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Confirmed Arsenal team to face Brighton in must win game

Arsenal takes on Brighton in the Premier League in a few hours and this is the confirmed starting eleven.

Arsenal team v Brighton

The Gunners have not been at their most fluent in recent weeks, but they have still managed to claim wins, including an away triumph over Everton in their last league match.

Despite occasional inconsistencies, Arsenal remain the main contenders for the league title and will be keen to extend their advantage. Manchester City are playing at the time of writing this, and should the Citizens win, Arsenal will need to respond with a victory. Conversely, if City fails to win, the Gunners will have an opportunity to widen the gap, gaining some breathing space over the in-form Manchester side.

The game presents a tricky challenge, as Brighton is known for their bold style and does not shy away from testing strong opponents. Winning home games is crucial for any title contender, as they offer the greatest guarantee of points, and Arsenal will aim to capitalise on this advantage. However, Brighton rarely respects their hosts in fixtures of this nature and will ensure Arsenal has to work hard to secure a positive result.

The Seagulls have struggled recently, failing to win any of their last four matches, and are experiencing one of their poorest runs of form in some time. Despite this, Arsenal has not managed to defeat Brighton in either of their last two league meetings, which adds an additional layer of difficulty to the encounter.

A victory against Brighton is not just about three points; it represents an opportunity for Arsenal to maintain momentum in the title race and respond to Manchester City’s results. The match will test the Gunners’ resilience, focus, and ability to overcome an opponent who has proven difficult in recent seasons. With both clubs vying for the Premier League title, this fixture could have significant implications for the remainder of the campaign.

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156 Comments

    2. It’s a very good question!
      I think Merino.
      It’s not a switch to 3 at back with wingbacks, as there is still no right wingback.
      Zoob can’t play RB as the attacking would be fine, but his defence is filth.
      I don’t like it. Did I not post a few days ago, we have a RB problem. We have to keep shape and play one of the two kids in my book.

      1. I don’t like having Hinky back at centre back, he makes toooooo many mistakes in there at this stage of his Arsenal career. I would rather Ricky played centre back and Hinky left back. I also don’t like Big Gabi rising off treatment table, rushed back without any training sessions – this is Christmas not Easter.
        I’m not liking quite a lot of this. Mark my words, this teamsheet ain’t clever, it could be the beginning of trouble. When a manager starts unnecessary tinkering that is too clever by half and it costs us points, it’s time for manager to go. He’s turned it into one of THOSE afternoons.

        1. Yes moon girl, I did remember you saying we have a right back problem.

          But who is Ricky ?

          It’s a good line up, , playing Gyokers with Trosaard is the right thing to do.

          The problem is the right back, not a single kid coming through the academy, can play there .

  2. Two strikers yes!!!!! Looks like Merino and Glock up top! Three at the back perhaps … That’s what I hope but I could be over excited and Zubi or rice is playing right back

    1. Merino would likely play the left-sided AM role and Rice might play RB since both Timber/ White are unfit

      I think Arteta just uses Gyokeres to tire Brighton’s CBs out. If we can’t score until the sixtieth minute, Jesus might replace Gyokeres

  3. looks like rice if so shocking no u21 rb fair play to manure giving youth a chance

    1. Nope. Because Zoob does not have defensive skills to play in back four, and sticking him there neuteres all what good about him too.

  7. Hopefully Zubi at RB and not Rice but who knows. Rice is too influential in the midfield to be put RB IMO. If Zubi is playing midfield it’s not a very mobile midfield at all. If it was me I would’ve put Zubi at RB and play Norgaard and Rice behind Ode.

    Ode really needs to step up this game, needs a captains performance

    Great to have Gabriel back on the bench

    *ffs City just scored

      1. He injured his shoulder I believe, could be 3 at the back who knows but I don’t see MA doing that

        I guess Norgaard could’ve been used at RB too but doesn’t look like it was an option to MA

    1. Yess and the favourable decisions by the referee have also started. We need to be very strong.
      Clearest 2nd yellow you’ll see all wkend but incompetent or compromised ref won’t give it and they score the following minute.

      1. 100% that was a 2nd yellow all day long. Don’t think it was deliberate but a yellow nonetheless no dount

  9. Can’t believe that the game’s not being televised anywhere, so can’t get a stream, so will listen on the .com commentary for a change.

    1. Plenty of streams
      Vipleague is the best .
      Just be ready for 15 ads before you get a steady stream

    2. So instead of watching the title race we watch people playing Jenga, badly! I think I have just seen the worst build up to a football match in history.

      1. Moon Girl, hope you got to see the game. I managed it eventually, just keep trying and something turns up. Anyway…I thought your dad took you to home games.

  10. So the two Brazilian starts on the bench, I can understand what the Spaniard is trying to do, Martineli and Jesus will start on Tuesday against the Villans, surely

    The coach seems to have one eye on Aston Villa

    2. Lewis-Skelly replaced him. Bad news because we’ll need Timber and Calafiori to play against Aston Villa

    1. He’s a very capable left back, he likes to overlap as Ben White, his sheer pace takes him to the by line regularly in the Bundesliga..

      Have seen him for club and country and he’s really aggressive

  14. If Rice is RB, that is an absolute joke. Unless he is trying 3 at the back, which I agree under the circumstances of NO RB. Tinkering to accommodate injuries is one thing, over Tinkering is another. No need.

    2. It never worked playing Partey inverted RB and taking your best midfielder away, is just wrong. You play anybody RB NOT Rice. Foolish.

  17. So the festive season is marred by a ding dong battle with the Citizens pushing their nose in front once more.

    Not enjoying it, we got to shake them off before things get out of hand

  18. Arteta has to play with what he has available, Calafiori, Timber, White, Mosquera all out, Big Gabriel just returned but is he fit enough? Hincapie had a problem midweek, now my question is how is it even possible to prepare during the week with so many defenders out? Because its not just about the match-day

  19. We need goals today. I hope it isn’t another bore fest of slow sideways passing. LET THE SHACKLES OFF!!

  20. Couldn’t have sat up more perfectly for Gykores to strike, duffed!

    Worked the opportunity very well, he’s just not getting it done at all

  22. I think I understand what the gaffer is trying to do, he’s trying first not to concede.

    He realized, Brighton is a side that laps or go to sleep appropriately in the seventy minutes región

  23. A shot from outside the box, almost fell off my chair!

    Happy for Ode to have a positive influence! Now lets not go defensive

  26. On the third time Saka became unselfish and the goal was born. Saka needs to decrease his selfishness.

  28. We don’t look like we want a second. Back to slow pass back possession football and short non descript passes.

    1. He is feeding off those boos and heckles by the Brighton fans who can’t see they are just boosting him.

    1. Rice has always been good one on one and he’s played as a defender before, I think that played into Arteta’s mind when putting him at RB. Overall nice 1st half from Arsenal, Odegaard has been creative

  37. -The fact that we are not 3 nil up (making a comeback possible)
    -The fact that City have the mentality to continue grinding out win

    ..makes a 4th successive 2nd place finish inevitable

  38. Great first half but we should have a 2nd to show for it. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.

  40. Not a bad half from Arsenal in total but 1-0 against this poor Brighton is less than it should have been. We are playing too much of the game in second gear. It should be nothing but an easy win because Brighton are poor.

  42. Hincapie robbed the ball then Odegaard made an excellent shot

    I hope we’ll score one more goal, because I’m worried about Minteh and Welbeck coming in the second half

  44. We have only scored three times this season 3 goals or more.

    Against Leeds, Spurs and Nottingham.

    First half we can see why that is.

  45. That gk tackle could have been a red card for violent play, that was a terrible tackle and gyokeres is lucky to not be injured.

  46. We’re playing well and BHA have not been a threat at any point, unless something happened when my stream went down for 10 mins. Rice looks secure at right back.

  47. With their attacking players in Welbeck and Minteh coming off the bench in the 2nd half, they will possibly trouble Arsenal defence. We should have had 2 or more goals cushion had it not been for the selfishness of Saka and Gyok’s passiveness.

  53. Would like to see some subs to rest some players for 60 mins, everyone on the bench is more than capable to see out the game

    Opportunity is there to rest players, will it be used?

    1. Yes
      Madueke for Saka
      Martinelli for Trossard
      Eze for Odegaard
      Jesus for Gyökeres
      Norgaard for Zubimendi

  54. That’s a deft world class goal by the Brighton man, at this rate of own goals, who needs Haaland?

  58. Needed fresh legs, didn’t happen like usual. Don’t want to hear how busy the schedule is when we aren’t making timely subs

  63. Arteta has the chance to do the funniest thing ever and sub in the 3 gabi at the same time. Only 2 shame.

  64. I hope we are winning today
    I don’t want to see Welbeck is scoring the equaliser for Brighton

    1. He is – there are marginally better pure GKs (shot stopping and command of the box) and (I’m sure) some who are marginally better at passing it out, but we get the best of both worlds with Raya. Maybe Alison is the only one who’s comparable in that way? Regardless, very happy we have him.

  70. The way this match is going
    We are gonna concede another
    It seems 2 goals are also not enough for us to get over the line

  71. Typical rubbish negative tactics

    Have Martinelli and Madueke that could’ve come on at 60 mins to pin them back but no, instead go negative and concede and now on the backfoot

  72. U see how teams dare to push up the field when gyokeres goes off. Happens everytime and allows them to squeeze us.

  74. I thought Saka was be rotated with Noni but last 3 EPL games he’s been playing every minute, really really worrisome for me.

    1. When you have City on your tail in such form
      You cannot keep Saka out of the game
      Madueke is good but he is nowhere near of Saka’s level

      1. For me it’s not only about who’s better between them, but also thr management of both players. Saka might be overloaded and Noni might get rusty. There’s still a long way to go in the season to be worried about other team’s form in your selections. Noni has shown that is very much capable, no need to overplaying Saka at all.

  76. That was sitter for Martinelli
    Shit man
    Why don’t we put balls like that when you have Gyökeres on the pitch

    1. He doesn’t make runs in the box

      He’s not hungry to get on the end of things

      Martinelli calculated with that cross will leave Saka’s leg and run into the front of the defender the same moment

      Gyokeres wants them to be finding him out – get on the end of whatever is put into the box – be a hungry tireless beast in the box

  77. at least were trying to score in the last few minutes instead of parking the bus and putting a bunch of pressure on our defense.

  78. I hope Timber is back and Calafiori are back for Villa game
    We need that kind of defensively solidity which we had earlier this season
    Earlier in the season 2-0 would have been game over

      1. Exactly Kedar. I agree with you 100%. We brought in many quality players in the summer. He needs to trust his team more.

        1. Exactly the point I tried to make earlier, regarding Saka and Noni. I thought Arteta was managing the squad better in earlier parts of season but now he’s just sticking to the same players and hardly make any substitutions early.

      1. I was listening to Arsenal radio, so didn’t witness the game. The first half was wasteful, but the team were on top. From what I picked up, it was more attacking and if the chances had been converted as it appears they should have been, then we would not be having this conversation.

        Second half was a different kettle of fish and the two commentators thought nerves came into play.

        I don’t see how injuries played no part in the way the game was played but I can only go on what they said on the radio. It was, according to them, the proverbial game of 2 halves.

  82. Haven’t played well in a long time, Aston Villa didnt let us get away with it last time, they won’t let us get away with it next game either. Have to raise our levels. And idk, score goals from easy chances helps too. Gabby J has to start as forward. Im pretty over Gyokeres and it’s clear he has to be sold already this summer.

    1. We have to stop lying to ourselves
      Jesus is soo much better than Gyokeres

      He almost doesn’t win duels
      And I beat my chest – 90% of the time when he tries to do something with the ball – if a defender’s on him – it will not be successful

      He saw a very early chance today and played a very lame shot

      What exactly can the boy do ?

  83. A win and 3 points. Arsenal make it SOOOOO much harder than it should be. Poor poor finishing and silly decision making when easy is on.

    2. The team is made to play to the novices micro tactics, noticed who rice apologised to when he took a shot instead of sticking to routine, he apologised away from the field..

  85. Huge win – odegaard was class (motm imo), trossard was great, Raya fantastic again and made a match winning save (close second for motm) and rice made a big impact from a different position. Thought Jesus looked really good when he came on – back to his old self, with a brilliant first touch and the composure on the ball we saw when he first joined.
    Finishing needs to improve – Brighton are a dangerous side and needed to be put away when we were dominant because they’re always capable of scoring.
    What I though *was* good was that we turned the momentum back after they scored and by the end we looked more likely to get a third than they did to equalise.
    Never noticed van hecke before, but he’s a piece of work – good defender, but he was looking to get someone to react. Tangled with hincapie (I think) after winning a ball, and he gave trossard a forearm to his back in the first half I was surprised no one picked up on in commentary.

  86. Another nail biter, why can’t Arsenal put on a solid performance and kill teams off when they are well ahead? Should never have let Brighton back in with any chance, could have come back to bite us late on.

  88. Villa don’t have a record of scoring own goals. So what shall we do then for Tuesday? Hope is maybe Maghales’ header goal. Teams may be forced hereafter to practicing on how to avoid own goals against Arsenal.

  89. Some muppets criticised playing Rice at RB. However, people need to take account of the circumstances in which decisions are made. Saying something is “just wrong” is an unnecessarily rigid way of thinking.
    It may not have been ideal but rushing to call it “foolish” was blinkered and reactionary.
    Arsenal deserved to win the game against Brighton even if the result was close in the end. The critics have unsurprisingly kept quiet about their tantrum laden rhetoric, as the negativity proved unfounded, and moved on to other narratives.

  90. And there goes David with his usual personal attacks on anything he disagrees with. 🤦‍♂️

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