Arsenal secured the win against Brighton this evening, but there is little room to celebrate as Tottenham came back from 2-1 down to win 4-2.
The Gunners started the game off slowly despite a positive line-up being fielded, but it didn’t take long for our side to take control of the possession.
The attacking players were causing all sorts of problems in and around the Seagulls’ playing area, but the finishing wasn’t quite where it should have been.
Rob Sanchez’s blushes were saved by the crossbar twice, but it wasn’t until after the half-time interval that Arsenal finally broke the deadlock.
It was our in-from man Pepe who scored the opener, picking up Calum Chambers pass into the box, before taking just two touches to smash it home.
Before we could recover from the celebrations, the Ivory Coast international had doubled our lead, and it was the same combination with Chambers playing Pepe in behind the defence from just inside the half, and he used the space given by the defender to place his effort out of reach of Sanchez in goal.
The players appeared to have relaxed a little after our second, with both Pepe and Partey trying to go in search of a goal, but it wasn’t to be.
Martin Odegaard got an ovation when he was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli in what appears to be the Norwegian’s final appearance in our famous Red & White, but as the dying minutes were ticking down, we heard that Spurs had not only levelled the scores at 2-2, but gone 3-2 ahead at Leicester.
Nicolas Pepe has firmly dashed his ‘flop’ tag this term, and has earned the right to be considered a regular starter in recent months, and his two goals today.
And I’ve just heard that Gareth Bale has cemented his side’s victory in the 96th minute to close out the win, and deny Arsenal European football for the first time in 25 years.
Patrick