Arsenal 1-0 Ipswich: Gunners shut hole on the high and transfer as much as second within the Premier League because of Kai Havertz’s first half strike

This match between challengers and strugglers felt like the comfy sofa where you retreat to rest after you have eaten one too many slices of turkey and two too many mince pies.

As post-prandial entertainment, it wasn’t as good as the Gavin and Stacey finale but the three points it brought Arsenal did lift them above Nottingham Forest and Chelsea and into prime position to give chase to Liverpool.

This was a job done by Mikel Arteta’s side and nothing more. It was the bare minimum requirement that marked the start of their attempt to close the gap on Arne Slot’s side.

The sketchy 1-0 win moved them to within six points of the leaders although Liverpool do also have a game in hand and the wind in their sails.

It also proved to Arsenal that they can win without Bukayo Saka, their best player, who will be out for several more weeks with a hamstring injury sustained at Crystal Palace before Christmas.

Arsenal looked shorn of attacking inspiration without Saka but Ipswich, who are one off the bottom of the Premier League, were not good enough to expose their uncertainties.

Ipswich did cause some nervous flutters among the home crowd in the second half as they began to exhibit a modicum of attacking ambition but Arsenal were never really threatened. Even so, the final whistle was greeted with a roar of relief in north London.

They were grateful to Leandro Trossard for the game’s one moment of attacking flair when he beat his man in the Ipswich area and crossed for Havertz to tap home from close range.

But Arsenal’s unconvincing showing against Kieran McKenna’s side will increase worries among their supporters that, without Saka, they will find it hard to sustain a challenge to Liverpool.

The rest of Arsenal’s attacking band – Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli – played only fitfully. Sterner tests than this, away at Brentford and Brighton, await Arsenal and they will have to step up a gear if they are to keep up the pressure on Liverpool.

The absence of Saka had been on everyone’s mind in the build-up to the game and as the teams waited in the tunnel, the television cameras zoomed in on Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz locked in intense conversation about their roles as Martinelli looked on.

Martinelli, as expected, occupied Saka’s role on the right flank but before he had even touched the ball, Ipswich nearly scored. The game was a few seconds old when the ball was swung over from the visitors’ left. Sam Szmodics was in space a few yards from goal and prodded a foot at it. If he had made contact, he would have scored.

Thereafter, the first half turned into a game of attack versus defence with Arsenal frustrated by the massed ranks of blue shirts behind the ball. A series of patient build-ups foundered. The first time there was a glimpse of a chance was when Jurrien Timber burst forward from defence and unleashed a drive that thudded into the midriff of Arijanet Muric.

But then, midway through the half, Arsenal broke the deadlock. A Martinelli cross was only half-cleared to Leandro Trossard on the edge of the Ipswich box. Trossard ran at Ben Johnson and fizzed in a cross and Havertz stole in behind Jacob Greaves to lift it high into the net.

If there was an expectation that a goal might raise the tempo of the game, it was a false expectation. It settled back into a state of post-Christmas torpor, as woolly as the light fog that wisped around the floodlight glare at the stadium.

The main interest was in the cameos, in the collision between Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips, two of England’s great success stories from Euro2020, two players whose fortunes have diverged in the years that have elapsed since that tournament.

Rice is at the heart of this Arsenal team of title challengers now after his move from West Ham, whereas Phillips is still trying to rebuild his career after his move from Leeds to Manchester City stalled his progress and led to him being criticised by Pep Guardiola.

Phillips did his best to compete and to disrupt Arsenal’s possession but he saw precious little of the ball. It feels like an awfully long time since he was one of the stars of the wonderful Leeds side fashioned by Marcelo Bielsa.

Arsenal began the second half with greater urgency and when Phillips tripped Rice on the edge of the Ipswich box a few minutes after the interval, the home fans sensed opportunity. Martin Odegaard could only clip the free kick into the wall.

Emboldened by Arsenal’s toothlessness, Ipswich actually began to venture into the opposition half and swung crosses in from both flanks. Their fans, behind the goal their team was now attacking, responded by raising the volume of their support.

Ipswich nearly paid for their new spirit of adventure immediately. Arsenal won a corner and when Rice curled it to the back post, Gabriel ran on to it. He met it unmarked three yards out but somehow contrived to direct it an inch wide of the post. The Arsenal centre half turned away in disbelief.

Arsenal had other chances to extend their lead. Rice aimed a thunderous volley goalwards only to see it blocked by an Ipswich defender and Havertz missed his kick when he had the goal at his mercy.

Odegaard became more and more influential as the game wore on and his prompting freed substitute Mikel Merino to unleash a stinging shot that Muric did well to push aside as it arrowed towards the corner of the net.

Arsenal’s dominance had been such that the game should have been out of reach but their lack of an attacking edge meant that a sense of dread accompanied each late Ipswich foray into the Arsenal half.

A better team might have been able to expose that nervousness but even though Ipswich were willing, they were not that team. Arsenal saw the game out. They got the job done. But it was not the kind of display that will have Mo Salah, ,Virgil van Dijk and co looking over their shoulders just yet.