please log in to view this image Venue: Amex Stadium Date: Saturday 4th January 2025 KO time: 17:30 GMT Overall Record Wins: 17 Losses: 8 Draws: 6 Last six meetings Arsenal 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Arsenal Arsenal 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion Arsenal 0-3 Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion 2-4 Arsenal Arsenal 1-3 Brighton & Hove Albion (League Cup) please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Yup. They had an extra 2 days rest on us as well. Gonna be tricky. The RB situation will bother me because, with Timber suspended, that means all 3 of our natural right-back options aren't available. So Partey is likely gonna have to play RB and I don't fancy him against Mitoma. Then again, I thought Luis Diaz would rip him to shreds too when we played Liverpool and that didn't really happen. Just need to hope for the same I suppose. The factors that may possibly go in our favour is they've not won in their last 7 games and they also still have quite a few notable absentees. Welbeck, Hinshelwood, Wieffer, Ferguson, Kadioglu and Milner all reported to be missing the game. Webster and Estupinan are 50/50 to return for the game.
Bloody hell, that team is.....not good. Jorginho, Rice and Merino midfield? Must be one of the slowest midfields in the league. Martinelli and Odegaard on the bench, apparently both have barely trained/been ill. And Havertz still not back yet either. Not convinced by a front 3 of Trossard, Jesus and Nwaneri, either. This isn't going to be pretty. Let's just hope we somehow get 3 points and keep the momentum going.
Yeah - seems half the squad has been ill. Hopefully can come away with the points. Need another performance from Jesus.
What a lovely goal by Nwaneri to put us 1-0 up! Rice and Merino pass it around well, and Merino then plays a nice lofted ball into acres of space on the RHS and Nwaneri runs inside and finishes clinically. Great finish.
Just over 30 mins gone and it's been a pretty controlled performance by Arsenal. We've been pulling the strings in midfield and created one or two decent chances to extend the lead. Brighton have struggled to make a real impact on the match so far. But it's only a slender lead, so we need to get another one soon.
They've started to get back into the game in the last 10 or so mins. We've been giving the ball away cheaply and they've fluffed their lines in the final third to get an equaliser. Need to get a foothold of the game again.
Nwaneri hits the post from a corner. Not sure that was intentional, but also unlucky it didn't just creep in.
Nwaneri gets booked for taking too long over a corner. This is really pissing me off how frequently it happens. We accumulate so many cheap yellows over totally avoidable incidents.
HT. 0-1. Mixed half. There were some positives, but we've been sloppy on the ball and too easy to transition against. We've also not maximised our chances to get in behind their defensive line because we keep playing the wrong pass. We need to be more ruthless and stop messing about. Kill the game off and don't leave it to fine margins. Jorginho struggled as the half went on and Nwaneri, though he got the goal and almost scored again, hasn't been great in 1v1s. He's on a yellow now too so I'd consider taking him off before his inexperience causes him to do something silly.
First 20 mins was excellent. Created a bunch of overloads and were well in control. Great to see Ethan get the goal. Then we lost a bit of control.. Calafiori and Jorginho both making quite a few errors. Need to be better second half.
Brighton have a penalty. Saliba misjudged his header while going for a bouncing ball and misses it. It's such a careless penalty. Joao Pedro equalises. 1-1.
Seconds before that, Merino had a golden chance to make it 2-0. They go up the other end a minute later to make it 1-1. This is the danger of leaving a game like this to such fine margins.
Its fine . We didn't drop points today. Another PGMOL robbery. 4th game this Season some bullshit decision against us - weird officiating exceptions that never see the light of day elsewhere. Never in my 40 years of watching football have I seen that given as a penalty.
FT. 1-1. Not a good result, not a good performance. I expected as much when I saw the line-up, but honestly, the squad building seriously needs to be called into question. Aside from Martinelli and Odegaard (neither of whom were fully fit), we had 4 left-backs on the bench and 2 youth players. Who did we have that could make a difference? How have we gotten to a stage where our squad is built like this? Anyone who harboured any feint hopes about the league, I think even the most optimistic Arsenal fan knows it's over. Need a huge response against Newcastle on Tuesday now because we simply have to win that game. The cup competitions are the only thing which will salvage what has been a pretty mediocre league season for us.
I had us down to finish 2nd before the season started, but I had us down to finish 2nd behind Man City. I didn't expect a team who we'd finished ahead of for the last two years to take the league by storm, whilst we have been stuttering along. Look, I get we've been unfortunate to a degree with injuries, suspensions and some decisions. But these things are not exclusive to us, other teams will feel the same way too. We need to do better at focusing on what we can control and, the bottom line is, we just haven't been good enough in the league. Having a Summer where we signed Calafiori, Merino, Sterling on loan and Raya permanently was never going to be enough to bridge the gap. It was an extremely underwhelming window. But we can't blame it purely on the window because Arteta's not helped himself when he sets us up in such a passive way that relies on small margins going in our favour. He's never got the balance of the team right and we have been struggling. 11 wins, 7 draws and 2 losses. No-one will ever win the title with that type of form. And for Tuesday, we need to have a minimum 2-goal cushion in the first leg - because I don't fancy our chances at SJP with a slender lead or no lead at all. In terms of the transfer window, we need another player or two this month, but I just don't see us getting this done.
