Arsenal's Long Carabao Cup Wait: Ipswich Town Clash
Arsenal’s long Carabao Cup wait goes back more than three decades. The Premier League champions begin another attempt to end it under the lights at Portman Road on Tuesday night, walking straight into an Ipswich Town side buzzing from life back among the elite.
Mikel Arteta’s team arrive with six wins from six in all competitions, the machine already humming in mid-September. Gary O’Neil’s Ipswich, freshly promoted and defiantly unfazed, have stitched together their own mini-surge with back-to-back victories over Crystal Palace and Leicester City. Confidence is not in short supply in Suffolk.
Old ghosts, new stakes
Arsenal have not touched this trophy since 1993, when Paul Merson and Steve Morrow dragged them past Sheffield Wednesday. Since then, the competition has mostly delivered frustration: four lost finals, the latest against Manchester City last season.
Portman Road carries its own little warning. The only previous League Cup tie between these clubs came in the 2010-11 semi-finals, when Ipswich nicked the first leg 1-0 before being swept aside 3-0 at the Emirates. Arsenal went through, but Ipswich left a mark.
There’s a personal twist this time. Chuba Akpom, once a highly rated Arsenal academy prospect, could line up against his boyhood club for the first time in senior football. If he plays, he won’t need telling what this means.
Match details
Ipswich Town vs Arsenal – Carabao Cup
Date: Tuesday, 15 September 2026
Kick-off: 20:00 BST
Venue: Portman Road
Referee: Peter Bankes (no VAR)
Last meeting: Arsenal 4-0 Ipswich Town (Premier League, April 2025)
Ipswich team news: gaps at the edges, belief in the middle
O’Neil’s injury list has grown only slightly. Jack Taylor (knee) and Azor Matusiwa (thigh) remain sidelined and are still waiting for their first minutes of the season. Neither was expected to feature here.
There was a scare when Emersonn came off with quad tightness against Crystal Palace, but O’Neil indicated the forward would likely have been rested in the cup anyway. That points towards Zian Flemming stepping in. He is eligible for Ipswich despite playing earlier in the competition for Burnley, and he arrives with momentum after that dramatic late winner at the weekend.
Arsenal team news: rotation, but not relaxation
Arteta’s selection will be shaped by a familiar balancing act: respect the competition, protect the squad. William Saliba is out with a back problem and not expected back for a couple of months. Ben White is a fresh worry after limping off with a groin issue against Sunderland.
Cristhian Mosquera is also a doubt, pushing Arsenal towards a reshuffled back line. Arteta is expected to make close to nine changes, but this will not be a token XI. Kepa Arrizabalaga is set to continue as the designated cup goalkeeper, while Viktor Gyokeres is in line to lead the attack, offering a very different focal point to the league side.
Form guide: chaos vs control
Ipswich have wasted no time announcing themselves on their Premier League return. They opened with a win over Sunderland, then edged Leicester in the cup, and stunned Crystal Palace with a late comeback, Flemming striking in the 90th minute after Axel Disasi’s first-half red card changed the tone of the game.
They are brave going forward. The problem? The back door keeps swinging open. O’Neil’s side are still chasing their first clean sheet of the season and have conceded nine goals in their last three outings. Against Arsenal’s movement and depth, that fragility could be fatal – or it could drag the tie into the kind of wild contest Ipswich might secretly welcome.
Arsenal, by contrast, have built their start on control and calm. At Sunderland on Saturday, they absorbed a contentious penalty call, watched David Raya save the spot-kick, then tightened their grip. Bruno Guimaraes and Bukayo Saka struck in the second half to seal a 2-0 win and maintain a perfect opening to the campaign.
Victory at Portman Road would make it seven straight wins to start the season – Community Shield included – for the first time since 2004-05. Five clean sheets from six matches underline how hard this Arsenal side are to rattle.
Predicted lineups
- Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1, predicted): Walton; O'Shea, Diop, Greaves, Davis; Palacios, Nunez; Philogene, Enciso, Maeda; Flemming
- Arsenal (4-2-3-1, predicted): Kepa; Timber, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Guimaraes; Madueke, Merino, Eze; Gyokeres
Where to watch
The tie will be shown live in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports+.
Arsenal chase history, Ipswich chase a statement. One club trying to end a 33-year itch, the other trying to prove they belong on nights exactly like this.
