After Arsenal’s awful start to the season, we are now feeling the benefit of three wins in a row, capped with the euphoria of beating our greatest rivals Tottenham last week, but now we have to come back down to Earth and face reality again, which means an away game at Brighton.
Arteta spoke in his pre-match conference about keeping our feet on the ground, forgetting about the Spurs’ match and focusing on the Brighton game. “Obviously, it was a special match, winning in front of your fans and as you said, the way we did it. We did it in a convincing way and getting the result that we wanted. Enjoy it for a little while.
“Now we need to put that aside and all our focus now should be on Brighton. We have experienced a beautiful day with our people and we want another one after Brighton and we have to earn that. The best way to do it is to focus on that game because there are things that we should improve on as well from the Spurs game.”
Brighton have had a stunning start to the season and are just one point behind the League leaders and are now unbeaten in their last four after scoring a last gasp equaliser at Palace on Monday night. Arteta is under no illusions about thinking Brighton are going to an easy touch tomorrow. “It will be a really difficult game.” Arteta said. “They’ve been on a really good run. They are playing well and getting the results that they deserve. It’s a really competitive match that we are looking ahead to and we know the importance of it.
He added: “They deserve it. [Graham Potter] changed a little bit their way of playing and they’ve been getting good results and they’ve been very consistent in the way that they play. Credit to them and they’re doing a good job.”
Personally I think this game is going to be an even bigger test than the game against Tottenham. Brighton’s home fans will be right behind the team and will be in confident mood having watched them win three home games already this season.
Hopefully Ben White will be at his very best on his return to Brighton, and with Arteta having a fully fit squad except for Xhaka there will be no excuses accepted after the match.
COYG!