Post-Ipswich quotes round-up: Arteta, McKenna, Havertz, Trossard, Rice, Petit & more
Yesterday at 06:51 PM
Arsenal climbed to second in the Premier League with a 1-0 win against Ipswich secured thanks to Kai Havertz’s first-half poacher’s finish.
While a win and clean sheet is nothing to be sniffed at, it’s fair to say it wasn’t a performance to get the juices flowing.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos made of the action…
Mikel Arteta on the nature of tonight’s win…
“Frustration when you win? No. Things to improve? Yes. We give some very simple balls away that allow them to generate belief. The first half, the stats are very significant. We are used to that. Credit to them because they are a very organised and well-coached team.
Source: Amazon Prime Video
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Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna on his side’s performance…
The players worked really hard and we got the game to a good place in the second half after a good 20 minutes. Early on we were pinned in and couldn’t get out but to where we were after 89 minutes I was really pleased. In the first half, it was only the goal where I thought we needed to defend better. We were resilient and compact when we needed to be. Arsenal spent a lot of the first half in our defensive third but unable to penetrate.
Source:BBC Match of the Day
Arsenal (2.16) 1-0 (0.15) Ipswich
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) December 27, 2024
Declan Rice on not winning by a bigger margin…
It's been a kind of constant theme for us. We've been dominating games but teams have been coming here, low blocks, and it's hard to break down a 5-4-1. We could've had more and we just have to keep going. It was an important win. Hopefully the new year brings trophies, this club deserves that. You have to win stuff. We can keep winning games but it means nothing if you don't win anything at the end.
Source:premierleague.com
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Ipswich midfielder Kalvin Phillips on how his side coped with Arsenal’s threat…
Arsenal are very good team and they had a lot of the ball, created a few chances. We created a few in the second half but we just need that extra bit of special play at the end. It’s always difficult coming to Arsenal and we didn’t have much to lose a 1-0 so we came out and tried to force them into mistakes in the second half.
Source: Amazon Prime (via BBC Sport)
7 – No side has kept more clean sheets (7) or conceded fewer goals (16) in the Premier League this season than Arsenal, while the Gunners have kept a shutout in four successive home matches in the competition for the first time since December 2021. Mentality. pic.twitter.com/zRcZ2RrA4A
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 27, 2024
Arteta on his side’s professionalism…
The margins are small, their [the players] behaviour and the understanding of the defensive part is unbelievable. On the attacking side, credit to them, it’s not easy to break those sides down, we had some big chances as well that we didn’t put away.
Source:Viaplay Fotball
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Rice on the title race…
Liverpool are full throttle, they were under (Jurgen) Klopp and now under (Arne) Slot. They don’t let anyone breathe. We need someone to help us out so they can drop points as we can only focus on ourselves and hopefully, something can happen.
Source:Amazon Prime
3 – Ipswich attempted just three shots tonight; of the seven occasions of a side managing three or fewer shots in a Premier League game this season, three have been against Arsenal, all this month (also Fulham and Everton, 2 shots each). Shutdown. pic.twitter.com/Drwkc3atFo
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 27, 2024
Leandro Trossard on not scoring more goals…
Especially first half, we were dominant, we should have scored more than one. Second half, we started a bit sloppy, we made it hard for ourselves, we didn’t score the second or third, they were still in the game and the ball has to land well for them at one point (and we’re in trouble). We defended well in the end and it’s three points for us. Everyone defended well, when the ball doesn’t want to go in for a second or third you have to defend well in your own bnox and that’s what we did. Every game is different and every opponent will approach us different, if they see we’ve won by five in the game before, they don’t want to concede the same amount of goals.
Source:Viaplay Fotball
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Arteta on Bukayo Saka’s injury…
He had a procedure, everything went well. But unfortunately, he will be out for many, many weeks. I think it will be more than two months. It depends… how the scar tissue starts to heal, the mobility of that.
Source:premierleague.com
Arsenal 1-0 Ipswich Town FT
Arsenal go back up to second with a narrow but fully deserved victory over Ipswich.
It was one-way traffic at the Emirates #ARSIPS
— Opta Analyst (@optaanalyst.optajoe.com) December 27, 2024 at 10:14 PM
Mikel Arteta on Santi Cazorla’s presence at the Emirates…
He’s one of the best players that I’ve played with but then it’s about the person, he’s a very special character, he was loved by everybody in the dressing room, at the club and even without speaking English he was loved by all the crowd which is a big compliment.
Source:Amazon Prime
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Rice on Lewis-Skelly…
He can go to the top, this kid is just special, very special. For an 18-year-old to be that good, that comfortable, that strong – it was like he was built in a lab!
Source:Arsenal.com
David Raya has now kept 23 clean sheets in his 50 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, which is a club record. #AFC
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) December 27, 2024
Arteta on Myles Lewis-Skelly’s growing stature…
He's a special character. It's well ahead of his age, he's so mature. He has qualities that adapt very well to our way of playing. That's theory but then you have to go out there and compete at this level. Credit to him.
Source:premierleague.com
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Arteta on Sterling’s injury…
The news with Raz, I think it’s better. We have to see this week how he evolves. But we expect it, the knee injury to probably take longer than actually the way the knee is evolving in the last few days. So, hopefully, that’s good because we need him.
Source:Post-game press conference
Capping off 2024 with a W!
Thanks for all the support this year Gunners pic.twitter.com/5o8qIS6Dzq
— Kai Havertz (@kaihavertz29) December 27, 2024
Emmanuel Petit on Arsenal’s win…
Oh my God – very hard, and I was scared at the end that Ipswich would come back, get a goal and get a point, but thankfully Arsenal held on. They should have killed the game off.
Source:premierleague.com
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Roberto Martinez on Arsenal’s forwards…
I would be disappointed today, as we didn’t see a connection between Kai and Gabriel Jesus.
Source:BBC Sport
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