Kai Havertz has given Arsenal a 1-0 half-time lead over the Blues at the Emirates Stadium.
Town boss Kieran McKenna made five changes with Luke Woolfenden, Ben Johnson, Jacob Greaves, Kalvin Phillips and Liam Delap coming into the team.
The Blues switched to the system that saw them to a 2-1 win at Spurs on their last visit to North London with a back three of Dara O’Shea, who skippers the club for the first time, on the right with Woolfenden in the centre and Greaves on the left.
Ben Johnson and Leif Davis were the wing-backs with Phillips joining Jens Cajuste in the centre of midfield with captain Sam Morsy suspended.
Omari Hutchinson, a former Gunners academy player, and Sammie Szmodics were the number 10s behind lone striker Delap, back after his one-match ban.
Harry Clarke, another one-time youth player with the North Londoners, Wes Burns and Conor Chaplin dropped to the bench and Cameron Burgess was out of the 20-man squad but having travelled.
For Arsenal, Declan Rice came back into the team for Thomas Partey, while Leandro Trossard replaced Bukayo Saka, who suffered a hamstring injury in the 5-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Town almost got the game off to a shock start in the opening 25 seconds, a Davis cross from the left clipping Jurrien Timber and Szmodics behind him only just failed to connect at the near post.
But after that, the early stages were all Arsenal, passing the ball around, prodding and probing and looking for an opening, but without threatening keeper Aro Muric, aside from a seventh-minute corner which the Kosovan punched to the edge of the area where Gunners’ skipper Martin Odegaard mishit his shot.
On 14, Trossard worked himself some room on the left edge of the box but saw his effort deflect behind with Town defending another corner against the division’s set-play experts.
The Blues continued to frustrate the Gunners, who at this stage had had 89 per cent of the possession, but in the 19th minute Timber brought the ball forward from deep before hitting a shot straight at Muric, who claimed.
Town were defending resolutely, despite the game being played almost entirely in their final third, but in the 23rd minute the Gunners finally created a serious opening and went ahead.
Trossard got round the outside of Johnson on the left of the box and sent over a cross from the byline which Woolfenden and Greaves both failed to connect with and Havertz volleyed into the net from a couple of feet in front of the line, the German international’s 12th goal of the season.
Arsenal went looking for their second, maintaining their dominance on the ball before Rice shot not too far over from 25 yards.
Town launched a rare attack in the 32nd minute, Hutchinson breaking away in the Gunners’ half before feeding Johnson on the right but the former West Ham man’s cross deflected into the arms of home keeper David Raya.
Arsenal had the ball in the net for a second time in the 35th minute when Gabriel Jesus was played in on goal by Trossard and forced the ball past Muric from a very tight angle, Gabriel Martinelli adding a final touch with it already over the line. The assistant’s flag was immediately raised and VAR upheld the decision.
That was the last chance of the first half with the Gunners continuing to dominate until the break.
The first period had been all Arsenal, the half-time possession stat of 84.3 per cent in their favour illustrating their superiority on the ball.
Town had defended resiliently with the goal the only out-and-out chance the home side had created.
However, aside from Davis’s early cross and Johnson’s later ball into the box, the Blues had presented no threat at all going forward having been unable hold possession for more than a few passes at any stage.
The Gunners may have only a narrow half-time lead, but based on the evidence of the opening 45 minutes, it’s difficult to see how Town can take anything from the game.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Havertz, Odegaard (c), Martinelli, Trossard, Jesus. Subs: Neto, Zinchenko, Tierney, Kiwior, Calafiori, Jorginho, Partey, Merino, Nwaneri.
Ipswich: Muric, Johnson, O’Shea (c), Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis, Phillips, Cajuste, Hutchinson, Szmodics, Delap. Subs: Walton, H. Clarke, Townsend, Taylor, Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead, J Clarke, Al-Hamadi. Referee: Darren England (Doncaster). VAR: Alex Chilowicz.