Arsenal: Raya, Partey, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Jorginho, Merino, Nwaneri, Trossard, Jesus
Subs: Neto, Tierney, Lewis-Skelly, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Odegaard, Kabia, Butler-Oyedeji, Martinelli
Arsenal missed the opportunity to go three points behind Liverpool after drawing 1-1 against Brighton at the AMEX on Saturday, despite a first half goal from Ethan Nwaneri.
Mikel Arteta made three changes from the side that beat Brentford on Wednesday, with Jorginho, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard all coming into the side, alongside Ethan Nwaneri who retained his place in the eleven.
Kai Havertz failed to make the matchday squad for the second successive game after struggling with illness, while Martin Odegaard also dropping to the bench having fallen victim to the same sickness bug going around the squad.
It was a measured start Arsenal who maintained spells of possession without really threatening until Gabriel Jesus was played through by Jorginho after ten minutes, but could only fire straight at Bart Verbruggen from a difficult angle.
Replays showed he was offside from the initial pass but it was an encouraging move from the Gunners who beat the Brighton backline with ease.
Just minutes later, Arteta’s men would open the scoring and it came from the left boot of Nwaneri – who scored his second top flight goal of the season – becoming the first ever Arsenal player to score more than one Premier League goal before his 18th birthday.
Rice and Merino combined brilliantly on the touchline, before the Spaniard set Nwaneri away who ran into the box and squeezed an effort under the body of Verbruggen. 1-0.
Having controlled most of the first half, Arsenal were fortunate not to concede an equaliser when they were caught playing out from the back, with Joao Pedro finding Simon Adingra who skewed wide – off balance – with the goal at his mercy.
That proved to be a wake up call for the visitors, who almost doubled their lead when Nwaneri inadvertently hit the bottom of the post from a corner, before Gabriel Jesus headed another corner over with Merino also going for the same ball.
Heading into half time, the game was becoming quite frantic with the home fans voicing their frustrations at every Arsenal set piece, before Nwaneri was eventually booked for time-wasting after taking too long from a corner.
Both teams made changes at half time with Gabriel Martinelli replacing Nwaneri, while the hosts introduced Georginio Rutter and Yankuba Minteh (in place of Brajan Gruda and Matt O’Riley) in hopes of changing the game.
After an even start to the second half, the game turned within a matter of seconds when Merino missed a presentable opportunity – miscuing his shot after being found by a clever Rice free kick along the ground – before Brighton went up the other end and won themselves a penalty.
Joao Pedro looked to head the ball past William Saliba, only for Saliba to catch the Brazilian with his head which was deemed enough contact for a penalty by referee Anthony Taylor. Pedro stepped up and found the corner, sending Raya the wrong way. 1-1.
With the game becoming increasingly stretched, Brighton were inches away from taking the lead when Minteh got free down the right hand side and was allowed to advance into the box unchallenged, with his low cross somehow evading both Pedro and Mitoma in the middle.
An already mixed and matched Arsenal team were visibly struggling and finding it harder to control transitions, with Brighton surging forward at every opportunity despite the route to David Raya proving difficult.
There were some late opportunities for the visitors from set piece situations – Thomas Partey heading over in injury time was probably their best – although once Brighton equalised you had a feeling they lacked the reserves (and options) to find a second wind.
The Gunners’ unbeaten run continues but this point does very little for them in their pursuit of Liverpool, who have two games in hand and could extend their lead to 11 points.
A miserable, wet and windy night on the South East Coast proved to be just that – miserable.
Disaster, 5 points away from Liverpool and it could be 11 with theirvtwo games in hand. Referee decisions against us are crazy (eg Rice). Chance of winning the PL practically zero.
Referees and injuries, both are very damaging to our hopes, three seasons in a row.
You’d be on a safe bet that no player from another team will be dismissed for delay the restart again.
Last season Tomiyasu was the only player to be sent off for taking too long to take a throw in.
And martinelli was the only player sent off for two fouls in the same passage of play the year before. With arsenal you get to see thing you will never see in any other game of football across the globe
Putting everything on the refs and injuries is lazy bailing out some very poor performances like the 2md half of today. Yes we have had injuries and some bad decisions, but the team has shelled out some pathetic displays. That 2nd half half has very poor.
I’m not putting everything on the refs. We’ve had some pretty pathetic performances this season but there’s no denying we’ve had a lot of decisions going against us. Decisions that no other so called top club gets.
If you combine a relatively poor performance and bad luck with injuries with referees making insane decisions against you it doesn’t leave you much of a chance to win a championship. If only the refs had reffed us normally then even taking into consideration our lest than stellar performances we’d probably be at least level with Liverpool right now.
This is exactly it. Liverpool have had some average performances as well, but they’ve usually managed to scrape the win because the referee wasn’t clearly doing everything they could to stop them. We were a bit shit today, but with a fair ref, we’d have won anyway.
You can play pathetically and still win. You can play pathetically but be reffed favorably. We accept bad form and bad playing but it would also help if we all treated equally.
Every year it’s the same. If it’s not refereeing decisions it’s key injuries or in recent years just trying to take on the juggernaut of Man City. It’s frustrating that the season City are going through a slump and we should have a clear shot at the title, we’re also going through a slump of our own and Slot in his first season at Liverpool has hit the ground running. As a club we don’t seem to catch much of a break.
A fresh manager with an experience squad absolutely ready to go.
Obviously Slot being the fresh manager and his squad is ready to go. Unless everyone disagrees, which is fair enough.
I don’t recall injuries being an issue last season. might be wrong though.
Timber, Tomi, Partey, Jesus, ESR the longest out.
No one will win a league starting with Trossard and Jesus up front. Awful performance either without (other than goal) any fluidity going forward. Concede the league is done and concentrate on winning a cup. Hope we don’t lose some big players in the summer.
I don’t know many teams (if any) that beat Brighton away with 5 cast iron first teamers out.
It was always going to be a tough ask, even harder when we concede a bizarre penalty that I’ve never really seen given before (tell me the old, old story).
But I don’t think you can criticise a team or a squad on a night like tonight. It’s just shitty luck, on and off the field.
Did you see there injury list. Much worst than ours. Plus they they had two starters on the bench. That’s why they have not won in 7 games.
I found Jesus disappointing, even though he ran his socks off.
Couldn’t hold the ball up and always seems to be offside when he gets a chance…
If it is Cunha we go for, I can see why…..straight upgrade.
I didn’t. But I thought they looked good. Strong in defence and probably created more than we did.
I dunno. I had kinda low expectations as soon as I saw the starting XI. And, given the bug that’s going round, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the starters weren’t 100%.
But a point away at Brighton will never be an awful point. Unfortunately in this context, due to poor performances in previous games, it is an awful point and probably an end to a title charge.
I’m sure some of the starters weren’t 100%, and the team selection wasn’t ideal. We gave the ball away too much and weren’t as sharp as we could be, but at the end of the day this team were fighting against twelve men for the whole match, were fouled over and over and given nothing, and only lost to a dodgy penalty the likes of which will never be seen again. You’re right, a hard fought point away at Brighton in shitty weather can’t be an awful point. Fuck PGMOL, match fixing one game at a time.
No chance.
I doubt vey much whether their injury list was much worse than our injury/illness/suspension list. We had 7 starters out of the team that began the game. Both fullbacks, 2 of our midfield and our front 3. Their players were much fitter/fresher than ours. We badly needed Partey in midfield. H
I agree completely with you on all points. But what we can criticise is management/board for going into this season with such a small squad and then calling it shitty luck when we have fatigue and injuries. I know this isn’t fifa and we can’t just keep buying players. But we fell short last season with the squad and failed to supplement it adequately enough this season, especially in attack. We have not had adequate backup for Saka for how many seasons now? Can’t call it bad luck when he is one of the most fouled players in the league… Read more »
I don’t know man.
We’ve got three RWF’s – Saka, Sterling and Nwaneri. All of them are out.
I’m just not sure any depth of squad can legislate for that sort of bad luck in one single position.
Who is Liverpool’s and City’s 4th choice RWF?
Problem is Sterling should not be a 2nd choice for a title winning team
Absolutely, while the refs have done us no favour, where the team is currently is greatly down to the reluctance in the transfer market.
do we merit a title beeing unable to put 2 in brighton‘s net?
Even Haaland struggles without service. There was no creativity from the midfield, the top guys had to rely on scapes, but it’s ok to throw GJ and Trossard under the bus when the issue was our midfield sucked.
Rice and Merino were excellent in the first half. Partey played well, often in advance positions too.
How many balls aside from the Nwaneri assist made it to the front three in a dangerous zone where they could do something about it? You can’t slate the attackers if the mid is not fluent and feeding them chances they waste. And what do you mean by excellent? they were functional without being spectacular. Basically ok. I would argue Zinchenko would have progressed the ball far better than Moreno. (We might have to have an injury crisis before we see Zinny as a left 8) and in all honest he cant do worse. The jeopardy is at LB for… Read more »
Our passing is awful, our long passing especially . It is freaky how we manage to lose games/players in such bizarre ways. having said that, our forward line (without Saka) is no where near good enough to win us the league.
Yet Brighton only scored thanks to a Christmas gift of a penalty by the ref, the like never to be given again, certainly not against liverpool.
It’s not like we’re starting them every game. May I remind you Man City won the league a few times having started Jesus up front in many games. He’s not been our first choice striker either, and Trossard, well i kind of agree about him actually… He had a good start to his Arsenal career, especially with his bench appearances, but it seems teams have more or less figured him out and he shouldn’t be a regular starter for us.
Perhaps if Saka and Havertz had been fit, Martinelli not lurgied, they wouldn’t have started either. Just a thought.
Missing a front four that would walk into most teams in the league because of injury and illness. Were you aware?
They were missing Ferguson, Welbeck, mitoma and minteh. Were you aware of that
The front four that would indeed walk into most teams of the league except for the ones going for the title! Only Saka gets in Liverpool or City, maybe Odegaard (but not on current form). You honestly believe Martinelli or kai are starting for Liverpool or City? We are not competing against most teams, we are competing against the other title contenders.
I agree 100%. We almost certainly won’t win the league until we buy a stellar striker….not easy because although we have money…others have more. But we are good enough to win against anyone on our day. Let’s win a cup or 3! My worry is we buy another good, but not elite, body up top. We need real goalscoring quality. In my view, with Saka out and with Havertz excellent but not a true striker, it’s legitimate to ask if every single individual Liverpool forward is better than any of our strikers? …..and sadly I think the answer might be… Read more »
I don’t want to overreact at this point but F*ck man!
Moreno is not it. Should have been subbed with 20 mins to go. Play Zinchenko for crying out loud the guy plays mid for Ukraine. When Odegaard came on Moreno was barely on his legs, he had to bring him an energy drink. This is not to say we lost points cause of him, that is on PGMOL and that headline loving nincompoop Taylor.
And what is with the scheduling of our games?
It’s a point we can just take it and run with it.
I thought Merino played well
Me too, except the one big miss. He’s miles better than Zinchenko
No! Zinny is by far a better passer and probes a lot more with his clever passing. Moreno is functional in the defensive sense and his passing is safer. But is slow on the ball, speed of thought, and barely makes any threatening passes. You have seen Zinny operating as a LB and check how much pressure he instills on the opposite team by moving to the mid and give us a lot more dimensions to our passes and attack points. He can do the Left 8 job just as well. He might not win more headers from long balls… Read more »
Are we entitled to being injury-free and referees making decisions that we want all the time? Chelsea lost Konate for the remainder of the season yesterday.
Chelsea lost Konate a few seasons ago.
Most teams go through injury crises. Most teams get some very poor decisions from the refs. Maybe this club gets more of them than others, but dropped points against Brighton, Everton, Bournemouth, Newcastle were down to poor performance. The fans don’t have to acknowledge it, but the board and management need to. The sooner the do and fix some of it, the better cos I can’t see Saliba staying too long without winning big.
I would take poor form and bad players over a clear and transparent agenda against Arsenal. We literally have to beat the opposition, the refs and the media in each and every game. Never seen anything like this.
SO now I only hope that Liverpool suffer bad form becaue they get all the luck from the refs and the establishment.
I still havebt given up. 20 games it’s a long time.
Valiant effort by the team, but we’ve run out of players and Odegaard clearly isn’t well. Some years your luck is just out at every turn.
Pretty poor 2nd half performance but yes a lot of it down to fatigue and illness. I really don’t understand why the Brentford match had to be scheduled on the 1st and not December 30th like all the other teams, when we had a 6 day gap before that. F**ed by the cunts who make the schedule.
The scheduling of our games being in the title race is down-right criminal. Why did we have to play on the 27th, 1st, and 4th getting far less recovery time than our direct competitors?
If Jesus wasn’t offside twice when there was no reason to be then maybe we would have been comfortably in front before their penalty.
Luck is one thing, being so arrogant and stubborn in the transfer window last summer has now well and truly caught up with us.
Honestly, I can’t see Arteta improving from a second place finish, and it could have been worse this season if City weren’t very poor. People will point out the players missing, but big and serious teams find a way to manage this, specially after going ahead, and also it was obvious at the start of the season that the team lacked firepower.
Not sure what Arteta did wrong tonight. Bringing off Nwaneri was the right decision on a yellow, as we can’t go down to 10 again.
what about start ødegaard to go 4-0 up in ½ hour and then take him off…
I’d be surprised if it wasn’t also obvious to Arteta. You do realise surely that he’s not the only one making the transfer decisions, and that he doesn’t have unlimited funds?
Letting so many players go, Eddie, Nelson, Vieira, who all contributed last season and the season before must not have been his fault? 😀
are you for real, Eddie, benson vieira. One pundit just called Eddie the worst flop of the transfer window, he’s hopeless. Ain’t scored a premiership goal yet for palace. And you are seriously saying benson and vieira would make a difference. Mental
I’m not a massive Viera fan at all, but I wish we had him now. The other 2 I agree 100%…..Eddie was a superb sale
Viera can’t even get games for Porto, he’s only played 9 and he’s got a goal and an 2 assists. His coach took him out of the squad a week ago for lack of application in training. He wasn’t at the level when he was with us and is regressing. ESR is the only one I miss but he’s been injured for Fulham, just coming back, so unfortunately I think the club got that one right, always been injury prone. We lost due to dodgy ref decision, illness, injuries and recruiting too much for defensive control and not attacking flair.… Read more »
He’s been given decent funds and squandered it on goalies and mediocre players. Way too many misses on players.
“squandered it on goalies”? Leaving aside that you too are assuming Arteta is just sitting there with a stack of cash and playing Football Manager making all the decisions himself. Our net spend on Raya after selling Ramsdale was 5 million quid if I’m not mistaken, and the upgrade has been significant to the point that even the most fervent Ramsdale fans (of which I kind of was one) have been silenced. Mediocre players, sure there have been a couple like Tross and Merino, but both of them cost 20-something mil and that’s what that amount of money buys you.… Read more »
I bought Marquinhos, Lokonga, Mari, Cedric, Willian, Tavares
You bought them? Edu is that you? If so you’d remember that other than Lokonga they’ve all been sub-10mil signings, and Lokonga was 17mil. He and Vieira (who I forgot) are probably the biggest busts of Arteta’s tenure, and I don’t think you’ll find a manager that has zero busts, it’s impossible, plus neither is a done deal, we might still recoup some of what we paid for them.
We played against 12 men for 90 minutes today.
“but big and serious teams find a way to manage this”
You mean like city?
What would you do differently with the injuries, Timber suspended and a couple of important players (Havertz, Ødegaard, Martinelli) sick with a flu bug?
I think the problem is that those – so called – “big” clubs usually win league titles because of their squad depth. Real, Bayern, City or even Liverpool when they finally won with Klopp were packed with quality players. I think we approximataly are jut right there where our squad is at the moment. We are very good in general,- our best 11 is capable of giving a good fight for anyboby, but our squad as a whole is still vulnarable. A series of injuries, or the loss of our 1 or 2 key players are hurting us way too… Read more »
But last season and the season before we had fringe yet useful players to call when required: Eddie, Nelson, Vieira, …
Starting the season without attacking options is a joke.
as Hans Landa once said, “that’s a bingo.’
he did say it with more enthusiasm but i can’t muster that right now.
Should have gone to Specsavers. I certainly can see him improving on second. Top, top coach and manager.
Again, Arteta had made a rod for his own back in not reinforcing the forward line sufficiently the last couple of years.
Sick of this club letting me down every single year. Typical in a season when City are rubbish, Arsenal decide to join them, i am so tired of being an Arsenal fan
Yes, just you.
No, there are others who are tired too. They probably don’t reflect the majority of us though.
Sure. I get being frustrated but fuck the self-pitying bullshit. If you don’t like it, there’s an easy solution.
That’s dark blogs, I hate the self pitying fans too but wouldn’t go that far. They could just stop following the team instead.
That’s what I meant
There’s Sp*ds, they can try that.
Now i see why Arseblog has stagnated like the club. Fans cannot have an opinion without admins attacking them. Arsenal has nowhere near reached their potential as a club in over 2 decades. Disappointing fans year in year out. What is my solution? Explain yourself Arseblog? You want me to stop supporting them and support another club? Genuine question? What is my solution? What you suggest i do to stop hurting year after year? Just let it slide, dont care? Please dont tell me something and not explain the reason for saying what you say
I don’t have to explain myself – but you’re not the only one who feels bad when we drop points.
Blogsy, love the site and am grateful for the brilliant and ad-free content. Of course you don’t *have* to explain yourself, but you said there was an easy solution to Arsenlaman29’s problem. He asked you what it was and it seems to me that telling him would be the right thing to do. Ebo even thought you meant a permanent solution, as in actual fucking suicide.
C’mon guys, Christmas wasn’t that long ago.
Dude, stfu with the stagnating blog bollocks. The articles are great and the community is vibrant with many knowledgeable members. If you really feel THAT bad, then for the love of God talk to somebody. Samaritans is 116 123. Not kidding. If you’re fine and I’ve misunderstood, tell me to fuck off and all is good.
Mate, with all due respect, there are plenty of other Arsenal sites to follow that will match your energy, this one may not be for you.
I’m a lower league fan. We get our best players poached if we overachieve, often have to watch poor quality football, have had times where we have stared into the abyss of liquidation, have fans of larger clubs ripping up seats at our “tinpot” stadium when they come. Even if we get up into the second tier, it likely will be for a single season owing to the cost to compete there. And I love being a supporter! You follow one of the great clubs of history, laden with trophies, brilliant players, and wonderful levels of quality play. It is… Read more »
Then go away and find a club that makes you happy.
I have been an Arsenal fan since I was 8 years old and have seen up’s and down’s. This club reaches further than your disappointment, I am not tired of anything, I was so so lucky to see the up’s, stop with the unnecessary negativity, it was a draw away from home with some key players missing. Cop on to yourself FFS.
This has been such an unenjoyable season till this point. Almost every week I feel like we’re scarred by the last 2 seasons and don’t want to take any risks and just don’t want to finish any lower than 2nd. We we’re screwed over in the match against them and still had no fire in us. I’m not English and I’m gonna say something that I find to be such an English football sentiment, we just don’t want it enough. I don’t feel happy watching the matches because I feel like what I have been sold for the past 3… Read more »
Any team who is coming second in the league consistently is an excellent team. But yes, we want that little bit extra.
Perspective. Why do some people lack it, fall prey to their emotions and have to lash out to make themselves feel better about themselves. On balance we are still one of the best, our record in 2024 is THE best, we have opportunities for improvement in recruiting, in game management and we are competitive again. Hard for me to connect with this whole chicken little routine when we draw away, the ref was always going to fuck us, illness throughout the squad and more injuries than Die Hard.
I just hope Anthony Taylor ends up like David Coote.
I hope he ends up like David Bowie (the dead part rather than being loved and admired)
Also I hope not the questionable statements about race or sexual relations with minors parts
My advice? Get a more constructive hobby than watching this team piss about with a league title on the line. I so wish we would take the Alex Ferguson approach in those last 10- 15 minutes. Instead of being blown up during a throw in we’ve been holding for 5 seconds.
What we could’ve done with is starting a few more defensive midfielders. Where’s Elneny when you need him, he could’ve played instead of Trossard
Think he would have been better than Trossard 😂
One of the most ridiculous red cards. But it’s not like we deserved the win either. Terrible performance
What red card, I did not see the full match, am I missing something?
Lol. Penalty i meant
Boring boring Arsenal
Are we boring or is it that we don’t have enough available players to compete in the PL Blaise?
We had enough to win Brighton but we didn’t. I was even scared in the second half. We could have lost the game
Give them a chance; there are more players unwell & injured than we have available.
Bleating, bleating Blaise
We didn’t look like scoring in the second half. Did we?
Could we have gone with a change in tactics, formation? To make use of the best players we have?
Could the players have been more brave when around or in their 18?
Out players are supposed to be better.
3 years of horrible transfer windows have caught up with us. Our 2 center backs and goalie are consistently good, after that it’s a crap shoot.
3 years?!?
I would only say this year’s transfer window was horrible. Last year’s was very good and the year before was passable.
The extra 2 days rest was for Brighton was very visible, scheduling us to be the only team to play on new year’s day because they smelt an upset away at brentford which they love to see. F the league it’s rigged
Jeez this shit gets embarrassing
If Partey is fit, play him in fucking midfield regardless of the right back situation. He’s our only midfielder who can brake lines at the moment.
With this, I agree. Stick anybody there with decent defence skills. Having a non-natural RB at that position is far less of a loss compared to not having TP in midfield imo. TP is not a natural RB either ffs. Why him???
Absolutely
In total agreement. Would like to see the stat of points per match we’ve made with Partey in midfield vs Partey at right back.
This is the way.
Fucking bullshit. The football gods really hate us. The one year City are not themselves and we get hit by injuries, dubious decisions that turn games (to put it mildly), the whole lot.
Sigh.
Always firsts for us with ref decisions.. first time I’ve seen that given as a penalty. First and only time this season a second yellow in the prem for kicking the ball away. First and only time a double yellow in one moment with Martinelli a couple years back. Each moment you could understand, if there was at least consistency. So annoying.
Oh, there’s consistency alright.
Just came here to say Anthony Taylor is a cunt and a disgrace to his association..
I’ve never seen a penalty given for something like that before. Yes there was a touching of heads but it was unbelievably soft. VAR didn’t seem to need much time to consider it either, unlike a lot of our clear and straightforward goals which they seem to take an age to mull over before they confirm.
VAR feels pretty pointless in all circumstances, but it’s especially galling when reviewing penalty decisions. Because the directive is to “whenever possible trust the on field decision”, then it basically gives the ‘top’ referees in the country like Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor (who suffer from bad cases of main character syndrome) a free hit at making whatever psychadelic decisions they feel like. And they’re safe in the knowledge VAR won’t intervene no matter how bizarre the call is.
You’re 100% right about our goals. The most clearly clean goals get analysed for 5 mins before they’re given.
Saliba gets his head on the ball before he makes contact with Pedro, too.
but we should be capable to put 2 in brighton‘s net all the same!
Whatever team talk we always have after scoring a goal hasn’t done us any good
Timbers stupidity cost us 2 points. We always play terribly without Partey in midfield. At this point he is irreplaceable.
New contract for him please.
No one can say the Pgmol isn’t corrupt to the bone. No club ever gets the insane decisions we get against us. It’s a law for us and another for the rest.
Raya – fine Saliba/Gabriel – ok, we don’t do away clean sheets anymore Calafiori – is he any better than any of our army of left backs? Offers nothing going forward Partey – decent in midfield, not a right back Trossard – does nothing Rice – Runs around waving his arms and calling everyone mate Merino – Slow Nwaneri – one for the future, not now Jorginho – Slow Jesus – don’t let recent goals fool you, not good enough Subs – Made zero changes to how we played, shite Arteta – Last year was our chance, he’s made us… Read more »
Arteta “he made us” = correct. We do need to sign some fecking attackers no question. Havertz, Saka and Martinelliare the only two we should have with us next season and Martinelli needs to be competing for his position against somebody better than Trossard.
Brighton were full value for their point but we were shocking. Our sloppiness on the ball, lack of pace, lack of imagination and lack of quality all over the pitch is alarming. I think we need a quality forward signing but I’m not sure that will be the factor that suddenly fixes us. The issue is in how we play and it’s systemic. With the players we have we should be capable of so much more than this.
It will be criminal if we don’t strengthen our attack soon.
We’ll probably go back in for the spanish keeper we tried to buy on deadline day. And another hybrid cb/rb.
Giving Arteta an attacking player is like giving a blind man a paint-by-numbers kit. He doesn’t want it and moreover doesn’t know how to use it. We have to accept he’s a defensive minded, conservative coach.
He may very well be but even that total @@@@ Mourinho always loved to have a real killer up top. A top , top goalscorer. That is what we need – not another wide player / midfielder etc etc. We would not be easy on the eye but with our power and defensive excellence and a real tough goalscoring striker we would be very very good.
In the first half, our central midfield seemed to be absent. Both Jorghino and Merino played too far back and Nwanieri/Trossard did not find passing options when trying to go forward.
Our perennial problem – skills without the ball – shows itself when we make changes to the preferred starting eleven.
Otherwise a sharp, physical and quite fun game.
The difference with Arsenal of last two seasons and the current one. last two seasons: fight till the end. current: overly laid back.
I guess it’s better to be out of the title race now rather than in March or something. Let’s give the UCL and other cups a good go. I think we’ll definitely nick one of them
I would have risked kiwior or anyone for that matter in RB
than to play partey in that right back..
After a fantastic performance mid week.
Midfied lacks proper tempo and control.
I think arteta took this with a pep like levity .
So unfortunate
A better lineup and the thamselink trip back to London would have been happier.
I’m sad we are out of sorts atm
My mood mirrors this weather.
Partey had a strange role, obviously told to play midfield when Arsenal attacked. He solved it well, but might have confused his teammates.
Abysmal
Not popping at any players after that, just tired of this FAF (f@@k about football) brand every time we go in front. Hold the ball but don’t threaten with it, take an eternity with every throw in, corner and set piece that way we can invite the opposition back into the game on a one goal slender lead. Becoming really frustrating and I assume Ethan was taken off due to his yellow earned by said tactics above. Given Liverpool have got one of the worst teams in the league tomorrow it is likely the already big lead will grow. Testing… Read more »
Dry January in tatters…
Why is anyone surprised? We are so predictable to play against! (Got down voted for this comment after Ipswich game but after this performance I rest my case)
We can all agree that the league is over now. All for Liverpool to lose.
Our summer transfer plans did not strengthen us. Just left us at par. Take one player out and our levels drop significantly. Injuries didn’t help either but we were already stuttering before the injuries struck.
I hope we do well in the cup competitions. Not holding my breath given our luck.
But we have to put all our eggs in the cup competitions and win one (if not two) trophies.
So sad to feel like this with over 17 games to go.
Some Pollyanna must go through and down votive every critical post. This is spot on!
Slipping and falling on wet grass? Penalty. Two footing someone from behind? Fine.
Anthony is a fucking prick.
Shame on the refereee though.
It wasn’t a penalty of it wasn’t given and it is a penalty if it was.
I could tell as soon as we had the lead and the way we just instantly took the pressure off Brighton and played slow, lethargic keep away that we would not win this game. Seen it soon many times under Arteta, it’s like a broken record.
Subbed Nwaneri our most unpredictable wizard and let two other senior underperforming who lost possession as many Times as Nwaneri.
Nwaneri came off because of injury.
Slot should not win the league in his first season…
The team needs a boost in terms of new signings. We are stretched in terms of attackers. Odeegard has dropped in form and going by today’s game we can’t fully rely on Nwaneri. It will be too much to ask for a 17 year old in their first season
Gotta steel ourselves for the cups, cause the league is gone now. Injuries and PGMOL determined to keep us out of it. But we really should win at least 1 of the domestic cups and push as far as possible in Europe. Even with injuries this team is absolutely still good enough to do a cup double this year.
Brighton are a horrible team and Anthony Taylor was giving them everything. If an Arsenal player went through the back of a Brighton player it would be a free kick and probably a yellow card, but Brighton did it over and over and no sanction whatsoever. That penalty is another one that we’ll never see again, if it was the other way round I’m sure it wouldn’t be given. PGMOL idea of a good opportunity, foul weather on the south coast and a chance to let Anthony Taylor do his best to stitch up Arsenal. I feel for these players… Read more »
Yeah I saw that, pathetic from Taylor and every other ref, penalizes (stops Arsenals rhythm) but turns a blind eye to the exact same fouls. The worst is when Arsenal are fouled they play advantage when it’s obvious the fouled team would advantage from the free kick more. Stinks big time.
I pathetic performance that got what it deserved. We threw away any chance of a win with that starting line up: Georgino, Rice and Merino? WTF?!!! No f***ing creativity!!! I suppose Arteta was just relying on set pieces!!!! And after scoring does he bring on Odegaard for the second half? No, he waits until we concede!!! The usual reactive response!!! Having said all that, the penalty award was a complete joke: it was an innocent clash of heads and no more. Referees are now inventing ways to screw us over. F**k off Anthony Taylor!! The title is now over!!! Arteta… Read more »
apart from asking MA to go, for first time i agree with 100% of your post
So how are we going to move on?! By sticking with a manager who has reached his ceiling?!
The job is too big for Arteta!! We need someone who can get us over the line!! Arteta has had FIVE YEARS at Arsenal and has won just ONE trophy!!! HE’S NOT THE MAN!!!
Disappointed Ethan got hooked. Yeah he’s on a yellow but he was clearly in the mood tonight and I thought the risk of keeping him on was less than taking him off…
Other than that, not a great line up to start with. Trossard and Jesus were non existent.
A lot will be said about the sick bug which affected havertz and odegaard, injuires, our light bench, etc, etc. But our biggest calamity this season is fraudulent refs. That was a dodgy penalty just like the dodgy yellow to timber against Brenton which effectively made both our RW and midfield less effective. We Jorginho tried but we clearly missed TP in the middle and Timber at RB. For now, let’s hope against hope that Man U still enough pride left to get something at anfield tomorrow. If not, it’s Liverpool’s title to lose.
Now that I think clearly, out front three at the moment is actually nowhere near what a title-winning team requires. They’ve done great but it’s time.
I know injuries, then there is the bug, but from 10 minutes in the second half we
Classic Arteta. Up 1-0, hook the goal scorer and spend the second half in first gear. Our “marquee” summer signings of Califiori and Merino were (are) terrible.
hey we have 4 left backs, what’s to be upset about ,
It frustrates me that some people seem to always find excuses for Arteta despite it being very clear that he often time sets his teams up to not lose the game, rather than to win. You could clearly see a change in our tactics as soon as we went a goal up. It happens so often and it’s so clear and obvious to me that this is a deliberate tactical decision by the manager, especially when he doesn’t have his favorite starting players. Injuries, referees, none of that matters. I just want a coach who genuinely trusts his players and… Read more »
Did you watch the match at all? The ref was looking for excuses the whole match to fuck us. As soon as Brighton got their very soft decision he did nothing but slow the game down for them. Estupinan committed about seven yellow card fouls today.
Oh dear, with a manager so hell bent on trying not to lose a game instead of going for a second goal, is why we will constantly fail. Absolute disgrace. I’m sick of our constant time wasting and backwards passing. Buy a striker and prove you know how to assimilate rather than proving yourself a total stubborn manager who still hasn’t learnt from his mistakes.
I know some may blast me but mikel merino so far hasnt clicked in this team. He constantly looses the ball, only uses one foot and has poor balancing of the pitch . The mad thing is that Arteta will rely on him to the expense of Partey, whom in my view , is qanted out of the club. When TP plays at that DM the team looks more balanced. Merino cannot replace TP.
Jorginho replaced TP. Rice replaced Ode.
I hate the fact we go 1-0 up then park the bus and can’t string two passes together for the next 70 minutes. It’s happened too many times this season and the last. Yes we never lose after being in front blah blah but fuck me it’s boring as.
Downvote me to hell but I’d rather finish 10th playing ultra attacking football like spurs than finish 2nd like this.
Oh well at least the CL games might bring some excitement to the season.
All too familiar. I’m so bored if it.
Merino is just not suited to the pressure of premier league football.. I’m pretty sure jorginho would beat him in a foot race
Who was Arsenal’s Centre Forward against Brighton i didnt see one just a little Brazilian guy running around relentlessly without touching the ball ?