ankle issue, while Chiedozie Ogbene and Wes Burns have been sidelined for months with Achilles and ACL injuries respectively.
talking tactics
Adrian Clarke: It will be interesting to see if Kieran McKenna redeploys the 5-4-1 formation he used at Emirates Stadium. His players sat deep and stayed compact to frustrate us in that contest. He has only switched up systems a handful of times this season, and at Portman Road he almost always uses his favoured 4-2-3-1. McKenna rotates heavily regularly, so Mikel Arteta we will not know for sure what their approach is going to be.
What we do know is that the Tractor Boys are at their most dangerous on the break. Whether it is Liam Delap or George Hurst up front, they have a centre forward who holds the ball up well, and both men are excellent at carrying it upfield at pace. Ipswich have had three more shots than us from fast breaks this season, scoring six goals, and only six top-flight teams - including us – have scored more times from counters.
The Suffolk side may be on the brink of relegation, but their goal threat is always strong. Scoring in nine of their last 10 Premier League matches, we cannot take their attacking qualities lightly.
Ipswich’s struggles have come at the back, and two clean sheets in 32 games shows there is a fragility in defence, and a psychological issue around holding onto leads.
Often fast starters, McKenna’s men have opened the scoring 15 times, but they have converted just four of those leads into victories. Towards the end of matches they have had a habit of losing their shape, and leaking late goals. When we met them in December, we caused them major problems when dribbling with the ball at speed, or when playing in runners from deep. Hopefully we can hurt them in a similar manner again.
Facts and stats
We are unbeaten in our last 14 league games against Ipswich, winning the last four without conceding.
We have lost just two of our last 25 Premier League away games, going unbeaten in our last 11 since a 1-0 loss at Newcastle United in November.
We have won each of our last 10 Premier League games against teams starting the day in the relegation zone by an aggregate score of 30-2.
Bukayo Saka has had a hand in 15 goals in his last 16 Premier League games against newly promoted sides (7 goals, 8 assists), including three goals and five assists in his last six.
Julio Enciso has been involved in four goals in his eight league appearances (1 goal, 3 assists), ending a run of 32 games without a goal last time out against Chelsea.
Since his debut on 25 January, only Liam Delap can match Enciso’s tally of goals and assists combined for the Tractor Boys.
Match officials
Michael Salisbury has been handed just his second-ever Gunners game, having previously presided over our 4-0 win at Bournemouth back in September 2023 when he awarded us two penalties.
It will be the fourth time he has been handed Ipswich officiating duties this term, and the Tractor Boys have lost the previous three against the Cherries, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. In his 11 top-flight games this term, the Lancashire whistler has dished out 31 yellow cards, two reds and awarded just one spot-kick.
Referee: Michael Salisbury
Assistants: Mat Wilkes, Mark Scholes
Fourth official: Steve Martin
VAR: Alex Chilowicz
Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes
Previous visits to Portman Road
We have won six of our last eight away games against Ipswich in all competitions, but we did lose on our last visit to Portman Road in a League Cup semi-final in January 2011 when Tamas Priskin scored the only goal, but we came back to win the second leg 3-0.
Our last league visit came in December 2001 when strikes from Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry saw us beat the Tractor Boys, while the season before brought a 1-1 draw when Dennis Bergkamp’s 84th-minute equaliser cancelled out Marcus Stewart’s opener.
Live coverage
Tune into Live From N5 just before kick-off to hear live commentary of the game provided by Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke, who will guide you through all the action if you’re out and about.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live wherever you are in the world.
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