Arsenal shot out of the blocks and Bukayo Saka nearly put us in front in the first minute, but for the next half hour Brighton bossed Arsenal completely and if their strikers knew how to head a ball we would have been 3 behind by half-time.
The Seagulls had twice the attempts on goal in the first period, and Shane Duffy skied a ball in the box to save Arsenal’s blushes and Maupay and Dan Burn squandered chances.
Arsenal actually came closest to scoring when Aubameyang connected to a cross but he only managed to hit the post.
With ten minutes before the break Duffy saw another attempt go the wrong side of the post, and suddenly Arsenal came to life and went into attacking mode, with the best chance falling to Thomas Partey who also went the wrong side of the post.
All in all, it was lucky that Arsenal got to halftime without a goal against, but with the rain pouring down we were hoping to see more chances in the second half.
The second half was continuing the theme from the first, but Aubameyang looked through on goal but not only was it ruled offside, he got tackled anyway, so still no luck.
Brighton look like a very hard team to break down and defend like giants, and on the hour Arteta swapped the ineffective Odegaard for Pepe to try and introduce some creativity.
That didn’t help much so he then brought on Lacazette for Aubameyang, but Brighton just kept piling on the pressure but without finding a way through.
Smith-Rowe had a quick breakaway but shot straight at the keeper for our second attempt on target, but Brighton were unfazed and just kept trying to get into the Arsenal box. Maupay had a go, then Ramsdale had to make an excellent save as the Seagulls went for the win.
Arsenal finally got another breakaway and it was Smith-Rowe again that had an ignored penalty call, but Brighton carried on regardless and kept going.
It was a very tough day at the Amex, as predicted, but I would say I am very happy that we held on for a point after watching Brighton batter us in the pouring rain….