Kai Havertz scored the only goal as Arsenal climbed to second place in the Premier League table with a narrow 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town.
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The German's seventh strike of the season proved enough for the hosts - who were playing their first match since star winger Bukayo Saka was ruled out for "many weeks" - while condemning their opponents to a fifth defeat in six matches.
Arsenal broke the deadlock midway through the first half, with Havertz in the right place to turn in Leandro Trossard's inviting cross.
Gabriel Magalhaes missed a golden opportunity to double the Gunners' lead when he headed wide from a corner just after the hour-mark, but his side were relatively untroubled in seeing out their slender triumph.
Mikel Arteta's side leapfrog Chelsea and Nottingham Forest to go second and are six points behind leaders Liverpool, having played one more match than Arne Slot's men.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
22 | +33 | 53 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
23 | +23 | 47 |
| 3 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
23 | +6 | 44 |
| 4 |
Man City
MCI
|
23 | +17 | 41 |
| 5 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
23 | +14 | 41 |
Ipswich, meanwhile, remain 19th and three points adrift of 17th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers.
How the match unfolded
Arsenal survived a scare inside the opening 25 seconds, when Leif Davis's deflected cross reached an unmarked Liam Delap at the near post, but the Ipswich forward could not make the vital connection with his outstretched leg.
That let-off proved crucial as the Gunners broke through in the 23rd minute. Trossard kept Gabriel Martinelli's deep cross alive and whipped the ball into the six-yard box, where Havertz applied the finishing touch.
Gabriel Jesus thought he had doubled Arsenal's lead 11 minutes later when he squeezed the ball home from a tight angle, only to be denied by the offside flag.
The hosts squandered a fine chance to go 2-0 up in the 63rd minute, when an unmarked Gabriel somehow headed Declan Rice's deep corner wide from three yards out.
Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino also went close for Arsenal but, with their opponents unable to generate a genuine attacking threat at the other end, Havertz's solitary goal was enough to get them over the line and into second place.
Raya sets club record with latest clean sheet
Following Chelsea's stunning capitulation in a 2-1 loss to Fulham on Boxing Day, Arsenal knew this was an opportunity to pounce and replace the Blues in the position just behind Liverpool.
The Gunners had every right to feel confident they could get the job done at Emirates Stadium, where they were unbeaten in 11 Premier League matches, while keeping a clean sheet in each of their last three.
After Delap's early opportunity for the visitors, Arsenal were very much in control for long periods of the contest, and it only seemed a matter of time before they edged their noses ahead.
Ipswich's resolve was broken after 23 minutes with Trossard's cross begging to be attacked, and Havertz unable to miss from right under the crossbar.
The hosts were relatively untroubled at the other end as they eased to victory. David Raya claimed his 23rd clean sheet in 50 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, breaking David Seaman's club record for the most shutouts registered after half a century of games in the division.
Arsenal may still be some way away from their free-flowing best in attack, but their fearsome defensive record gives them every chance of being there or thereabouts in the Premier League title race.
They go to Brentford and then Brighton & Hove Albion for back-to-back away fixtures next week.
Ipswich fail to muster a shot on target
Facing the only Premier League side to have avoided defeat on home soil in 2024/25, Kieran McKenna will have understood how imperative it was for his Ipswich side to take their opportunities.
The contest could well have panned out differently had Delap - on his return from suspension - managed to turn in Davis's early cross.
But ultimately, that was as close as the visitors came to troubling Raya in the Arsenal goal. Indeed, they became just the second side to fail to have a touch in the opposition box in the first half of a Premier League match this season, after Forest in their away win over Liverpool in September.
With eight of Ipswich's 12 points this season coming on the road, McKenna will have sensed an opportunity for his side to potentially get themselves back into the match, particularly with Arsenal deprived of injured attackers Saka and Raheem Sterling.
However, they failed to record a single shot on target across the 90 minutes. Things do not get any easier for the Tractor Boys, either, with third-placed Chelsea visiting Portman Road on Monday.
Club reports
Arsenal report | Ipswich report
What the managers said
Mikel Arteta: "In the first half especially we were super-dominant, we generated some good chances and conceded hardly anything. We should probably have scored more than one. We didn't start the second half great and credit to Ipswich, they were really organised and tough to break down. It will be different [without Bukayo Saka]. It is a unit that is new and will take time for players to understand fully. Considering all the circumstances we had this season, the amount of times we had to play with 10 men, all the injuries that we had, it's good to be in the position that we are in [second] but it's not where we want to be. We want to be first."
Kieran McKenna: "The players worked really hard and we got the game to a good place in the second half after a good 20 minutes. Early on, we were pinned in and couldn't get out but it was only the goal where I thought we needed to defend better. We were resilient and compact when we needed to be. Arsenal spent a lot of the first half in our defensive third but they were unable to penetrate. Our defending was good and we'll need that on Monday against Chelsea."
Next PL fixtures
Key facts
No side has kept more clean sheets (7) or conceded fewer goals (16) in the Premier League this season than Arsenal, while the Gunners have kept a shutout in four successive home matches in the competition for the first time since December 2021.
Ipswich suffered their 10th Premier League defeat of the season in their 18th game (W2 D6), the earliest into a league season they’ve lost 10 matches since 2012/13 in the Championship (17th game).
Arsenal have now limited three opponents to three or fewer shots in 2024/25 - Fulham, Everton (both two) and Ipswich (three) - and all have occurred in December. There have only been four other instances of a team having such a low number of shots in the Premier League this season.
Havertz has scored in six of his last seven Premier League appearances against newly promoted opposition (six goals).
There were just four shots in the first half (all for Arsenal), the fewest in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League game since West Ham United v Newcastle United in October 2023 (also four). It's also the fewest in a first half at Emirates Stadium in the league since Arsenal v Newcastle in April 2019 (also four).