Arsenal made sure Liverpool cannot secure the Premier League title on Sunday by cruising to a 4-0 victory at 10-man Ipswich.
Defeat realistically ends Ipswich’s hope of maintaining their Premier League status as they are 15 points adrift of safety with five games remaining and have a significantly poorer goal difference than West Ham.
Fresh from a famous victory over Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2009, Arsenal coasted towards securing a return to European football’s elite competition again next season.
Mikel Arteta made only three changes from the 2-1 win in the Spanish capital on Wednesday and was rewarded with a dominant display to kill the game off inside half an hour.
Leandro Trossard was one of those recalled by Arteta and prodded in his eighth goal of the season to open the scoring.
A flowing move saw Bukayo Saka’s cross flicked by Mikel Merino into the path of Gabriel Martinelli to finish to double the Gunners lead.
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Moments later, Saka was chopped down by an awful challenge from Leif Davis that saw the Ipswich left-back shown a straight red card.
Saka escaped severe injury to the relief of the Arsenal support and should have extended the visitors’ lead with two big chances he wasted before the break.
However, the England international, who recently returned from a four-month absence due to a hamstring injury, was replaced early in the second half to avoid any further damage.
Trossard fired in his second after a well-worked corner before Ethan Nwaneri’s deflected effort rounded off the scoring.
AFP
