This match between challengers and fighters felt like the comfortable couch where you retire to rest after eating one too many slices of turkey and two too many meat pies.
As postprandial entertainment, it wasn't as good as Gavin and Stacey's finale, but the three points it gave Arsenal lifted them above Nottingham Forest and Chelsea and put them in prime position to chase Liverpool.
This was a job done by Mikel Arteta's side and nothing more. It was the minimum requirement that marked the beginning of Arne Slot's attempt to close the gap.
The incomplete 1-0 victory put them six points behind the leaders, although Liverpool also have a game less and the wind in their favor.
He also showed Arsenal that they can win without Bukayo Saka, their best player, who will be out for several more weeks with a hamstring injury suffered at Crystal Palace before Christmas.
Arsenal seemed devoid of attacking inspiration without Saka, but Ipswich, who are one behind the bottom of the Premier League, were not good enough to expose their uncertainties.
Arsenal closed the gap at the top and moved up to second place with a 1-0 victory over Ipswich.
Kai Havertz's point-blank shot in the first half was the difference on Friday night.
Struggling Ipswich were not good enough to expose Arsenal's uncertainties
Ipswich caused some nerves among the home crowd in the second half when they began to exhibit a modicum of attacking ambition, but Arsenal were never really threatened. Still, the final whistle was greeted with a roar of relief in north London.
They thanked Leandro Trossard for the game's only attacking flair moment when he beat his man in the Ipswich area and crossed for Havertz to finish from close range.
But Arsenal's unconvincing performance against Kieran McKenna's side will increase concerns among their supporters that, without Saka, they will find it difficult to sustain a challenge against Liverpool.
The rest of Arsenal's offensive wing (Gabriel Jesús and Gabriel Martinelli) played only irregularly. Tougher tests than this, at Brentford and Brighton, await Arsenal and they will have to accelerate if they are to keep the pressure on Liverpool.
Saka's absence had been on everyone's minds in the build-up to the match and as the teams waited in the tunnel, the television cameras focused on Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz engaged in an intense conversation about their roles while Martinelli looked on.
Martinelli, as expected, took Saka's place on the right flank, but before he touched the ball, Ipswich almost scored. The game had only been going on for a few seconds when the ball passed by the visitors' left. Sam Szmodics was in space a few meters from the goal and pointed it with his foot. If he had made contact, he would have scored.
Gabriel Martinelli, as expected, took Bukayo Saka's place on the right flank
Arsenal's unconvincing performance against Ipswich will increase concern among their fans
From then on, the first half became a game of attack against defense with Arsenal frustrated by the large rows of blue shirts behind the ball. A series of patient preparations failed. The first glimpse of an opportunity was when Jurrien Timber burst from defense and unleashed a shot that crashed into the stomach of Arijanet Muric.
But then, midway through the half, Arsenal opened the scoring. A Martinelli cross was half-cleared for Leandro Trossard on the edge of the Ipswich area. Trossard ran onto Ben Johnson and delivered a cross and Havertz got behind Jacob Greaves to loft it into the net.
If there was an expectation that a goal could speed up the pace of the game, it was a false expectation. He fell back into a state of post-Christmas lethargy, as woolly as the light mist that drifted around the glow of the stadium floodlights.
The main interest was in the cameos, in the clash between Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips, two of England's great successes at Euro2020, two players whose fortunes have diverged in the years since that tournament.
Rice is now at the heart of this Arsenal team of title contenders following his departure from West Ham, while Phillips is still trying to rebuild his career after his transfer from Leeds to Manchester City stalled his progress and led to be criticized by Pep Guardiola.
Phillips did his best to compete and disrupt Arsenal's possession, but saw very little of the ball. It seems like a long time has passed since he was one of the stars of the wonderful Leeds team formed by Marcelo Bielsa.
Arsenal began the second half with greater urgency and when Phillips tripped Rice on the edge of the Ipswich area a few minutes after the break, the home fans sensed their opportunity. Martin Odegaard could only hit the free kick into the wall.
Emboldened by Arsenal's lack of teeth, Ipswich began to venture into the opposition half and launched crosses from both flanks. Their fans, behind the goal their team was now attacking, responded by raising the volume of their support.
Ipswich almost immediately paid for their new adventurous spirit. Arsenal won a corner and when Rice sent it to the far post, Gabriel ran towards him. He found it unmarked from ten feet away, but somehow managed to direct it within an inch of the post. The Arsenal center turned in disbelief.
The main interest was in the cameos, in the clash between Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips.
Arsenal had other opportunities to extend their lead. Rice unleashed a thunderous volley towards goal only to see it blocked by an Ipswich defender and Havertz missed his shot with the goal at his mercy.
Odegaard became increasingly influential as the match progressed and his momentum freed substitute Mikel Merino to unleash a stinging shot which Muric did well to deflect as it headed towards the corner of the net.
Arsenal's dominance had been such that the match should have been out of reach, but their lack of attacking advantage meant that a sense of dread accompanied every late Ipswich foray into Arsenal's half.
A better team might have been able to expose that nervousness, but even if Ipswich were willing, they were not that team. Arsenal saw the game over. They did the job. But it wasn't the kind of display that will have Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and company looking over their shoulders just yet.