Confirmed: The Arsenal team is out for today’s tough trip to Brighton

The teams are out for today’s short trip south to take on Brighton at the Amex Stadium this evening, where we will be hoping to win our fourth Premier League match on the bounce.

We started the season in terrible form, albeit with a number of distractions and disruptions to our preparation to each of those matches, but we have since turned things around, and now find ourselves in the top half of the table, and with the potential to climb as high as seventh today.

We came into today’s match with a near-full roster of players to choose from also, a drastic turn of events from the opening weeks, with just Granit Xhaka having been deemed unavailable for today’s selection.

What do you predict will be the final score today having seen the line-up?

Patrick

Tags Brighton Brighton v Arsenal

182 Comments

  1. Sweet 👌 COYG let’s go for nosebleed territory 😄
    No Bissouma… just horrible weather and Jon roly-poly Moss…
    Good luck to the ladies also…

  2. I’m hoping for 3 goals as per my prediction. Hope springs eternal!
    Strong line up and here’s wishing BW a fruitful afternoon at Brighton.

  3. I think this is our strongest team. I am a bit nervous to say it, don’t want to hex it, but this team can certainly beat Brighton. I think this team can play great football and Lokonga now instead of Xhaka actually strengthens the tea. Looking forwards to the ‘Arsenal Style’.

  4. Win today and some haters claiming to be supporters will be like “why you celebrating like we won ucl, they(brighton) finished 15th last season”… Your opinion is useless as far as we’ll know, lower your pride and support Arteta and the team. #COYG

        1. Yup Declan. Anyway, our pal is clearly backing us to win so we are good there..
          COYG!
          Best of luck to MA and the boys!

  5. Exactly as the predicted line-up, two DMs with Lokonga as Xhaka’s replacement. The match shouldn’t be too tough, because Brighton don’t have a dominant pivot in their front line and they lost their main midfield workhorse

    The only problem is their CBs will defeat our attackers and defenders in aerial duels, which could make our conceded in defending set-pieces. But this also means our quick attackers can outpace their slow CBs

    Maupay shouldn’t be a threat, as long as our hot-headed players don’t fall into Brighton’s provocation. Trossard is the most dangerous opponent, but White has surely known how to stop his ex-teammate’s inside cuts from the left wing

    1. Don’t say that about Maupay, gai 🙈 He likes a goal against us! Having said that though we have got Gabriel and White at the back 🙂

      Did you see Mavropanos’ goal earlier? What a beauty!!

      1. Maybe I have underestimated Maupay too much, since we’ve got Odegaard and Tomiyasu 😁

        You have the link of Mavropanos’ goal? I can’t find it on Google

        1. Check out Chris Wheatley’s twitter page. I would put a link on, but it may not be approved for ages, as Pat is probably downing a few watching the match 😜

          1. He scored like Pepe and Saka! Luckily, he could come back next season because there’s no obligation to buy in his loan contract ✌

          2. I think Sue meant goal by Mavropanos for a Stuttgart match AdPat. If possible can you please check if any video is there?
            Thanks!

  6. Good luck yo MA and the team! The lineup certainly looks great. Any kind of scoreline and any kind of playstyle is fine for me aslong as we win and no one gets injured.

  7. Same lineup with sambi replacing xhaka. Arteta seems to have found his starting 11. Lets win this preferably 2-1 need this 3 pts 😉

    1. I have the same score predicted as well, last couple of weeks real bad lol. Ironically real good in fantasy PL. Let’s hope that luck rubs here as well and we both get that scoreline correct!

  8. I foresee a lone goal victory or a draw in our favour… We jusy be to be disciplined and cool headed cos I see the Potters trying to get in the head of our players by being physical

  9. Great line up – AMN and Elneny as back ups in that midfield pairing – let’s hope we play the way we did against the spuds… no prediction from me, just win the game.

  10. COYGs. This will be a tough match. We won’t have much chances. It is important for our attackers to convert the chances that come their way. They need that composure. Goodluck team

  11. Predictable line up, its Artetas team now and there is no reason not to expect to win this hands down. 3-1 to us.

  12. Average age 23.5, building a team that will peak after the current liverpool/mancity teams peak is smart.

  13. Today’s match will be much tougher than Spurs because Brighton are high on confidence
    But we may cope

  14. Bright start but it’s become rather sloppy and tense. If Brighton were firing they could have scored but they’re no better than us right now. C’mon!

    1. We are too low on the pitch which is leaving too much space in midfield and hurting our counters.

    1. I think pepe and laca should replace saka and auba in the second half if Arteta wants to take any point from this game.

      We were luck not to concede goals in the first half, we may not be that lucky in the second half except we up our game.

  15. We need to bypass the press better soon as that happen and Brighton then have less of the ball we should dominate, Palace did it. As to Brighton this how they play if you do not bypass the press lots of the ball not many clear cut chances. Not worried yet.

    1. Proving right so far. Tough conditions to be fair but getting caught on the press is costing us especially Tomi but largely defending it well after. Not good enough though, going forward glimpses we zip it better than Brighton when we have the ball.

  16. Very nearly conceded… but I hope MA recognizes that maybe we have to weather the storm in this half, we are not able to bypass their press and exploit their slow CBs and also their professional fouls are breaking our rhythm. Maybe a smash and grab game if we play our cards right… also they are pressing a lot on our wings, have to mitigate that.

    1. Brighton wont be able to keep that high press all game. Just weather their pressure and get them in the 2nd half

    1. With this kind of pressure, xhaka would have committed a costly blunder if he were on the pitch.

      Xhaka can’t manage pressures. He responds to pressure with hard tackles which most often result in errors.

      1. Didn’t catch this at the time. Jog on. He’s injured, long term and your slating him in a game he’s not playing. Supporter? As to your nonsense comment I’d take a look at our 2nd goal last week as to Xhaka under pressure. Seriously?

        1. Btw one of xhakas strengths is his calmness in possession something we lacked massively today. He can be reckless in the tackle sometimes, slightly to do with his pace at times but he is nothing but calm on the ball. For every misplaced pass I can show you 3 that we should of done more with after.

  17. tactically graham got it right.. pressing and forcing our defense to clear the ball high knowing their mid and def would win all those

    1. It is the way they play every game so no excuses. That said the defending today has been decent just the time on the ball that is the issue particularly in our own half.

      1. won 3-2 as well. good team on their day, beatable team any day. Probably how City view us current ;(

  18. If we weather the storm, I believe we can win. Also on that note, Partey needs to take shooting lessons from Mo, lol. He needs to recreate those bangers in training on the football pitch as well.

  19. I’d take a point at present with Brighton looking to go top of the league! Pity we can’t play easy teams like spurs every game.

  20. I think we’ve used up all of our get out of jail cards. Let’s see if Arteta can breathe life into the lads second half. COYGs, sort it out.

  21. People saying we’re missing Xhaka need to get a grip – we’ve seen enough of him to know that chances are he wouldn’t improve us in this game and even offers a greater than average chance of doing something. silly.
    We are still in this game and can win it, but Brighton are no pushovers; very well set up and carry a threat.

    1. Xhaka will make more incisive passes along the left sideline to feed Tierney, as compared to Lokonga

      Lokonga can only make diagonal passes to the left side, but he can’t make through ball along the left wing as Xhaka always does

      1. Not the point – we’ve been outplayed and overrun. This has happened plenty of times with Xhaka in the team, he doesn’t improve us in this situation.

  22. they are playing against the wind and performed better… we would struggle even more in the 2nd half facing the current

  23. Honestly saw this game going two ways. We break the Brighton press early and thrash them or it becomes tight but we still out gun them second half 2-0 2-1 3-1 hoping I was right with the latter because the 1st has gone. Seen enough in our forward play/defensive resilience to be pretty confident. Just need to link it up. They had no shot on target. We look significantly more dangerous going forward.

  24. We need Laca up front, Auba is a bit lightweight today. Maybe even Martinelli to run the Brighton defence. Not quite working.

  25. No guts at all in playing from the back and Ramsdale chose to play long ball all the time. This makes Aubameyang eaten alive in aerial duels by Brighton’s towering CBs

    Arsenal struggled against Brighton’s physicalities and dirty tricks. We always have big problems everytime it rains in an EPL away game, so there must be a good explanation for that

    If I were Arteta, I’d replaced Lokonga with Maitland-Niles in the second half. Because Lokonga is too slow and his first instinct in tight spaces is always passing the ball to the right side, unlike Xhaka

      1. Xhaka would’ve made more passes along the left sideline, as compared to Lokonga. Tierney was deprived of supply

    1. To be fair Ramsdale hit 4 out of 6 Arsenal,players with his long kicks. He has to kick long with Brighton’s high press.

    2. Basically Lokonga is not playing typical DM or CM role…
      He is just filling the space created by Tierney who remains high up pitch on Left Side
      I don’t think it’s Lokonga’s strength to fill void gap created at LB position

      1. He’s a right-footer. So he can only make diagonal passes to the left side, not through balls along the left wing

  26. Our Midfield is getting overrun by Brighton Midfield…
    Tierney remain very high up pitch and that’s why Lokonga fill the LB area which leaves Partey the only man in Midfield against 3 Brighton CMs and that’s why it is pretty easy for Brighton to win the ball and keep the ball
    We are keeping much open space in middle of the Park
    And they are making late runs in box so easily because we are getting overrun in Midfield..

  27. HT poor. theyre sharper than us, quicker, hungrier, more accurate. Not blaming Arteta he’s been urging them to compete more. WHY NO EFFORT, TEAM?Do we not like rain? Brighton played well we need a kick up the backside. Their lw has Tomi on toast, Auba back to his poor worst. ESR trying hard but that’s about it. They must tire soon they put a lot in, we didn’t. Cmon guys EFFORT!!!!!

    1. We always struggle in a rainy day at the opposition’s turf, since Wenger’s time. Not just on a cold rainy day in Stoke, but in all brutal EPL team’s stadiums

      Aubameyang won’t win any aerial duel against Brighton’s towering monsters. If we don’t have the guts to play from the back, we’d likely concede first

  28. That was a really weak performance. If Brighton could actually finish, we would be looking defeat in the face.

    The second half will be where Arteta earns his money.

    Not what I was expecting at all

    1. Even though I predicted that score, I hope we win with a clean sheet. It will do our defense a world of good. Also, Tomi and White hopefully will be a little stable after a shaky 1st half.

  29. i’d say we play pepe and make a few runs… the defenders don’t have a chance and if they do they would be exhausted,

    point is to deter brighton from pressing

  30. Brighton been the better side but they go 2nd off 1st on GD if they win today. Never would be walkovers. Hoping for a better performance on the ball 2nd half, once we get on the ball in final 3rd our quality shows compared to the more often Brighton possession in the 1st half.

    1. Surprised how weak that has been given Arteta works on that constantly as it’s his style. Yes it’s wet. Yes Brighton are a settled side who know that style intimately themselves but should be better. Not seen enough yet 2nd half, hope it comes. Hardest games of our current 6 but one we need to win.

    1. Agree cold wet night in October away against a solid defensive/possession team, probably never experienced anything like it. As I type Pepe for Ode, spot on put Smith-Rowe in the middle who has done far more.

      1. Got in wrong although in fairness the pen would of won it. We’ve had them given repeatedly especially under Wenger in games that put him under pressure. Can’t remember who but they kicked the bottom of the foot trying to clear and was given as a pen.

        1. Commentary then was it was stonewall. Touched the underside of his foot, wouldn’t make you fall. Today pushed over, could never stay on your feet. Perfectly fine.

    1. Nice call. Unfortunately it’s Elneny for sambi or ode dropping deeper so always ode being subbed.

    1. Partey??? He’s covering the whole midfield by himself. His shooting is more Wilkinson than de bruyne though

  31. Pépé on for Odegaard
    So now ESR will play number 10 and Pépé and Saka on either side which means Lokonga now can shift in Midfield which will give Partey some help in Midfield

    1. ? what games do you watch? 2nd odd statement you have made. Lokonga won’t shift, he’ll be exactly the same.

  32. Also ignore the commentary nonsense. They had 1 decent chance which came from Ramsdale dropping the ball. They have been better in possession but it’s not remotely lucky it’s 0-0 they have not threatened the final 3rd properly. If we get on the ball for a 10-15 min period in the last 20, we win.

  33. This was clearly a game for lacazette but i understand arteta not wanting to switch up a winning team. Auba tried though

    1. Auba was never the problem to be fair. Ode struggled but most behind him did too. Lost the calmness in possession.

  34. Huge huge save. 1st time Brighton threatened, really. Saved us. Poor performance in possession, fantastic without.

    1. Yes we have been poor
      Unbelievable that Brighton haven’t scored but that at least means a clean sheet.
      I can think of worse words than poor.

  35. arteta should take one of saka or smith rowe off…

    martinelli would have done better if those half possessions

  36. Same old bs, didnt touch the ball pushed the player. VAR no foul, commentary nothing in it. Roles reversed penalty… commentary “what is he doing there he’s missed the ball, why push the man, penalty all day” Welcome to Arsenal

    1. Remember all the “yes it’s soft but you can’t stick a leg out/raise your hands etc. there” when we lost penalty’s repeatedly.

        1. I agree this is not an excuse for the performance, this a long-term concern regardless of performance. It happens repeatedly and our fans ignore it. You can prove it statistically as well in terms of yellows to fouls or reds to fouls etc.

      1. all those broken legs (btw that only changed because it spread to europe and barca and uefa got involved hence the new reckless rules.)

      2. Most fans are just as clueless as arteta. Lokonga played a nice football today even though he was under constant pressure, pressure that’s mostly caused by auba due to his terrible holdup play and general ball play. I bet xhaka would have crumbled yet some dumb fans are still rooting for xhaka(unbelievable). Some players are just lucky like some people are just lucky in life generally or may be most people are just too dumb to discern quality because why will auba be rated above laca . Laca came in and our game changed and we almost score coz he was setting the pace something auba can’t and will never do. I hope for God intervention coz this situation is as bad as my country nigeria where we don’t priotise merit. I hate to drag my country into this but that is the case. Gunners for life!!

        1. Not sure why this was a reply. Xhaka has and always will be underrated. He’d of dealt with the press better today for sure. As to Laca vs Auba if we play properly behind it’s not a debate as we played yes Laca would of been better.

          1. Love tried to do the emoji style at the end of last comment didn’t work. So love we’re all brothers/sisters/together.

    1. TBF there is not a worse team outside City for us to face than Brighton in terms of understanding possession play. Regardless poor. We got the draw, I guess. Expected more today. Young team new to each other against a team that understands that play well, excuse but a minor one.

  37. Our naivety with a young team showed, as did Arteta’s. They were fitter, keener, dirtier (aka cynical), wanted it more. We were 3 vs 2 in midfield and lokanga too lightweight – felt sorry for Partey. Defence ok, Gabriel outstanding. Our passing awful, they psyched us out physically. Lacazette made a difference – Auba off the game, should have subbed him earlier. Pretty poor.

    Feelings now? Players have a lot to learn, why no energy? Arteta outthought again. Lucky away draw but that says something about our defence, Lokanga needs to bulk up and compete more, Auba back to his worst, Pepe not the answer.

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