Ipswich v Arsenal: the preview and the days of scoring five (or more)

 

 

 

• Prmotion to and relegation from the Premier League has changed beyond recognition
• At last a recognition of the effect of injuries, and Arsenal’s brilliant response

by Tony Attwood

Ipswich and Arsenal have played each other 60 times and Arsenal have won just over half of these, losing 18 and drawing 11.  In the last 14 games in the League which takes us from 19 March 1985 to 27 December 2024, however, Ipswich have not won a single one of the games, but they have managed three draws.

They have in fact failed to score in any of the last four games, but they have come into these comes with a constant focus on defence reflecting their attitude of playing for a point.

Furthermore, as we can see from the table below Arsenal’s away form is much more effective than Ipwich’s home form, Arsenal scoring twice as many away goals and conceding under a half of the number of goals away as Ipwwich Town have done.

 

 

And there hasn’t been much of a pick up for Ipswich of late, as the “last 10 games” tables shows.

 

Last ten games

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
3	Arsenal	10	5	4	1	14	6	+8	19
18	Ipswich T	10	1	2	7	13	24	-11	5

 

Indeed in the last 10 games table, the bottom three clubs are the same as the bottom three in the league across the whole season.  Ipswich are however up one place to 17th in the “Last six games table” and this is because in 17th position is the mighty Tottenham Hots – and for this if for no other reason, we really do need to publish the last six games table as much as the last ten.

 

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
17	Ipswich Town	6	1	1	4	9	13	-4	4
18	Tottenham Ho	6	1	1	4	7	11	-4	4
19	Leicester City	6	0	1	5	2	13	-11	1
20	Southampton	6	0	1	5	4	16	-12	1

 

And yes we might also note that Tottenham Hots, in their last four games, have been doing worse than every other club in the League except Leicester City and Southampton.   It’s good to know they have achieved something this season.  Although I am sure they will point out that this is only because they have actually scored fewer goals than Ipswich.

In fact what is interesting this season is that Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton are not only the bottom three on points, but also if we look at the season’s table in terms of goals for, and goals against they are also bottom.  In short they are the worst three clubs on all three rankings.

Still, it is good to know Tottenham has found a spiritual home among them of late.

In fact it took Ipswich 12 matches in the League and League Cup to get a win this season – and that was a momentus win, as it involved beating Tottenham Hots 1-2 in the League down the lane.

The biggest defeat for Ipwich at home this season has been a 0-6 defeat to Manchester City.    You’ll recall Arsenal knocked in seven in Europe but have not done that in the league, their biggest wins (and one occasion in the Champions League) where Arsenal have got five having been…

Date	Game	Res	Score	Competition
5 Sep 2024	Arsenal v Bolton Wanderers	W	5-1	League Cup
26 Nov 2024	Sporting Clube  v Arsenal	W	1-5	Champions League
30 Nov 2024	West Ham United v Arsenal	W	2-5	Premier League
21 Dec 2024	Crystal Palace v Arsenal	W	1-5	Premier League
02 Feb 2025	Arsenal v Manchester City	W	5-1	Premier League

 

So yes, Arsenal have scored five goals in five different games this season.   Ipswich however have not conceded five in any game.  But they have conceded six once, and that was in a home game against Manchester City on 19 January this year, in the league.   It would be awfully nice if Arsenal could emulate that this weekend.

More anon…