Gabriel Martinelli fails his audition as the search for Bukayo Saka's heir begins | first division

In the fog of north London, Arsenal came nowhere close to stumbling upon a temporary heir to their star. This was ultimately an exercise in doing what is necessaryensuring that realistic hopes of challenging for the title extended into the second half of the season and overcoming a well-drilled but impotent Ipswich side. However, if the hope had been that it would offer a window into a prolonged run without Bukayo Saka, the wait for answers will now extend until early 2025.

The pre-match hype had focused on Gabriel Martinelli, who abandoned his usual left-sided position following Saka's injury at Selhurst Park and quickly established himself with a goal in that rout. Martinelli is an explosive but mercurial talent; The darkest fears during his most barren periods concern whether, at age 23, his ceiling may not be far away. But here he had the opportunity to show that he could be the man to fill in for a longer period: at least two months, as Mikel Arteta later explained. On the face of it, Ipswich was ideal material against which to bring the case.

Kieran McKenna's team had been destroyed by Newcastle on Saturday, his first genuine humiliation in a first competitive season back in the elite, and his opening on the flanks would not have escaped Arteta. Their left back, Leif Davis, tends to adopt such an aggressive starting position that opponents have a big gap to exploit when things go wrong. Any misstep would surely please Martinelli, who lacks Saka's subtleties but knows how to carve a path into those spaces and point a way forward for Arsenal's rebalanced attack.

In the end, this was another of those occasions where cunning and verve, rather than raw speed, would have been the better solution. For 45 minutes Ipswich sat back, compact and cautious, Davis venturing upfield only to offer a deflected cross in the first minute which Sammie Szmodics failed to convert. Shortly after, Martinelli had red meat when he overtook his man and eventually won a corner, but moments of joy in the next hour and a half were extremely rare.

It was a moment of incision from the other flank, Leandro Trossard beating Ben Johnson too easily before offering up Kai Havertz's converted cross, which broke Ipswich's resistance midway through the first half. Martinelli was able to claim his role as his through ball was sent over the head of a defender to the Belgian. But he was limited after that, Davis won one-on-one and saw the ball over the baseline during a final scramble shortly before the interval.

How Santi Cazorla, paraded before the crowd before kick-off and attending a game here for the first time in seven years, might have relished the opportunity to break through those blue and white defensive strata. Martin Ødegaard, a more than worthy successor, came to life after the break and would have scored had it not been for an error by Arijanet Muric. he was the only one Arsenal attacker whose ingenuity seemed to put things out of reach for Ipswich, the impressive centre-back Jacob Greaves among those who extinguished the flashes.

Martinelli only re-emerged in the 82nd minute when, chasing the ball in a more familiar area next to the visitors' right corner flag, he was brought down by Dara O'Shea. There was no substitute here for Saka's ability to dive in, to unload early, to weave those intricate connections with Ødegaard. It was one of the reasons why Arsenal, although never holding, had to defend as the match progressed and were relieved to see Havertz block Nathan Broadhead's deadly shot.

That was one of Ipswich's few sights of a goal. The last thing they wanted was another beating during what, despite all their promising work, has been a tough winter. However, they are in touch with security and will be encouraged that Kalvin Phillips, in his first outing in almost two months, looked at home on stage. It feels like the blink of an eye since Phillips accompanied Declan Rice, one of Arsenal's best players, in an England shirt. The two engaged in a long conversation afterwards; Phillips has a mountain to climb before he can breathe the same air as his former colleague again, but this evidence will give Ipswich hope of survival if they can avoid a mishap before May.

Arsenal certainly cannot suffer any more accidents if they want to stay within sight of Liverpool. There is a nagging feeling that, Saka or not Saka, the rat-a-tat of passing and movement is not at the level of his best moments under Arteta. They worked against Everton a fortnight ago and did not improve much here, although with a greater reward. Martinelli will surely enjoy days in the sun in which more ambitious rivals invite him to accelerate fully, leaving space behind. However, on nights like this, the path to breaking his 21-year duck with minimal input from Saka seems far from certain.