Mikel Arteta hailed an “intelligent” performance by his players as second half goals by Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz sealed a well-earned 2-0 win over Brighton.
The Gunners dominated the match from start to finish and should have won by a bigger margin having had 26 efforts at goal, nine of which were on target.
Not for the first time this season, Arsenal broke the deadlock via a set piece – Jesus pouncing at the back post after a corner found its way to him via a Brighton head – before Havertz put the game out of reach with three minutes remaining, calmly slotting past keeper Bart Verbruggen having been put through by substitute Eddie Nketiah.
“Outstanding, incredible,” summed up Arteta in his post-game press conference.
“Big compliment to the team and to the players. I think we had an incredible performance against a top team. I think we fully deserved to win the game.
“I have to praise them because I know how difficult it is and what Brighton do to teams. We didn’t allow that to happen, so I’m super happy.”
Given Brighton’s recent record at Emirates Stadium, there was plenty of nervous chatter on in the concourse before kick-off. Everybody knew the Gunners would have to be at their best to beat Roberto De Zerbi’s stylish and tactically astute outfit.
Before the game, Arteta had called for efficiency from his side. In the end, patience proved to be a virtue.
“Absolutely, we had to be patient,” agreed the boss. “But at the same time, we had to be really determined against this team. Maybe [you can] have certain doubts – they start to open you up, they start to frustrate you and dominate with the ball. We didn’t allow that to happen today.
“We showed a lot of maturity and a lot of intelligence. This game against them required [us] to be really intelligent in certain areas. We’ve done that in a really good way.”
On his side squandering a number of opportunities before wrestling full control of the match, he added, “If we generate more [chances], the probability of us scoring is higher. That’s the only thing we can focus on. We have great players who can define games and who can finish actions.
“Today we needed too many, especially in big spaces. We needed too many situations to kill the game – and that was the fear, especially after half-time, that it would be one of those days. The moment you give something to this team, they’re going to take it.”
At times this season, Arsenal’s revamped midfield has struggled for fluidity but today was a clear indication that the attacking unit is starting to click, even if some of the finishing left a little to be desired.
“I think the team is clicking because they’re experiencing more and more time together,” said Arteta.
“When you talk about Kai [Havetz] or Declan [Rice], they have played more games with us now. They understand certain things much quicker. It’s easy to adapt in games because they get it.”
Today’s result temporarily takes the Gunners top of the Premier League but that could well change in the next hour if Liverpool, our next opponents, beat Manchester United.
Been watching Liverpool v Utd, first half.
Horrendous dross from both teams.
What do we want? Utd win keeps us top and hurts one of nearest rivals the most, but would no doubt fire them up ahead of next week.
Liverpool win puts them back ahead.
Maybe a dull draw is about the best?
Or an eventful draw. Maybe a couple of suspensions / key injuries.
A suspension we got. But unfortunately for the wrong team for us
Salah to pull his hamstring.
Definitely a MU win. They don’t have a prayer of getting close to us, but Liverpool are still close to the level of team they were two years ago. They’re the threat.
But manure significantly drossier
Neither team has a functioning builup (phase 2). United street savvy in this match and not even trying to play out from the back, even though that’s been an ETH trademark. They’ve got Mainoo, McTominay and Amrabat in midfield at the moment, which sounds like the type of trio that Sean Dyche or Eddie Howe would value. They can be effective in denying space and winning duels, and so far that’s kept Liverpool at arms’ length. For their part, Liverpool are so reliant on the creativity from Trent. He is absolutely ELITE with the ball, bar none, a generational type… Read more »
Amrabat has looked out of shape and completely disinterested the entire season.
Dreadful match. Only highlight was Dalot getting booked for dissent twice in two second, the idiot.
The Oliver Effect where he puts himself front and center. How you can have 2 separate offenses in 10 seconds is laughable- any integrity from pgmol and Nunez would have been off at minute 30 for kicking the ball away after committing a foul and then sarcastic clapping the official. Refs don’t want to be questioned because they can’t explain the calvinball rules they make up from game to game.
“ How you can have 2 separate offenses in 10 seconds is laughable”
You can have two separate offences in 10 second if a player commits two separate offences in 10 secinds. Very straightforward.
I thought it was a well-refereed game. Might have given cards for diving (one for each team), but didn’t see too much else wrong. I assume the second yellow to Dalot was, like Lewis Dunk’s a couple of weeks ago, because of the language he used. It’s possible that “fucking idiot” actually sounds like the Italian for “nice work, ref.”
You can’t ask for much more if you’re MA. That was Arteta ball perfected over 90 minutes, and the result to match as well. On another day that could have been a 4-5 goal performance, but much more important than that is that we restricted one of the better attacking teams in the division to decimal point expected goals. It ws a comprehensive team effort.
Before today, Brighton had scored in 32 consecutive games!
On a side note, Potter must wince every time De Zerbi gets all the credit for Brighton’s play.
Potter’s Brighton did not score much.
All of potters players bar trossard are at chelsea, who are playing to their level (12th)
Are we actually any good at corners or does our territorial domination just mean we get more attempts than anyone else?
If that Liverpool can show up next week would be welcome! What a terrible game, they do not look like champions.
If Mitoma and Ferguson had played, then Brighton would have been much better.
What’s that, they did both play? Really? I don’t remember either of them doing anything. It’s like they were both hidden under a blanket or something.
I noticed mitoma when he got booked and then when he wasn’t sent off for diving.
Bbc said we ‘edged past Brighton’ lmao.
Their livarpool bias is showing
Prefer flying under the radar. Pundits are talking up Villa, Citeh mounting their traditional second half of the season unbeaten run, the return of Liverpool and Arsenal barely squeaking by Brighton. No one wants us to win, no one expects us to win and I wouldn’t want it any other way. COYFG!!!
We are so closing to be unbeaten if we had been able to convert at least one of our many chances vs Newcastle and Villa, luckily we got that 2nd one late to make the final minutes more comfortable. If we can get an slightly better conversion rate on the great chances we create we will be unstoppable.
“ At times this season, Arsenal’s revamped midfield has struggled for fluidity but today was a clear indication that the attacking unit is starting to click, even if some of the finishing left a little to be desired.”
They’ve been clicking for a little while now. Since Ødderz came back into the side, that Ødegaard-Havertz-Rice axis has looked formidable as fuck.