A Sunday stroll in the park….

Morning all.

Well that was all a bit easy wasn’t it? The perfect opponent really as it turned out. 11 v 11, Ipswich couldn’t cope with the threat of Arsenal, 10 v 11 and the game just drifted along until Chris Kavanagh blew his whistle for the last time in the match.

There was a rare sight at Portman Road as not only once, but twice I saw a smile on the face of Leandro Trossard. Tongue in cheek of course but be he was clearly pleased with both his goals. His first reminded me be of a wicket keeper where’s trying to catch the batsman out of his crease before whipping the bails off the stumps. You the moment when they wait for a split second, just to make sure their timing is perfect. Trossard seemed to delay his shot for a split second before poking the ball through O’Shea’s legs and into the bottom corner of the net.

Our second was brilliant. William Saliba played the ball out to right for Trossard, he in turn found Bukayo Saka who played the ball into the box for Mikel Merino before his first time flick into the path of Gabriel Martinelli who tucked the ball into the back of the net. A lovely move.

Then came a moment of stupidity and recklessness from the Ipswich left-back Leif Davis who raked his studs down the back of Saka’s foot/ankle. I wasn’t at all surprised to see Kavanagh produce his red card. The Ipswich fans clearly disagreed with the decision as they booed our winger each time he had the ball. Pathetic!

After a bit of medical attention, Saka was back up and playing. He could have shut the home fans up on three occasions before half-time. A typical left footed curling shot drifted just wide of the far post before hitting two chances wide when on any other day, he’d have probably scored.

Our third, Trossard’s second, came after the break and from a corner which Declan Rice played short. He exchanged passes with Odegaard before playing the ball into Trossard who fired past the Ipswich keeper.

Odegaard fired a shot into the woodwork, Palmer’s fingertips denied Nathan Butler-Oyedeji a goal on his League debut, but then Ethan Nwaneri, on in place of Saka, scored our final goal of the game. His shot might have taken a deflection or two but I doubt he or anyone else cared.

Great result, a few tired legs rested and finishing second in the league edged a little bit closer.

No sooner had Saka sat down after being substituted, packs of ice were strapped to his ankle/foot. This morning, I suspect he’s sore, very sore. The challenge on him was unnecessary and had he not been made of sterner stuff, his season could be over.

Oleksandr Zinchenko started in midfield as Thomas Partey had a rest, possibly a decision made by Mikel Arteta ahead of the PSG game as Partey will miss the first tie. Later in the game, Myles Lewis-Skelly popped up in midfield too, not for the first time either. I’ve no idea who will “replace” Partey in that game but with so many options at left back available, I wouldn’t be at surprised to see Lewis-Skelly in there. Or even Jurrien Timber who also had a bit of a breather yesterday. It was good to see Ben White back playing 90 minutes and back to his best too.

Next up for Arsenal is Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.

Catch up in the comments.