The curtain closes on the festive round of Premier League fixtures at the Emirates Stadium, where title outsiders Arsenal and relegation candidates Ipswich Town lock horns on Friday evening.
The hosts were feeling the Christmas cheer at Selhurst Park last weekend, storming to a 5-1 win over Crystal Palace, whereas the Tractor Boys were on the wrong end of a four-goal home defeat.
Match preview
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Sports journalists up and down the country enjoyed cracking out the Gabriel Jesus Christmas puns on Saturday evening, some of which may have been more appropriate for Easter time, but the Brazilian has undoubtedly been reborn if five goals in two games is anything to go by.
After propelling Arsenal to the EFL Cup semi-finals with a hat-trick against Palace, Jesus tormented the Eagles once more at Selhurst Park with a brilliant brace, before Declan Rice, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz etched the Gunners' name into the record books.
That 5-1 mauling marked the sixth time in 2024 that Arsenal have scored at least five goals in an away game - a feat no English top-flight side had ever managed before in a single calendar year - and Mikel Arteta's men are within touching distance of Chelsea once again.
Overhauling Liverpool's unassailable lead at the summit will take some doing in 2025, but Arsenal appear to have rediscovered their knack for open play goals after being stunted against Fulham and Everton, and it is now 10 games unbeaten in all tournaments for Arteta's troops.
Furthermore, following Brentford's 2-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest at the weekend, the Gunners are now the only Premier League team yet to lose at home in the 2024-25 season, and their last three top-flight Emirates matches against Forest, Everton and Manchester United have also brought three clean sheets.
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From the only Premier League team with no home defeats to the only one with no home wins, Ipswich were left battered and bruised by an Alexander Isak-inspired Newcastle United at Portman Road, where the sparkling Swede helped himself to a 54-minute hat-trick.
The equally effervescent Jacob Murphy also helped himself to a first-half goal as Ipswich joined an unwanted Premier League club, becoming just the sixth team in history to fail to win any of their first nine home games of the campaign; four of the previous five were relegated.
The Tractor Boys' situation could only be more perilous if their name was Southampton, as Kieran McKenna's men are bottom but one in the Premier League standings, but they are only two points behind Leicester City in the relative safety of 17th place.
Embarrassing Arsenal at the Emirates could therefore lift Ipswich above the dotted line, and eight of the visitors' 12 points have been won on the road this term, including three at the home of the Gunners' arch-nemesis Tottenham Hotspur back in November.
McKenna's men have also failed to score in just two of their nine contests on the road this season, but their most recent trip to the Emirates in the 2010-11 EFL Cup semi-finals ended in a 3-0 second-leg defeat, before Arsenal lost to Birmingham City in the final thanks to the infamous Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny calamity.
Team News
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Arsenal's decimation of Crystal Palace came at perhaps the biggest cost imaginable, as Hale End hero Bukayo Saka sustained a hamstring injury in the first half, one that Arteta has revealed will keep him out for "many weeks" amid reports that he is facing a two-month layoff.
Arteta's attacking resources are further depleted by Raheem Sterling's absence with a knee injury, the same issue which is keeping defenders Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu out. In brighter news, Oleksandr Zinchenko might make his comeback from a muscular problem.
Martinelli filled in for Saka on the right at Selhurst Park, but the red-hot Jesus should be the number one pick to deputise for the Englishman for the next several weeks, as Rice's expected midfield recall should push Havertz further forward.
Ipswich will also be ruing the absence of a key cog for Friday's fixture, albeit one due to suspension rather than injury, as captain Sam Morsy has picked up five yellow cards and serves a one-match ban.
McKenna should introduce Kalvin Phillips into the fray as Morsy sits on the naughty step, but fledgling striker Liam Delap is back from a suspension of his own and could be a straight swap for Conor Chaplin at the tip of the attack.
Former Arsenal academy star Omari Hutchinson should reprise his role in the XI despite being taken off at the break last time out, but Chiedozie Ogbene (Achilles), Janoi Donacien (fitness), George Hirst (knee) and Axel Tuanzebe (thigh) are unavailable again.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Odegaard, Rice, Merino; Jesus, Havertz, Trossard
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Muric; Johnson, O'Shea, Greaves, Davis; Cajuste, Phillips; Hutchinson, Szmodics, Clarke; Delap
We say: Arsenal 3-0 Ipswich Town
McKenna has stuck to his guns no matter who Ipswich have faced this season, meaning that the Tractor Boys are unlikely to sacrifice an attacking player in favour of an extra defender for the trip to the Emirates, and the visitors have a knack for scoring away from home.
However, even a Saka-less Arsenal should not have any problems picking the Ipswich lock, and we can only picture the Gunners making light work of the Tractor Boys, with another clean sheet in tow.
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Ben Knapton
