Arsenal v Ipswich: Back high Gunners corners line at 6/5 with Town set to frustrate | OneFootball

English Premier League

How will Mikel Arteta manage losing Bukayo Saka?

How are Arsenal going to cope without Bukayo Saka? Sky Sports' Lewis Jones thinks there could be problems on the horizon and believes Ipswich can frustrate the Gunners on Friday...

Arsenal v Ipswich Friday Dec 27, 20:15Live on Amazon Prime

Life without Saka: can Arsenal cope?

This is uncharted territory for punters in terms of analysing how much Arsenal will miss Bukayo Saka's skills. The winger has been ruled out for "many weeks" after tearing his hamstring. Saka limped off at Crystal Palace on Saturday and left the stadium on crutches.

Saka never misses a game. He is one of the most durable and reliable top players in Europe for availability.

Since making his Premier League debut in 2019, Saka has never missed back-to-back Premier League games due to injury and since the start of the 22/23 season, Saka has only missed four league games.

So we don't have any evidence to chew on regarding how much Arsenal will drop their level without the England winger.

Yet, using our instincts and our eyes tell us that this could be catastrophic for Arsenal's season.

His goal involvements already are at 15 this season as he's been responsible for 46 per cent of all of Arsenal's goals. When they require someone to step up, Saka is the first to put his hand up.

Let's be clear here, someone is going to need to come to the party for Arsenal over the next two months. Leandro Trossard? Gabriel Martinelli? Gabriel Jesus? One of those three is going to have to answer the call.

I'd have my doubts at this stage whether they'll be able to consistently deliver the attacking output required.

That could spell problems for Arsenal in this next period of games. Not enough to seriously tempt me to lay them here at 1.17 against Ipswich, whose confidence will be on the floor after the walloping dished out to them by Newcastle. Their chance is reflected in the odds - an unlikely away win can be backed at 22.0. The prices are right.

Frustration could lead to corner avalanche

"It is crystal clear that we are going to have to show a different side of us in these next few games," said Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna after their 4-0 thrashing on Saturday.

So, reading between the lines of his comments, he's basically going to go 11 men behind the ball and engage low block mode to frustrate Arsenal, who have struggled against such tactics recently against Fulham and Everton.

It could be a tough watch from an entertainment point of view as a very one-sided match from a territorial perspective is going to be on the cards.

I'm using this Ipswich switching to a low block theory to hopefully back winners in the Arsenal corners line where the 6/5 for the Gunners to win over 8.5 corners rates as a great wager.

When a team plays in this defensive shape, something that is affected is the amount of corners they give away. Game-state is going be crucial as we need this Ipswich block to work and keep Arsenal out or if they could get their noses in front somehow that would be huge for the bet.

Ipswich have played this gameplan already this season where they relinquished possession and sat deep against Liverpool, Man City and Brighton. They conceded 29 corners in those three games with each of the three teams winning nine or more. Let's hope Arsenal make it four from four in a corner heavy game.

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Back Arsenal to win over 8.5 corners @ 6/5