Result: Arsenal 2 – 0 Brighton
Competition: Premier League
Date: 23 May 2021
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Leno, Chambers, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Xhaka, Partey, Smith Rowe, Odegaard, Pepe, Aubameyang
Subs: Runarsson, Mari, Cedric, Elneny, Ceballos, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah, Lacazette
Arsenal ended the season with a flourish thanks to a competent performance and two excellent goals by Nicolas Pepe. After a first half where Arsenal treaded water, Pepe hit two expertly taken goals within the first 15 minutes to secure the win for the Gunners.
Other results in the league dictated that Arsenal ended the season on 8th place, just outside of a European place.
Pre-Game
Arteta looked to finish the season strong with the same defensive setup that faced Crystal Palace. In midfield, Xhaka returned to partner Partey in midfield while Odegaard took Saka’s place in attack, pushing Smith Rowe to play down the flanks.
Aubameyang spearheaded the forward line once again with support from the mercurial Pepe down the right.
First Half
The match started at a brisk pace – Brighton showed why they have been the neutral’s favourite as they started as the stronger team. The Gunners couldn’t win the ball back from the away team who built up play and kept the ball excellently but just couldn’t find a cutting edge.
But within minutes, Arsenal wrestled back advantage and played with fluidity not often seen this season. The possession on the ball led to decent long ranged attempts by each of the three central midfield players, with Partey’s almost hitting the target after evading the keeper. After a season of horrible shots from range, it would have been lovely for the Ghanaian to finally have his effort hit the back of the net in front of the Emirates crowd who returned to the stadium for the first time this season.
Arsenal continued to pile on the pressure with Partey, Odegaard and Chambers the main protagonists in the build up. The first real chance of the goal, ironically, came from a set piece. Holding looked to have poked home the first goal of the game on the 30th minute from a Partey flick on. However, the defender was adjudged to have been offside when the touch was made by Partey.
The home team’s next best chance came just before half time from Arsenal’s other central defender, Gabriel. Xhaka did well to clip the ball towards Gabriel who stayed high up in the penalty box after a corner kick. Gabriel looped the header towards the far post, catching the Brighton ‘keeper off guard, but the ball could only hit the crossbar.
It was a decent first half to watch as both teams showed fluid build up play and slick passing. That said, Arsenal were the more dominant team who created some half chances in attack. For the second half, they had to add more pace and cutting edge to their dominance if they wanted to end their season with a win for the home fans.
Second Half
It took Arsenal only 3 minutes in the second half to finally add some of that cutting edge to their attack. Just like with Crystal Palace, Pepe was the protagonist. The ball bounced into the air as Pepe received the ball with his left foot. The Ivorian expertly volleyed with his weaker right foot to bury the ball into the net with so much pace that even two goalkeepers would have found it hard to have kept it out. 1-0 Pepe.
Though it wasn’t only Arsenal who had their tails up in this half. Brighton made dangerous attempts and Alexis Mac Allister almost equalled the score with a blistering counter just minutes after but could only shoot wide from an acute angle.
However, fear of squandering the lead was put to bed by Pepe again. Often profligate in possession, he again showed his killer instinct in the box as he received the ball down the right hand side of the penalty box . Despite the pathway to goal seemingly blocked by defenders, Pepe somehow managed to squeeze the ball into the far post with a casual swing of his left foot – a testament to the subtle but supreme technique applied by the forward. 2-0 Pepe.
By the 70th minute, Arsenal could have been three up but luck seemed to elude Partey once again. Xhaka fizzed in an eye of the needle pass through a crowded group of players right into Partey’s feet just outside the box. The Ghanaian produced a half turn and a powerful strike but the ball crashed against the bar and away from goal.
The final minutes of the game was an exercise in keep-ball as Arteta brought on Lacazette, Saka and Martinelli for Aubameyang, Smith Rowe and Odegaard.
Overall, a good performance to end a pretty awful 2020/21 season. Let’s hope performances like these are more commonplace in the next campaign.
I’m absolutely ok with that.
In other news : Pepe being investigated for tapping up Yves Bissouma.
Fair play lads, glad it’s over, sort of. Although if we’d strolled through opponents like this when the pressure was on, it’d be a very different season.
Strangely optimistic for next season and a proper top 4 push.
Big love to you all. Johnny 4 Hats – signing off.
COYG!!!
Bissouma in place of Xhaka for me. Partey and whoever we sign or Odegaard can play more freely if someone like Bissouma is behind them.
If the price is right. I’m hearing £40m and I’m thinking there must be someone on the continent that we can bring in for less. I dunno. Seems a lot for a player who still has a lot to prove.
If our club can spend 35 mil on Mustafi and Xhaka , i wouldnt mind 40 mil on Bissouma. Think he has had more than a decent season. I don’t think I have vouched for any other player here since I wanted us to sign Mikel Merino when he was still at Newcastle. But lets hope…
I didn’t see enough in his performance today to justify a big price tag. Looked good, tackled well, but not amazing. Xhaka had a very good game…several excellent passes on the attack.
One of the issues with Bissouma is that he wouldn’t count as homegrown, and he’d possibly be out for the African Cup, along with Partey, which would leave us very short in the middle.
Xhaka is a wonderful passer. Short ot long. Fantastic, as long as you give him room to get his head up. As soon as the game turns quick and in small spaces he becomes overly challenged. When will we learn. He doesn’t suit this league. Being a greater passer under the right conditions doesn’t equate to being what we need at this club
How good is Bissouma’s passing? Look at his stats – practically all he does is tackle.
For me it’s still the guy I hoped we sign last summer, soumare. I’d also go all in on camavinga. Those 2 first and secure the interior of our team not just next season but for the years to follow
Soumare’s probably going to Leicester, but I agree. I thought he was a better shout than Partey, last season. Cheaper, younger and not going to AFCON (who knows if they’ll reschedule other tournaments to January in future).
I think Camavinga is better, but I think it’s fanciful to even think he might choose to come to Arsenal. All the best teams in Europe will be looking at him.
I am not happy. I decided the day we lost to Villareal, I wasn’t going to be fooled by any meaningless results.
Arsenal fans are like guys that get cheated on by the girlfriend and forget about it after she makes them a tea.
I would not be happy if I followed a football team but had contempt for its fans and, by extension, the club, like some people do on here.
I wouldn’t be happy if I ignored having the third most points in the league in 2021 following the clear out of dead wood in January and the commitment to crucial young players who could no longer be denied. If you can’t see that the trend is exceptionally positive since the nadir of the early season then that comes down to how you’ve chosen to frame it.
To be fair, if you’ve got the word nostalgia in your name, you’re probably looking backwards, not forwards.
Chelsea got more points than us in 2021. There are three teams that got more points than us. Just to make the little correction.
Do you mean we were playing good football? What is the improvement? We all said Arteta should be sacked. You changed your mind and I did not. We’ve been 8th for two years and people are happy. Can’t understand it.
I volunteer to do the dirty job of telling fans the way it is.
Which fans are happy?
C’mon, admit it, we all are. I remember cursing the skies when we won two league titles in three years between 89-91 followed by a Cup Winners Cup. And then my hero Bruce Rioch came along and finally I was a happy Arsenal fan. But then bloody Dickvid Dein had to sack Bruce almighty and replace him with Arsehole Wenger who won a whole bunch of silvery stuff. Gah. So annoying. I used to lie awake at night and dream of finishing 12th. Thank god for the last 10 years or so. The mediocrity that we all intrinsically crave as… Read more »
Mate, you have to take the wins where you can get them or your life would be truly miserable
Depends on the tea
I don’t get all these pressure-off-they-win-games talk. It makes no sense to me. It is just pundits’ narrative that we have caught without much reasoning.
Chelsea, United, Leicester, Brighton, Totts, Newcastle, Leeds, and others, were beaten when the pressure was on.
All we need is to better our record this season against Wolves, Burnley, Liverpool and City, and we’d be firmly in top 4.
Perhaps. It just felt a little this season that when we desperately needed a performance, it evaded us. But once we dropped out of the Europa and the race for 6th, we pick up 5 wins on the bounce.
Great teams win games they need to win. We win games we don’t.
You could also say, if the teams above us did better against xyz, they’d be firmly further ahead of us. Everybody except City and Utd had bad seasons
Can’t believe Leicester capitulated and we missed St Totteringham’s Day. Next season…
Well done Pepe at least, 15 goals.
16!!
True. 9 in his last 13 PL matches.
Pépé can score 25 goals if he gets transferred to Southampton where he will get no pressure.
Can we sign bissouma like right now. Brighton need an striker and we can lend nketiah to sweeten the deal.
I’d certainly be happy with Bissouma, Buendia/ødegaard, and a back-up leftback and rightback.
Crazy what happens when we actually play him, and actually use him in his favoured RW position where he can cut and shoot. Shame it’s taken this long to figure out, but hopefully that’s something we can build on next season.
Amen
the other way to see it is that he was actually underperforming in that position before and the time he’s spent on the sidelines has helped him achieve his current form, rather than being poor management from arteta
I rather preferred leaving it at “other results in the league”.
Brendon Rodgers lol, its ludicrous how he often bottles cl qualification. Its a blessing not being in elc.
We should take this opportunity to focus on good league results and bringing the FA cup back where it rightfully belongs.
I’m gutted for Leicester. I can’t stand everything about Chelsea and wanted them to miss top 4. But, happy we’re not in Europe, I couldn’t celebrate our goals today.
We won 1 game this season after a Europa match. We don’t have the squad to compete in the league and Europe.
17 goals
A solid performance to end the season, but ultimately all for nothing. Sp*rs jammy as ever stealing it in the dying embers of the game to stay ahead of us yet again. Now it’s time for the clear-out to begin. Absolutely no excuses now.
But how sweet is the sweet sweet irony of Bale scoring for them for the last time to send them into a competition nobody wants to play in? I’m 100% OK with a season out of Europe if it means not playing in a Mickey Mouse Thursday night social league.
Personally I enjoy watching Arsenal play and honestly it’s one of the few things I can look forward to every week, even if we are awful. Having fewer games to watch us play and cheer on the team will definitely be sad for me. It’ll be a strange feeling having mid-week evenings empty for the first time since I started supporting Arsenal. No European football will also mean fewer chances for our youngsters, one less chance of a trophy, less money and makes us less attractive for arrivals. Sure, maybe there’s a benefit in the league to not playing those… Read more »
Same here. First season since I started following Arsenal that there will be no midweek European games at all. But I guess that bodes well for our rebuilding efforts and if we get it right, the brighter days are just round the corner.
It’s not just about the extra games, With no midweek fixtures more time can be spent on planning, training and tactics. Having five/six days every week to prepare for the games will hopefully make a big difference.
I hate the sunday evening kickoffs.. Nothing worse than starting your week with a home defeat against burnley or something like that.
So i am happy it will be Saturdays again next season.
Also think that our league form will improve, so I’m fine with not being in that weird competition, just hoped it would be everton instead of spuds
Totally agree…I will happily sacrifice the piss taking text to my very few deluded spurs associates..re St totteringhams day.
A piss poor excuse of a comp and glad to be out of it.
A massive rebuild needed but not sure if we are willing, able or have the right structure in place to implement it.. glad a horrible season is over and let’s hope for brighter times as we are as close to rock bottom as we have been in the Premier league
See you in the conference Spuds.
Aha! I’m with blogs on this one. It’s a useless competition that is actually a net negative to be involved in.
I’ll leave st totts for this last year and predict we’ll be 5 places above them next season when kane goes to city. Superb result today.
Let’s focus on the cups and the league next season, I’m fully behind that.
Pepe brilliant.
Odegaard and Ceballos back to Madrid.
Bassouma in.
Buy Joe Willock
Pity, I just don’t think we’re in a position where we can be shelling out £25-30m for a young athletic box to box midfielder who screws goals.
*Scores not screws!!!
*Gals not goals!!!
*Goats not goals!!!
Bit pricey i reckon
Screwing gals? Just following up the discussion.
Odegaard was good. There was more movements today and you could see odegaard thriving when there is movement ahead of him. But yes get Bissouma, perfect shield for defence.
Any player thrives when there is movement ahead of him. The talent is to find space when there is none.
But if no one is making the run whats the use of finding space. That floating ball in the opposition box last match showed that he can find space and it was the movement of Martinelli that got us the goal. Every playmaker needs players ahead of him making runs.
I think chambers would be perfect shield. His skills and judgement the last two months have been great. Isn’t the team better with him in the team?
On his last loan spell I think he was used more as a midfield shield than as a defender. With his ability in the ball I have often wondered why he has not been tried in that position.
Pepe’s been showing what he can do lately.
I won’t call him Gervinho MkII anymore
On today’s form please try and sign Odegaard.
He’s gone mate.
Real Madrid or Arteta’s Non Euro Borefest…..?
It’s a poser……
Ole!
Only 6 points off the CL spots and next year we’ll have no midweek football. This season has been shit, but we will be back bigger and better next year to take our place at the top table. COME ON YOU FUCKING GUNNERS
“..next year we’ll have no midweek football..”
I think this is a blessing in disguise any which way you look at it. Liverpool a case in point.
Yes and it should be reflected in the transfer market. I’d love to see us sell 6-7 squad depth players and drop all the money on a top RB and CAM that can start all 38 games next year as we return to the Champions League
Didn’t Chelsea win the league the season after finishing 9th or something like that
Amazing isn’t. Except for that terrible series of games two monthsago, they could be in cl
Basically, if we’d not cocked up December (losses at home vs Wolves and Burnley, draw at home vs Southampton, loss in the NDL) we’d be in the Champions League. This season has been awful, but below the surface there are plenty of reasons to believe we can do something exciting next year
Do the results mean that Sp*rts have to play in the Mickey Mouse Euro League?
Yess. Haha. Best news of the year!
I didn’t want us anywhere near that pile of sh’te.
A giant waste of time and energy.
I look forward to seeing them knocked out in the Croatian second tier again.
Fantastic.
Ryan Mason’s magical spurs team will be playing Eastern European WiFi codes next year. For once, I don’t mind waiting for St Tott’s
Yes, though they will argue it will be a trophy for them.
They couldn’t even beat Dynamo Zagreb this year – imagine the scenes when they lose the semi final to Genk next
More like Winterslag of Austria
You broke the one rule of Winterslag mate. You can only slag them in winter.
Its winter in Australia. All’s Fair in Love and Global Sport
Stand by for the DVD
If they get to win it. That have a way of lossing games in places where you can hardly pronounce the name. And they would visit a lot of those places
Yes sir! Will they play Fridays and Mondays?
Nice game, but Kroenke is still in as are the other oligarchs, scheiks and Yanks so my Silver membership will not be renewed after 40 years of supporting the club. It’s been nice but it’s over.
Don’t forgot to explain why at [email protected]. The more they see this, and the more of us that visibly show our destain (less bums on seats is another way) the more pressure they’ll come under to leave.
I respect your stand mate… love the club, but not it’s ‘owners’.
What was Pepe doing with Bissouma right there at the end. Giving him a tour of the Emirates stadium?
Exactly what I was going to say. Good lad.
Agent Pepito😜
“This is our Tunnel Area”
🤣👍🍺
That is proper recruiting for once. They both know each other from Lille days too. So a transfer would make sense, right? 😉
Bissouma was born in the Ivory Coast too. But Mali have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations, so that could be a problem.
They were talking pussy lol
Showing him to his locker by the look of it.
Works for me. Only shame is Spurs above us but with no Kane and Bale next season, Thursdays in the arse end of nowhere for them!
I’m already waiting for them to bottle that competition against the almighty Villareal. Will be tasty.
Crazy to think that at the end of Spurs’ golden era (in colour TV) they’ll be going back to mid table with 0 trophies won and a billion pound of debt. Meanwhile, certain teams won the world’s oldest club competition 4 times at the nadir of their ‘downward spiral’. Levels.
“In colour TV…”😂😂😂😂😂😂
Happy with the win. And Tottenham are welcome to that insipid waste of time and effort known as the Europa Conference League.
Perhaps Pepe is really good and just needed a year to bed in, learn the language etc, like most do who come to the premier league
We’re paying the third instalment this summer so we should unlock even more additional features next year 😜
Yeah he’s chaotic good. Really destabilizing to defenses who’ve figured out our patterns. He’s fun to watch.
I guess that would make Willian true neutral.
Nah willian is definitely lawful neutral
Yep, awful neutral
Leicester are more Sp**sy than sp**s
Not possible. At least Leicester know how to score in a cup final. One team took home the FA Cup this year, the other, took home keyrings.
Remarkably poor to finish outside the top 4 given the situation they were in. End of season collapse as per. Also Liverpool and Chelsea, both of whom have had pretty bad seasons and were what, 2 points away from us at one point, manage to nick the Champions League places. Seems like every single one of our rivals has managed to pull the rabbit out the hat while we’ve just been left trailing.
Might have people disagree with me here, but I’m glad they didn’t qualify for the CL. Ever since the Super League nonsense came out we’ve had Linekar et al giving it the big one about how they should replace us in the ‘big 6’ and it turned me against the club. They’re 13 FA cups, 12 League Titles behind, and I don’t want them becoming an established Champions League club so that this stupid narrative goes away. Maybe they can chat to Spurs now Kane is on his way
They won the Super Bottle I in this case, but still won a cup. Maybe Spurs wins the UECL. Which will only show the level of that competition.
Fitting that they beat the previous champions in the Super Bottle Final today.
Nah, be fair.
They won a major trophy last week….
Good stuff Pepe. Well at least those of us that didn’t want to be in the conference league, will not worry have to worry about it next season.
From what I saw today, Bissouma will fit right in at Arsenal. Just about every pass was backwards or sideways
🤣🤣🤣
🤣👏🍺
If Bissouma were to join, we’d have no midfield during the AFCON in the winter
That will be that. No European football next season.
Time to tweak the team, I say; not a surgical operation.
We have a solid team emerging.
If Pepe can take this form into next season, and Partey comes more into the party, a good back up for Tierney, a right back, a replacement for Ødegaard, replace Lacazette with a younger, more clinical striker, we are good to go.
Let’s hope Willock’s record eighth goal in a row is in an Arsenal shirt.
and that included goals against sp*rs, man city, Leicester, west ham and Liverpool. very impressive.
Almost a perfect day for us.
We won yet avoided the Micky-Mouse Europa Challenge Cup, or whatever it’s called. But it’s a shame the Chavs sneaked into the CL for next season.
It’s a joke that we could only win these games when the pressure was off: we didn’t deserve European football next season. A season lasts 38 games.
I still want Arteta out. I’ve got no optimism for next season.
We beat Chelsea, Man Utd, Spurs and Leicester when the pressure was on and improved immeasurably as the season progressed. Defence much tighter. New faces coming in so no need to be so negative.
I think I’d sooner see a bold move re Auba and Laca and find a striker who actually suits our young stars, than start over with a new manager. If the players that remain are bought in, then that’s half the battle for a manager. I’d take the same chance that not only will Saka/ESR/Martinelli/Pepe will jump another level next season, but so will Arteta.
The table doesn’t lie. We finished eighth.
Our problem all season has been creating and scoring chances. That’s something that needs to be urgently addressed. Perhaps a new manager could do something about that.
We are on somewhat of an upward trend in terms of results. Still a bumpy ride with some dire performances mixed in, but we have been one of the more consistent PL teams in 2021. There is room for a sliver of optimism if you look for it.
I know you don’t do optimism, but for many of us there are signs of improvement, and the rubbish performances are at least mixed in with a few wins now.
Under Arteta we’ve almost always produced the goods when the pressure is on, bar Villarreal. Our worst results have come when we took games for granted I.e. Europa quarter final first leg, those awful 8 points dropped at home in December
Oh behave mate.
While you were out Christmas shopping, we were in free fall, burrowing our way down to 16th…..
But since then… a bit improved overall.
Slightly off topic but Joe Willock making it 7/7!! Hope he can bring this form into the arsenal squad next season (and he’s given the chance!).
No place to hide for Arteta next year. Just feel sorry for Willock, the type of football we play is going to stifle him. Our manager needs to stop being so rigid.
if we can get a genuinely world-class midfielder/CAM like Grealish then I’ve no issue in selling Willock to fund it. I don’t see why we should sell him to pay for somebody like Berge/Bissouma, and if we keep him just to bench him I’ll be furious.
I honestly think we need someone in the mould of Verratti, tenacious yet very technical. Pity he wouldn’t leave PSG for us.
I think it depends on the 10 we sign. If he’s a technically sure player like Odegaard then I think we can afford a slightly less refined technician that offers a goal threat in midfield (I’ve heard there’s a good one in Newcastle) but I’d also be very behind the purchase of a Veratti-style midfielder next to an output machine at 10 like Buendia.
You’d better go and Rob a bank then, sunshine.
Uncle Stanley will be playing the Pandemic Card ( Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect 200m) like a two dollar hooker.
*rob
And that’s with the hair gel for starters…..
You mean like how we stifle ESR, Saka, and Tierney?
It’s strange, but I would have sworn they’d had a reasonably good season.
Thank fuck this season is over. Shame we didn’t get St Totteringhams but hey ho. Lots to do before next season so let’s get on with it.
What a great atmosphere with the fans back! The players felt more confident and played with an energy.
I think it’s good we didn’t qualify for Europe. We’ve been papering over the cracks with final day results for a while now. It’s better to suffer the consequences a little and hit rock bottom sometimes. And with no European commitments, more time on the training pitch might be helpful.
No excuses for Mikel next season. I really hope he’s the one.
Also, a big thanks to all the players who may have played their last games. I may not have loved them all the time, but most of them put in the effort, even if it didn’t translate to performance. Good luck to them!
Nice post, good to see that comment re the departing players. I’m never a fan of the “he’s lazy” or “he doesn’t care” BS as you just cannot assume that is why someone isn’t performing. All you can judge is the performances and how they impact the game.
Though the ECL is clearly third tier and we may be better off without it, there is definitely a part of me that wanted more games for our younger and squad players. (And selfishly, more Arsenal games to track as a fan.)
7 points from CL. 6 of them from stupid send offs vs Wolves and Burnley. Just add s couple of games were we didn’t start the game before 2nd half. This team has been good enough to get top 4, but our own stupidity kept us outside
We’ll get there next season!
It’s remarkable how much better this team is with Xhaka in it.
Playing in the middle
I don’t like the narrative that Partey is our best CM and we’re looking for his new midfield partner. Potential-wise? Probably. But performance wise, Xhaka was our best CM this season.
Now I do understand that 1 the fact that Xhaka is our best CM is a story in itself and 2 a different partner might unlock Partey’s strengths, yet I wouldn’t be that surprised if we bring in another CM (which I support btw) and Xhaka eventually benches him anyway.
Oh come on, Xhaka has been a dead duck against better teams.
Please Arsenal GET RID
your girly eyes need glasses
Clever girl
Nonsense. Xhaka has had an excellent season and since coming back from suspension he has been a key player against all teams
He’s taken this club from top four to 8th. With tangible regression every season. He may be good enough for 8th, but he’s not good enough to get us better.
Funny, I thought the entire team had been a bit under par.
Remind me. Did we win all the games he didn’t play in, and lose all the games he did play in?
Top post well said.
Time to get rid of this shirt throwing points shipping has been.
If we can’t do any better than him next season then you might as well write off any chance of top six now.
Extremely on point. Xhaka is a baller. Good thing is he is slowly beginning to get the respect he deserves on these streets.
Erm, you mean Pepe….?
Imagine Pepe was backed by his manager and worked in a system designed to get the most out of him
Exactly what I said a few weeks ago. We’d have a purring goal and assist machine. Needless to say I was downvoted in droves – but the dude is proving them wrong. Four in two with barely the handbrake off.
Sorry, but are we now slagging off Arteta because Pepe scored twice?
Mate, where have you been all season…?
Glad that’s over and done with. A good win and nice to end the season on a high. It does leave me a bit confused about the investment we need in the squad. Striker: Worried about aubas decline, think we’ll sell laca. Are we bringing in talent here or are we looking at martinelli as second choice? Attacking three: saka, Pepe, esr, martinelli, (willock?) are a nice set here and we need to balance giving them playing time without excessive burden. Perhaps someone here? Midfield: Partey+Xhaka looked good today but won’t be sufficient against the top teams. I’d like a… Read more »
Is only league cup for our young gunner to showcase there talent next season
Will no European football means that we need to trim down our squad, aka adios Willian/ Laca/ Kola/ Bellerin/ Elneny? Too much fats to trim within one window.
Next season just focus on players with much hunger and will power to perform in matches, esp Martinelli, Balogun, and Willock!!
Joe Willock!
Seven in seven
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Pepe.
Four in two.
Is there a case for using willock in the lacazette role? Striker that drops to midfield to connect play sort of thing.