Bukayo Saka-less Arsenal beat Ipswich Town to go second in the Premier League

LONDON – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Bukayo Saka is set to be sidelined for more than two months after an operation on his hamstring.

The Gunners began life without their talismanic forward on Dec 27, by beating Ipswich Town 1-0 at the Emirates to move into second place in the English Premier League and cut Liverpool’s lead to six points.

The Reds travel to West Ham United on Dec 29.

Kai Havertz scored the only goal as Arsenal failed to turn their dominance into a more convincing scoreline.

The lack of a clinical scorer may ultimately cost them a first league title in more than 20 years, but they took advantage of Chelsea’s shock 2-1 defeat by Fulham a day earlier to become Liverpool’s closest challengers.

Saka is set to be out for “many weeks” in the words of Arteta, with fears that the England international could be out until March due to the injury suffered in the 5-1 win at Crystal Palace on Dec 21.

Arteta’s solution was to start with Gabriel Martinelli in Saka’s normal right-wing role, with Gabriel Jesus continuing up front, after scoring five times in Arsenal’s two previous outings.

The home side were dominant in possession but had few clear-cut chances to show for it until the final quarter.

“Frustration when you win? No. Things to improve? Yes,” said Arteta on the slender margin of victory.

“Credit to them as they’re very well-organised, but we restricted them to nothing.”

The Gunners were frustrated by Everton in a 0-0 draw in their previous home league game, so there was relief when Havertz broke the deadlock on 23 minutes.

The German prodded high into the net from Leandro Trossard’s low cross for his 12th goal of the season in all competitions.

Jesus did find the net once more with a cheeky finish between the legs of goalkeeper Arijanet Muric from an almost impossible angle, but was flagged offside.

Arsenal’s prowess from set pieces has been well-documented and they should have added to their goals from corners tally, but Gabriel Magalhaes headed against the outside of the post from point-blank range.

Martin Odegaard gave the home crowd a scare when he went down holding the left ankle that saw the midfielder sidelined by injury for two months earlier in the campaign.

The Arsenal captain, though, was quickly back on his feet and weaving his way through the Ipswich defence with a mazy run and powerful strike that Muric tipped over.

Havertz then wasted a chance for his second and Muric saved once more from Mikel Merino to ensure a nervy ending.

But Arsenal held out to leapfrog Nottingham Forest and Chelsea into second, as Ipswich remain second from bottom.

“Very happy with the victory, with the clean sheet and with large parts of the game,” Arteta added.

“We should have scored more but it is the consistency, the team conceded nothing again.

“Considering all the circumstances we had this season... all the injuries that we had, it’s good to be in the position that we are but it’s not where we want to be.

“We want to be first.” AFP, REUTERS