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There is no secret where Arsenal’s priorities lie between now and June, so it was a little surprising to see just how strong Mikel Arteta’s line-up was at Portman Road. A midweek home game against Crystal Palace affords opportunity to make plans for Paris Saint-Germain. The expectation was that Arteta would give several of his star turns a rest in Ipswich. Think again.
The strategy, I think, was to replicate the conditions of the upcoming Champions League semi-final with particular focus on central midfield. Thomas Partey’s idiotic booking in the Bernabeu means that he will miss the first leg against PSG on 29 April. The injury sustained by Jorginho against Brentford may well rule him out of the same game.
That leaves Declan Rice to play as the No 6, a return to the earliest days of his professional career. The question, more relevant after his starring roles against Real Madrid, is how much you lose of Rice as a progressive ball carrier and ball winner when he has to sit. And, to give the whole thing a slightly negative spin, whether he can stop himself roaming and leaving the back door on the latch.
To test that effectively, Arteta thought, there is no point making a host of changes around Rice or the laboratory conditions change with them. And so the spine of the team remained for a virtually meaningless league game at Ipswich – David Raya, William Saliba, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka – which Arsenal ended as easy 4-0 winners.
The plan also pushed Mikel Merino back into more of a central midfield role, although he drifted both left and forward from that position. Merino has been used as a stand-in striker since Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus were injured, but he averaged twice as many tackles per game in La Liga last season as he has in England. Merino’s physical presence near Rice could certainly be of use.
Arsenal will not face a more accommodating opponent than this between now and Christmas, but you could still see how this might work well. Rice is not simply a sitting midfielder, but the roaming is done from side to side without the ball, seeking to snuff out danger. Julio Enciso played in the hole to keep Rice busy centrally.
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Other than one time the Paraguayan shrugged him off the ball, Rice was immaculate. The odd tackle here and there, almost never giving away the ball – and never when passing it short – and a chance created when Ipswich had a man sent off and gave him more licence to venture further up the pitch.
After the nasty kick that Saka took from Leif Davis, the away end held its breath and feared bad news. Saka was fine, but that must surely have persuaded Arteta to take no chances from now on. The confidence is back. Rice has had his practice as a No 6. He can do this job against far better sides than Ipswich Town.
This is an extract of The Score. Sign-up up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning with The i Paper’s verdict on all 20 Premier League clubs
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