William Gallas makes shock prediction for Arsenal’s trip to Ipswich

Ex-Arsenal defender William Gallas expects his former club to drop points away to Ipswich this afternoon.

Arsenal head to Portman Road knowing that defeat would pave the path for Liverpool to win the Premier League title – with five games to spare – later in the day.

The Gunners fell further behind the league leaders with a disappointing 1-1 draw with Brentford last time out in the English top flight, with Yoane Wissa cancelling out Thomas Partey’s earlier strike at the Emirates.

Mikel Arteta’s men should, though, be buoyed by their Champions League heroics in midweek, as they overcame Real Madrid to book their place in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain.

But Arteta will undoubtedly have one eye on Arsenal’s two-legged PSG clash and may be tempted to give some of his key players a rest over the next week-and-a-half.

Previewing the game for Slingo, Gallas said he ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ to see struggling Ipswich pull off an upset against the north Londoners.

‘Arsenal won 3-0 against Real Madrid then drew 1-1 with Brentford last weekend,’ the former Gunners captain said.

‘The game is away too. I find it hard to expect a win.

‘I won’t be surprised if it is a draw.

‘The players will be very tired after the second leg against Real Madrid, the focus, the energy and the pressure against 90,000 fans will probably have a big effect on the team.’

At his pre-match press conference, Arteta urged his players to ‘immediately’ turn their attentions to Ipswich after their memorable victory over Madrid.

Asked if he had a chance to celebrate Arsenal’s progression in the Champions League semi-finals, the Spaniard replied: ‘For a short period of time, yes. It was a great evening.

‘We had a lot of family and a lot of happy faces around the club, so it was a good moment.

‘But immediately you have to switch it up and now it’s Ipswich in the Premier League.’

On the challenge of switching attentions back to the Premier League, Arteta added: ‘It’s quite easy.

‘We just review the Madrid game and immediately go to Ipswich and start to do all the preparation, start to watch the games, the games we play against them and what we learn over the last few months since we’ve played them.

‘How can we hurt them? Also, their qualities and start to do the preparation towards the game.’

The Arsenal head coach revealed that both Jorginho and Riccardo Calafiori were set to miss the Portman Road clash.

Jorginho has been struggling with a chest injury which he sustained during Arsenal’s draw with Brentford.

Calafiori, meanwhile, is sidelined with a knee problem, but there are hopes the Italy defender could return to full fitness in time to face PSG.

‘Jorginho is not going to be available yet, he’s still struggling with that incident,’ Arteta explained.

‘Riccardo as well probably is not going to be available.’

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