O’Neil wants to harness Portman Road atmosphere in Arsenal clash

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Gary O’Neil wants to harness the Portman Road atmosphere as he aims to guide Ipswich Town to an EFL Cup victory over Arsenal.

Ipswich welcome the Premier League champions, and last season’s EFL Cup runners-up, to Portman Road on Tuesday.

The Tractor Boys claimed a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace last weekend, but in their last home game, they went down 2-0 to Liverpool, conceding both goals early on.

And though Ipswich missed a chance to make the most of a packed crowd against a top club when they played the Reds, O’Neil feels his team are ready to take a second chance.

“Arsenal are tough to beat, even if you do everything right,” O’Neil told the Ipswich Star.

“I will make some changes to my team. I’m sure Mikel Arteta will make changes to his team, but it is a game we want to win.

“I want us to get as far in the cups as we possibly can, so we are going to give it our best go at home under the lights.

— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) September 13, 2026

“We missed an opportunity against Liverpool [at the start of September]. We played well, but it was already 2-0 in the ninth minute.

“We missed an opportunity to use the energy of Portman Road under the lights against a big side, but we can correct that on Tuesday.

“We can start the game well. We can take the fans with us. We can attempt to beat one of the best sides around.”

O’Neil has lost all four of his managerial meetings with Arsenal in all competitions (one with Bournemouth, three with Wolves).

Only against Manchester United and West Ham has he managed more games without ever avoiding defeat (both five).

Arsenal have progressed from 21 of their last 23 third-round ties in the EFL Cup, only falling at this stage in 2014-15 (v Southampton) and 2022-23 (v Brighton) in this period.

And to make the omens worse for O’Neil, Ipswich have lost 14 of their last 18 meetings with Arsenal in all competitions (W2 D2), including six of their last seven without scoring, with the other a 1-0 EFL Cup semi-final first-leg win in 2010-11.

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