Arsenal bring Bernabeu form to Portman Road | OneFootball

A ruthless first-half display gave Arsenal full control away to Ipswich, with the visitors building on the confidence of their Champions League win.

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Arsenal‘s return to Portman Road for the first time in 23 years was less a contest than a continuation of the control they showed in dismantling Real Madrid. Against an Ipswich Town side spiralling toward relegation, Mikel Arteta‘s men delivered a clinical display that was over as a contest by halftime and finished 4-0.

Arteta made three changes from the Bernabéu, rotating both full-backs as Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko returned to the XI. Jurrien Timber and Myles Lewis-Skelly dropped to the bench. Leandro Trossard, deployed again as a fluid false nine, replaced Thomas Partey, allowing Mikel Merino to drop deeper into his more natural midfield role.

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Leandro Trossard opened the scoring on 14 minutes, reacting sharply after a miscontrol from Martin Ødegaard saw the ball drop kindly at his feet. While on his bum, the Belgian improvised a finish past Alex Palmer, igniting a half of utter dominance.

The second was a move of the highest quality. Trossard, drifting out to the right, released Bukayo Saka, who squared into the box. Mikel Merino’s sublime backheel created the tap-in for Gabriel Martinelli, who marked his 50th goal for the club.

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Ipswich were offered little mercy. Just after the half-hour, Leif Davis was rightly shown a straight red for a brutal challenge on Saka, catching the winger high on the Achilles.

VAR upheld the decision, citing its height, force and the fact it endangered his opponent. Davis apologised to the Ipswich fans, but not to Saka as he left the pitch.

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Saka went close on three occasions before the interval but left his finishing touch in Madrid. Still, at half-time, the only surprise was that it remained 2-0.

The second half began in the same vein. Three corners in two minutes kept Ipswich penned inside their own box. Arteta, mindful of the minutes and the scoreboard, withdrew Saka and Merino before the hour. On came Ethan Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly as Arsenal turned dropped the tempo amd Saka had his ankle packed in ice on the bench thanks to the impact of Davis’s first half ‘challenge’.

Ipswich offered nothing going forward and eventually Arsenal’s pressure told again, Trossard slotting home his second of the afternoon after an assist from Declan Rice, who now has a career-best 10 assists to go alongside his seven goals this season.

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With just under 10 minutes, Arteta gave two-goal Trossard a rest, bringing on Nathan Butler-Oyedeji for his Premier League debut. He forced the keeper into a brilliant save just a few minutes later.

From the resulting corner, Ethan Nwaneri made it four with a heavily deflected effort. The goal was his ninth of the season, taking him joint-third in the Arsenal scoring charts.

For Arsenal, this was a strong performance against poor opposition who have managed just one win at home all season.

The Premier League title will go to Liverpool, but not this week.