Ipswich Town’s relegation from the Premier League could be confirmed on Sunday, but Blues winger Jack Clarke insisted the mindset is all about focusing on the weekend visit of Arsenal at Portman Road.

Town are currently 14 points adrift of safety and an immediate return to the Championship would become certain if West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers both win their respective matches this weekend and the Blues lose to the Gunners.

Saturday sees West Ham host rock-bottom Southampton while in-form Wolves travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United at the same time as the Blues’ game on Sunday.

Town will host Arsenal looking to delay the inevitable and prevent falling to a seventh successive home defeat for the first time in the club’s history, but Clarke says the focus remains as it has been all season in putting full focus on the next performance.

“We haven’t really looked at it in a different way to how we’d look at any other games, they’re all as important as each other,” he said. “The ones that we’ve played beforehand have obviously put us in this spot now.

“We’ve prepared in exactly the same way and hopefully we can go out there and put a performance in that makes us proud. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. We’re just worried about the performance and hopefully that can put us in better stead.”

Mikel Arteta’s second-placed Arsenal arrive at Portman Road off the back of a 10-match unbeaten run. Their most recent outing was Wednesday night’s 5-1 aggregate success over Real Madrid to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

The Gunners have also not lost a league game on the road since early November, so Clarke is fully aware of the threats that the north Londoners will pose this weekend.

“We’ve got to take into consideration how good a team Arsenal are but the prep doesn’t change,” he said. “We look at them in terms of how we can best go up against them.

“The two games against Real Madrid probably aren’t as relevant to us as what they could be, we’re more focused on how they’ve performed in the league and the teams they’ve put out in the league recently.

“We’ve been looking at previous league fixtures rather than the Champions League, but obviously they’re a top team and it’s going to be a tough test.

“It's easier to watch than play against in terms of trying to learn. But they’re two top talents [Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli], two of the best wingers in the league.

“I probably won’t be focused on watching them too much, but if I can see a bit of what they do and try and implement it into your game throughout the week or the following weeks to come then that’s always good.”

On the unlikely survival fight, Clarke added: “That’s been the goal all season. Obviously we could fall short of the goal in the end but that’s not for us to decide, it’s out of our hands in terms of if other teams win.

“We’re just trying to take care of our own side of things and hopefully we can do that on Sunday.”

Regardless as to what happens at the climax of the season, there is the general belief that the Blues are still carrying positive momentum following back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League.

Clarke is a firm believer in those thoughts and believes Town will be well-placed to attack the Championship again next season in a similar way to the last campaign.

“Everybody does and you’d be stupid not too, to be honest,” he said. “They finished second in the league last season and I think everybody at the club would argue we’re much better equipped now if they were in the Championship than what they were last season. The trajectory of the club is always going to be on the up, it just depends if and when that happens.

“Everybody within the building echoes it, that’s what the ownership and board are striving towards. Whether taking a step back next season was part of the plan I’m not sure, but everybody’s optimistic in terms of where this club is going and how it can finish up in however many years.”

Ben Johnson said following last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea that he feels the Town players have done the club proud despite the club’s impending relegation. So, does Clarke agree with his teammate?

“I’d like to hope so,” the 24-year-old said. “Whether people from an outside perspective feel the same, I feel like we’ve put in some good performances playing against top teams across the year and shown that we’re there or thereabouts in terms of establishing ourselves in the league, especially for a lot of us playing in it for the first time.

“The goal was to stay in the Premier League, if we fall short of that it might not be deemed a success but I feel like we’ve done the club and the people who support the club proud in terms of performances, how we’ve gone into games and how we’ve tried to play in terms of our football.”

The Blues have 21 points to their name across the season but have dropped a further 27 from winning positions across 11 different matches, with home matches against Leicester City, Wolves and Bournemouth proving particularly costly.

Town’s tally is the highest in the Premier League this season, but Clarke says it is too simplistic to suggest holding onto leads has been the key factor in the club’s struggles so far this term.

He said: “The level of the opposition we’re playing in terms of squad depth, when you hit that 60/70-minute mark and you feel like you’re right there in the game and they’re bringing on top, top players, it’s hard to then readjust and protect the lead as easy as it would be in the Championship.

“That’s just due to the level of opposition we’re playing. Everybody at the club would probably be able to say we should have had more points, but it’s all ifs and buts now.”

Clarke has been the subject of a transfer rumour with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven over the last week, but the former Sunderland man was quick to dismiss suggestions he will be departing Portman Road during the summer.

Asked if he hopes to remain a Blues player next season, Clarke said: “I hope so, I’ve got no ambitions to be anywhere else. If we are relegated and something happens over the summer that would probably be out of my hands.There’s nowhere I’d rather be playing football next season.”

Clarke has had success in the FA Cup this season, scoring against Bristol Rovers and finding the net twice in Town’s fourth round tie at Championship side Coventry City.

Asked about the chase for a first Premier League goal, he said: “I’m still waiting for it but I try not to think about it too much. It’s hard to say because if you get too orientated with trying to score and you feel like you’ve not scored come the end of the game, it could be a bit disappointing. When it comes, it comes, and we’ll just have to see what the response is to that.

“It was nice to get my first goal and play a few games in the cup. We played a few good games, put up a good test against Forest but it came to an end. It was nice to play and nice to represent the club in such a prestigious cup.”

TWTD

Blueray added 13:54 - Apr 19 Ah nice....hope he does stay. He will only get better and better through playing and good coaching. Will be a perfect fit for the premier league in 16months time (hopefully with us)
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