And so to the Stadium of Stone on Friday evening to welcome Ipswich Town, whom we last played in the Premier League more than two decades ago.
A second-half Freddie Ljungberg brace gave us a 2-0 win at Highbury in April 2002. We were closing in on the double. The Tractor Boys were staring at the drop, having just lost a six-pointer against fellow relegation candidates Bolton and with Liverpool and Man U to play in their final three games. Ipswich’s sole visit to the Emirates came in 2011, a League Cup semi-final second leg, that we won 3-0.
Ipswich was founded in 1878 under the patronage of the Cobbold brewing dynasty. The club played amateur football for over half a century. In 1936, it turned professional, joined the Southern League, and won it at the first attempt. Two seasons later, it was elected to the Football League’s old Third Division South. Promotion after winning the title in 1953-54 proved a false dawn. It went straight back down.
A general theory of Ipswich would divide it into three managerial eras — Ramsey’s, Robson’s and McKenna’s.
Ramsey
The 1955 appointment of Alf Ramsey, although a managerial novice, brought the club’s first era of ascendancy. In 1956-57, his side again won the Third Division South and then the Second Division in 1960/61. Remarkably, it then won the First Division in its first season in the top flight, the first club to do that since Preston North End in the inaugural season of the Football League in 1888-89. Unfancied Ipswich bettered the powerhouses of the day, the Burnley of Jimmy Adamson and Jimmy McElroy and the Spurs of Danny Blanchflower and Jimmy Greaves. It was a footballing annus mirabilis: Leyton Orient also won promotion to the First Division.
Ramsey’s team secured the title on the season’s final day, beating Aston Villa 2-0. There won’t be many familiar names from the team sheet: Roy Bailey, Larry Carberry, John Compton, Bill Baxter, Andy Wilson, John Elsworthy, Roy Stephenson, Doug Moran, Ray Crawford, Ted Phillips and Jimmy Leadbetter. Ray Crawford, the only one in the team who would win an international cap, may ring some bells, possibly Jimmy Leadbetter, but few, if any, others. Peter Lorenzo, writing in the Daily Herald (Remember him? Remember that?) called them ‘an Identi-Kit collection of misfits, has-beens and cast-offs’.
Five of that team (Bailey, Carberry, Elsworthy, Phillips and Leadbetter) are among the only six men to have won the First, Second and Third tier championships with the same club. Leicester City’s Andy King is the other since you asked.
Ramsey left in 1963 to manage England, taking with him the concept he had developed at Ipswich of a withdrawn left-winger (Leadbetter) feeding two centre-forwards (Crawford and Phillips) from midfield. With the WM formation standard in English football, Ipswich’s incipient 4-3-3 was revolutionary. Opposition defences were left with a redundant right-back as Crawford and Phillips plundered goals through the middle. Eventually, Ramsey’s right-winger would become a bone-fide midfielder, too, giving him the narrow 4-4-2 that his ‘wingless wonders’ used to win the World Cup in 1966.
However, it all went pear-shaped in East Suffolk after Ramsey left Portman Road. Ipswich was relegated two seasons after winning the title. Bill McGarry got them back into the First Division, but it was Bobby Robson’s appointment after McGarry left for Wolves in 1969 that the team many older ‘holics will remember started to take shape.
Robson
The Robson era was built around Dutchmen Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen, Scot John Wark and Englishmen Terry Butcher and Paul Mariner. There was an early Texaco Cup triumph in 1973. Yet, Robson’s team would not fully mature until the late 1970s. They beat us in the 1978 FA Cup final (their first and only appearance). In 1981, they almost pulled off a treble. Having led the league for most of the season, they were pipped by Aston Villa and got beaten in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. However, they did win the UEFA Cup, beating AZ Alkmaar 5-4 on aggregate.
Another second-place finish in the league followed the next season. But then Robson followed Ramsey in taking the England job, and Ipswich suffered a similar decline, if more gradually this time, with relegation to the Second Division coming in 1985-86.
John Lyall took them back to the top flight after a six-year absence, just in time for the inaugural season of the Premier League. However, they lasted just three seasons. George Burley brought them back to the Premier League in 2000, but this time, they lasted only two seasons and started a long slide to League One for the 2019-20 season, bringing us to the current era.
McKenna
Kieran McKenna, then a coach at Manchester United, was appointed Ipswich manager in December 2021 following the club’s takeover by a consortium of US investors. Back-to-back promotions got them back to the Premier League for the present season.
McKenna had captained Northern Ireland’s U-21s and was on the neighbours’ books, but a hip injury ended his playing career at 22. He took a sports science degree at Loughborough before moving into coaching in 2015. His success at Ipswich brought Chelsea and Brighton calling, but he opted to stick it out in Suffolk.
Life is tough for newly promoted sides. McKenna’s Ipswich currently sits in the relegation zone, having won two of its 17 games. A game plan based on attacking, dominant, positional football, playing out from the back and trusting in the team’s technical and structural superiority over opponents, was a brave choice to get out of League One. However, it becomes increasingly challenging to pull that off the higher up the pyramid a team progresses. In the Premier League, it requires much better players than McKenna has, as last Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing by Geordie Arabia evidenced.
The opposition
McKenna has stuck with his 4-2-3-1 formation as well as his footballing philosophy.
Kosovan international keeper Arijanet Muric, who came up through the Man City academy and joined from Burnley in the summer, has been first choice but has been getting stick from fans.
Assuming he keeps his place, in front of him should be a back four with the Irish international Daro O’Shea, another summer arrival from Burnley, in the middle, probably alongside Scots-born Australian international Cameron Burgess, with first-choice left CB Jacob Greaves, a £20 million buy from Hull in the summer, still coming back from injury. Local lad and ex-Arsenal Academy graduate Harry Clarke has been filling in at right back with Axel Tuanzebe, who was picked up in the summer of 2023 after being released by Man U, a long-term injury absentee and Ben Johnson, a summer arrival from West Ham, unable to nail down a place. Geordie Lief Davis has been an ever-present at left-back.
Former Egypt international and club captain Sam Morsy and Swedish international Jens Cajuste usually anchor the midfield. Man City loanee Kalvin Phillips has as little success re-establishing his career at Ipswich as he did at West Ham, though a fragile fetlock hasn’t helped. However, Morsy is suspended for Friday after picking up a fifth yellow against Newcastle last Saturday. Jack Clarke, a £15 million summer buy from Sunderland, may fill in, with Phillips more likely to get minutes than a start.
Omari Hutchinson, another formerly of this parish in their youth, is Ipswich’s attacking midfield star. In a parallel universe in which he didn’t decamp to Chelsea, he might be starting on the wing for us today, not against us.
Another Irish international, Colchester-born Sammie Szmodics, who arrived from Blackburn in the summer, provides Ipswich’s width on the left. Welsh international Nathan Broadhead is an option from the bench. On the right, Wes Burns, another Welsh international, is the likely starter, with Chiedozie Ogbene, bought from Luton in the summer, also a long-term injury absentee.
The much-admired ex-Man City academy striker, Liam Delap, son of the less fondly remembered Rory, will return from suspension, with Conor Chaplin dropping to the bench. Delap Jnr picked up his fifth yellow of the season for his part in the post-match handbags at Wolves. Delap is Ipswich’s leading scorer this season with six. Szmodics is next best, with three.
Premiership goals — 16 in 17 games — have been hard to come by. Only Southampton and Everton have scored fewer. At the other end, only Southampton, Wolves and Leicester have conceded more.
The Arsenal
After last Saturday’s pre-Christmas feast, many will be expecting second helpings on Friday from a strong team that, in Saka’s prolonged absence, is likely to start thus:
Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori
Ødegaard, Partey, Rice,
Martinelli, Havertz, Jesùs
We should win this game and win it handsomely, although we have said that before, before coming a cropper against relegation sides. As we approach the completion of the first half of the season (New Year’s Day’s game at Brentford), we can’t afford to suffer a Suffolk Sucker Punch.
Enjoy the game, ‘holics near and far.
Thanks Ned, and team of monks whose work shines through proudly, and whose reward should be two spoonfuls of gruel at the very least one would think. 😄
An excellent Boxing Day preview Ned
I saw that 2002 game and indeed remember the Ramsey dude who turned us over at Highbury in their title year . Ipswich have shown some promising signs and to our great amusement turned over the Spuds on their own turf but we should be well capable of beating them . I intend to be there tomorrow and hope to see us end 2024 with a fine performance . I think Ned’s team is spot- on
This had best not be the proverbial banana skin one might fear. Ipswich as you say have never played at the Emirates in this competition so should be well up for it but hopefully their manager won’t take a page out of the playbook og Sean Dyche whose Everton took two more points off of Al-Citeh as they also did recently to Arsenal and the Chavs. I say we should stick a few esrly goals into their net before marching on proudly.
Dude = Side
I’m ending 2024 with my spill chucker acting up
Many Thanks Ned, as usual an informative and entertaining run through of the opposition.
They were quite possibly the best team in the country early in the 80s and really should have won the title the year they gave it to Villa. Before his injuries I always thought Beattie was a great player and he had a strong partnership with Allan Hunter, an old school no nonsense defence. Fortunately they are nowhere near that now and your selection should be much too good for them.
Many thanks, Ned, for your usual top notch preview. Amazing to think this is their first league visit to the Stadium of Stone. That late 70’s/early 80’s team of theirs were wondrous their talents to behold. Whymark, Beattie, Gates, Mills, Burley, Cooper, Geddis along with the guys you mention above, were great to watch, at a time when Liverpool, Villa and Forest could all really play. And Arsenal were really struggling, with Brady and Stapleton leaving and the glories of Chapman, Hawley and Hankin about to arrive. Let’s hope we don’t see an Ipswich performance that lives up to their illustrious predecessors.
Excellent and comprehensive as ever, Ned.
The Suffolk Punch is the name of both a horse and a lawnmower. Quite what the Sucker version of that is is anyone’s guess. As you suggest – we’re probably better off without one !
Thanks for a very interesting and enlightening preview, Ned. I remember the shock, even in the north of Scotland when newly-promoted Ipswich won the First Division title and grew to despise the ruthless efficiency of Ramsey’s subsequent wingless wonders. However the part of your preview that ‘grabbed’ me was the section on Robson’s side, said to be the best English side never to win the league, as it reminded me of that very Ipswich team, then the UEFA Cup holders and normally so lovely to watch, being summarily destroyed by the rising force in the north-east (No, not the barcodes!) in the first-round of the 1981 competition. Pittodrie rocked as it had rarely done before. More info here:
https://www.afc.co.uk/2021/09/29/40-years-on-ipswich-town/
Ned, thanks for the memories. I concur with your team selection and expect a 3-0 victory. Three points are essential.
I emigrated from North of the Wall in 1977 to a spot in England that was a 45 minute car ride from Portman Road. I spent the next couple of years watching most home games there and being wonderfully entertained, particularly by the two Dutch masters Ned mentions. Happy days.
A happy day today, however, would require a home win by the team in red. I think the game will be a difficult but I’m optimistic that the Arsenal will prevail. I think it’s most likely that Ned’s predicted team will start. I do hope to see the gentle progressive introduction of Nwaneri to PL football continue once we’re in the ascendancy.
Enjoy, Holics.
I learn that Santi Cazorla will be guest of honour tonight and interviewed on the pitch at 8pm. I predict a rapturous welcome for him !
Thanks Ned for your fact filled information bonanza – it has set up this evening’s match perfectly. I expect your team to be very close to the Xl that start and should be too strong for the boys from east anglia. Hoping for a good boost to our goal average but of course any winning score will do very nicely.
COYRRR
Bit light on forward options off the bench.
Arsenal XI: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Havertz, Ødegaard, Martinelli, Jesus, Trossard
Subs: Neto, Calafiori, Kiwior, Tierney, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Merino, Partey, Nwaneri
Re: Sancho. Zinchenko is our forward option off the bench.
Some chilling rumours picked up by Pedro on Le Grove about the severity of Saka’s injury and the resultant possible length of his absence on Le Grove. I hope the rumour is wrong!
https://www.le-grove.co.uk/p/the-solve-for-saka-is-already-here
Anyway, chins up, fellas and get well soon B!
COYG! Win it for B!
Thanks for the kind words, all. Team selection suggests we are going to be more left-side dominant in attack without Saka. I would guess the basic structure will be 4-2-2-2. MLS keeping his place is a huge vote of confidence in him by Arteta, or Calafiori is further from full fitness than thought.
Bath@15: Arteta seemed confident that Saka would play again this season. While that doesn’t rule out a diagnosis of a detached hamstring, it suggests an injury with a faster recovery time unless Arteta was just seeking to bolster Saka’s spirits. I doubt that we’ll see Saka on the pitch before April at the earliest, and perhaps not all again this season.
Ned, where did you hear about a detached hamstring ?
Detached hamstring rumour comes from Pedro blog in Le Grove. Quite a reliable source by all accounts.
If that means the tendon has detached from the bone that will mean several months out but could be better news long term. A successful graft back onto the bone could be less likely to reoccur than a deep tear to the muscle. I’ll have to read Le Grove later and see exactly what he said.
Bit of back tracking now from the same source. Initial thoughts fron Arsenal medics were a detached hamstring so sent for a scan. Now saying not detached but still requires 2 months out.
A thoroughly forgettable half bar the nice goal by Havertz. I thought this lot were supposed to be a footballing side. They’ve parked bus after bus after bus here. Important to maintain our concentration at the back and not et suckered if we can’t break them down again.
Wot Bath said about getting suckered.
Good to see Kai on the scoresheet again
Omari Hutchinson hasn’t been much good at anything other than misplaced passes and mistimed tackles.
Jesus off,Merino on and still can’t get the second
Definition of unconvincing – Arsenal tonight versus eleven tractor drivers.
Take the three points and forget about this game forever.
Not a handsome win, but a win nonetheless. At this point, that is the more important thing.
That was a terrible watch and we are well short of the Scousers’ rampaging attack. Far too slow and deliberate. however we got the job done.
My son tells me that Mikel announced that Saka has had surgery on the hamstring. Previously Trev suggested that’s a minimum of 12 weeks out, Reinforcements will be essential if we are to maintain our challenge.
Got the three points and a clean sheet, I liked both our full backs tonight,
Timber is very strong and MLS had another game where he looks the part.
we barely gave them a sniff but it’s going to take a couple of games
to adjust in attack without Saka.
OM@28: Agree on the full-backs. Timber had a really good game, and MLS has that wonderful ability to take the ball on the half-turn that gets him clear of trouble.
>>>>>>>