Arsenal have put in an astonishing performance to beat Brighton 4-2, and increase their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
The Gunners went into today’s game in the knowledge that both Newcastle United and Manchester City had dropped points, therefore opening the door for us to build on our lead at the head of proceedings.
That didn’t prove to be a distraction however, as within 70 seconds of play we had found the lead. Gabriel Martinelli attempted to curl an effort in on goal, and after two deflections fell kindly to Bukayo Saka in the box, and after the perfect takedown, he placed his effort straight into the net.
We continued to dominate the match throughout, with the Seagulls allowed to dominate the possession but without being allowed space to get into any dangerous areas. Ramsdale had very little work to do of note, and shortly after Bukayo Saka should have found a team-mate in the box, the Englishman’s corner was knocked out to Martin Odegaard to smash it home from just inside the box.
Our goalkeeper was then seen to be struggling with what appeared to be his hamstring, and we fretted about asking for him to be get some attention, but he ended up seeing out the half, and seemed fine after the break.
The second-half looked set to just be more of the same after Eddie Nketiah moved to triple our lead less than two minutes into the new half, with him punishing the goalkeeper’s failure to deal with Martinelli’s strike. We wasn’t to have it all our own way this time around however.
The home side managed to pull one back just after the hour-mark, with Japan midfielder Kaoru Mitoma scoring a neat effort to give his side a glimmer of hope of a result. That feeling was short-lived however after a monster long ball into the path of Gabriel Martinelli split open the home side, and the Brazilian finally got the goal that his efforts deserved.
Brighton didn’t give up however, as they did manage to strike the next blow, with youngster Evan Ferguson becoming their club’s youngest ever goalscorer after slipping in behind William Saliba before touching it over the English shot-stopper in goal.
They did threaten to make it interesting late on however, after Mitoma had looked to have found another which would have made it 4-3 before going into injury time, but the Japanese was deemed to have come back from an offside position and was ruled out (to a massive sigh of relief in my camp).
We may have been lucky not to have been penalised by a Gabriel Magalhaes shirt pull in the box in injury time, but otherwise were fully deserving of the win over today’s tough opposition, and will now go into the new year with a huge seven point lead at the top of the table.
Happy New Year fellow Gunners.
Patrick
A very entertaining game. Our first three goals weren’t as beautiful as the ones we scored against West Ham, but our fourth goal that Martinelli scored was the result of a great teamwork and an amazing individual ability
Saliba has made plenty of fatal mistakes in the last five months, but he hasn’t been crucified as happened to Mustafi and Luiz because our victories have been covering up his errors
Kaoru Mitoma gave our right wing players a torrid time with his dribbling skills. If Arsenal sign Mudryk, he should be at least twice as skilled as Mitoma
Yes, Mitoma seems a talent – and one that’s doing well in the PL (although his appearances have been limited so far iirc at least he’s shown that he can play in the PL, unlike Mudryk).
Price-wise, he could be a good buy and he won’t be arriving with expectations and a big price tag so he should be more amenable to playing as back-up/competition.
I bet Mitoma would be willing to play second fiddle to Martinelli, but his long-term contract would likely bloat his price tag
Hopefully Nelson and Smith-Rowe recover soon, so we wouldn’t have to sign another LW
The score is definitely emphatic but win was definitely not emphatic. We were more clinical but Brighton still controlled the midfield and should be holding their head high by such fight back against league leaders. At one point even 3 goal lead was not looking comfortable to defend. We again showed sign to crumble down under pressure and that’s worrying than the win. Upcoming is tougher test against Newcastle, Manu Tottenham and city so let’s hope we learn from today and hold our nerves during closing moments.
I think the trip to Brighton was an excellent exercise for the boys, to prepare them for Newcastle, Spuds and Man United this month
It was not a comfortable win. However, I feel you are underestimating Brighton. They are one of the most difficult teams to play against. Their lack of a presence up front has often been their undoing but their midfield play has for some time been amongst the best in the PL.
Spot on! I’ve always been baffled by their lack of striking options, they’ve never had a reliable player in that position, atleast not that i know of.
Joe many times do you need to be told.how can you compare Saliba who is 21 years old to Luiz and Mustafi?one was a WC winner who was supposed to be at his peak, Luiz who had won everything at club levels.we all knew Saliba was not the finished article which is great news considering how well he has performed.
I’d just like to point out that Saliba and his coaches still have a lot of work to improve his performance. It’s a good time to re-negotiate his contract extension
So Gotanidea you Saliba to be crucified? Just don’t understand your point the team is really doing well and Saliba has been one of the mainstays and you negative people always find something. Oh my gosh let me just shut up
Gotanidea so you want Saliba to be crucified like the previous? Wow
Just wanted to point out that Saliba and his coaches still have a lot of work to improve his consistency
well done gunners lets keep rolling
Glad we won, a tricky game really.
We need midfielders, at least to cover. Our subs are not there yet.
Up the believe!
Where is the history that backed Brighton to defeat us?
Well done lads, now on to the next one👊
Perhaps their results over the last couple of seasons, league position and them being at home?
Brighton’s been a good side for 2 years now, we were right not to take them lightly.
Odegaard to Martinelli….BANG. That’s what it is all about.
It reminds me of Pirlo’s through balls. Odegaard showed a world-class vision
Elneny and Ceballos used to make through balls as well, although not as long as Odegaard did against Brighton
Is Saliba overated.
Brushed off for the goal.
Made some previous mistakes.
Undecided on him
I don’t think he’s a finished product, this is epl and he needs these kinds of mistakes to learn. He’s only 21yrs
Something people seem to forget!21 years old which for a CB is very young.not only that,it is hid first season in the PL.
He Wasn’t brushed off the ball ,it came off his knee ,mistake yes but it happens .
Think it was weak defending from a guy I’m not sure about.
Exactly right. He has been uinfairly blamed by SOME on this thread.
A comment posted on BBC Sport:
“At the beginning of last season I predicted Arteta to be sacked when they had a terrible start to the season. I’m eating my words now. Arteta clearly stuck to his guns (no pun intended) and it’s paying off now. I’m a Liverpool fan but I don’t see Man City stopping the Gunners from winning the Premier League this season”.
It seems people are starting to believe.
Another comment asked “Are Man City a better team with Haaland? Sure he’s a great goal scorer, but is he just scoring goals other people would have scored but with less input elsewhere?”.
They went on to note that City are 2 points worse off at this stage of the season compared to last season.
Considering the only game we lost was turned by a terrible decision to disallow our second goal (one of the 6 “game changing” decisions called out by the VAR review)…
We still have 3 tough games coming up in the new year though, so keeping feet on the ground is important at this stage – we’re not even half way through and we still haven’t played City or Newcastle.
The good thing is that players from all over the world will be itching to join Arsenal in the upcoming transfer window.
Agree about City IDKWIC – it seems to me they’re caught between two playing styles. If they carry on how they were last season without a specific striker they don’t fully utilise Haaland but to accommodate him they have modified their style and they really don’t look as good. Man City were a superb team without a standout star but they now look like a mediocre team with a star striker. Look how effective and cohesive we have become with Jesus who is more deep lying, relatively low scoring but he has no ego and plays for the team. I seriously think Haaland has adversily affected the City style, which can only be good news for us.
Said it in my previous post, city are a shadow of what they were last season. Theyre also allowing opposition more space than ever before.
guy, you make a great and apt point, though one not many give ENOUGH credence. When you compare City, who are all about HAALAND, to our four scorers who all have between five and eight, plus Nketiah who will shortly do the same, it seems to me that speading the goals is a far safer and more effective way of operating.
Plus when facing City with HAALAND, teams tend to play deeper and /or park the bus, thus denying space. Against us teams are less inclined and that opens play, which suits us fine.
When I watch THIS seasons City, I SEE FAR FEWER GOLDEN CHANCES IN GENERAL BEING CREATED THAN EVEN LAST SEASON.
Our goal diff is now almost same as theirs and our title odds have shortened to 6/4.
IMO, we NEED a great deal of luck wirth injuries AND two(at mimimum) top class buys this JAN. IF both happen but not otherwise, I SEE THOSE ODDS AS ABOUT RIGHT.
I agree !
This is very true. But i believe Guardiola is no fool. I believe he already knew his style of play will be altered(or will change?) with the arrival of Haaland.
If you look at the top teams, they are all going for Haaland type strikers. Liverpool with Nunez. Real madrid wanted Mbappe. Newcastle with Isak. Remember, Artetas first choice was Vlahovic.
It may be difficult to see, but these men are changing the game in ways that may not take effect now, but will. Its just a matter of time.
The big thing to note is the Man City squad cost over 1 billion. Always ignored when people want to pretend Arteta has outspent everyone but very pertinent now.
Man City €1.02b
Manchester United €875.625
Chelsea FC €766.79m
Liverpool FC €667.05m
Arsenal FC €492.26m
Skysports built up the Manchester derby as the 1 billion game because both were over that and I saw figure that backed it up but it’s been buried on Google since and I don’t have the time to hunt for the accurate ones.
Still, these figures from the transfer market are in the right order and not miles off what those clubs actually paid.
It was very telling when Partey and Odegaard came off especially Partey. We missed his control in the midfield. I hate to say it but without Partey we look more vulnerable. I hope we can keep him fit and that we also sign a similar quality midfielder in January as back up and to maintain pressure through the rest of the season. BUT an excellent win, I did think Mitoma was excellent second half.
I thought Partey was with Odegaard, joint men of the match. Both are irreplaceable, until and unless we spend some huge money for new recruits.
100%
Our midfield will define our season. The front 3 can score goals , we all can see now that , though Jesus is a big miss but Partey and Ode are too important in this side, hopefully we manage to keep them both fit.
The only game we lost so far was in the absence of Partey
Surely a powerful midfielder has to be on the cards this month, there was a massive dropoff when Captain fantastic and Partey exited
Great win and now I’m thinking of the title not top 3 .
Odegaard looked special tonight
Martinelli not far behind and zinchenko offers so much more than Tierney ,proper player .
Really impressive performance,couldn’t care less about their 2 goals as long as the 3 points are on the table .
Same.
Ode always said he’d be a fan favourite but you always have your doubts in the back of your mind so so so pleased for him. Special player, who now has a special connection with us (lucky.)
Martinelli always was mature beyond his years he just needed to learn specifics, he’s scary because I do not think he’s done accelerating his understanding yet and I know he won’t stop working hard.
Zinchenko/Tierney have different qualities.
Impressive onward and upwards.
Couldn’t agree more on all points DK. Sloppy defensively but Brighton were terrific. Not sure if Tierney will be here next season – with Zinchenko we control midfield so it’s not so relevant that he’s not a great defender, but Tierney is neither a great defender nor does he give us control. His greatest weapon is his bombing wing runs and crosses but we not only have Martinelli now doing that better but we don’t have a Giroud in the box!
Agreed guy ,and same applies to Tomi
With white in great form and zinchenko first choice when fit ,IMO maybe sell Tierney and tomi to actually put towards improving the team rather than having 2 players that should be starting in most teams rather than sat on the bench when we could get some good money ,always youth team players that can do a good back up job .
Think my point being was ,could get 50 million + on 2 players that are wasted on the bench
Com’on , we are expecting ucl football next season. As it is, the squad is already thin, we only boast of good backline and you suggest what?
We still need 2mids and at least 2 attackers
👍
With this mentality my friend, is how Man City would always remain on top. Tell how else you want to compete against a team in possession of two world class players in every position
I still rate Tomi highly, Dan, although I hope today’s performance was “ring-rust” from the WC rather than a sign that pre-Chritmas was his peak. He’s not flamboyant (unlike Benny Blanco) and not great offensively but normally he shuts down our right defensively. We need to keep good squad players and he is one. Tierney I would sell tomorrow as he just looks so uncomfortable playing this style. He’s an anachronism in this team and I think Tomi would stay as cover at LB RB CB, Tierney for sure wants to play.
Tbh I would have been thinking of title as well but the truth is our squad is too thin we only have a 13/14 players and we are 1 or 2 injury away from a major calamity especially in the midfield. Partey especially
Great win… and 2 in 2 for Eddie ! No doubt all those against Eddie will now say it was only West and Brighton !
Odegaard….fantastic again!
And still Jesus and Reiss and ESR to come back in the squad! Good to see the Zinch back….adding to his ridiculous win ratio in PL !
Slight concerns re Saliba…couple of mistakes now but they were in wins so get them out of the way before we play City etc !
COYG !
It was a great fourth goal, indeed. Brighton are no flukes. Loved the rapport with the fans at the end of the game.
Nice team play, but White is not in best form
He was on of the MOM vs West Ham so you are talking one game at most, David – doesn’t amount to a serious concern, surely?
whatever you are smoking! that guy was immence
Odegaard, what a player, our forwards are all getting in on the act, great stuff.
7 clear. Eddie is 7 in his last 10 prem starts since April. The rest doesn’t need saying. Newcastle is massive but who would doubt us at home with the fans aboard?
Superb game – huge credit to Brighton and a great result for us. Overall a very good performance going forward but lax defensively. We suffered when we changed our fullbacks – Tomi isnt back to his dominant best yet and sorry but Tierney remains a poor defensive fullback. I can’t see him being with us next season. Saliba also seems to have lost confidence since the WC – poor distribution and sloppy in defence. But the guy’s a thoroughbred so he will come out the other side soon. I’m maybe nitpicking because this WAS an excellent display overall and Brighton were terrific. 7 clear!!! Happy New Year my friends and may our mutual wish be granted in 2023!
I mentioned before the break that some teams will have time to reset and come again
Pool are capable of putting a big run together and so are a few other teams but so are we.
The boys and manager have done us proud since coming back and picked up where they left off on game 14
They look like they have a real belief in the team and that can only lead to great things
I Would take winning the league all day long like everyone else on here but to stay in the top 4 is the priority so we can keep building.
Should we be In the mix come end of March then I will be shouting from the roof tops to get us over the line
Onwards and Upwards
C’mon Bally – Liverpool???!!!! Theyre 15 points behind us so have to win 5 games that we lose (whilst winning all the games that we win), and we have only lost one all season. Yes they could have a great run but we are on one already in case you hadn’t noticed! The reassuring thing is our attitude – I honestly can’t see us imploding this year. And our way of playing and technical excellence, even on bad days, is still proving almost impossible to counter. 14 wins, 1 draw, one (unlucky) defeat…
Liverpool should never had beaten Leicester city yesterday. their defender scored 2 OG and they also missed very good chances too.
Liverpool were very lucky against Leicester City, given they were gifted two own goals.
Very lucky indeed!!
So Eddie now has 2 in 2 games.
Excellent effort, both teams are ball playing team.
Great match for the neutrals, I just wanted the whistle to blow it off.
Saliba had a fair game but surely he’s distracted, we need to have his contact situation resolved before going into some of these big games
What a ball for Martinelli. Assist of the season by Odegaard. We will need that against Newcastle up next. What a match. Brighton are a good side.
I don’t understand some fans.they expect players to go through the whole season without a dip in form or making mistakes.one example Saliba,this is the first time he has to play during the winter,in case you didn’t know bar this season due to the WC.all the top European leagues have a winter break.
See excuse, Saliba always dip at some point in the season, even last season at OM, he was average towards the end of the season. This can only be as a result of his young age. Young players cannot be consistent throughout the season. Meanwhile, Martinelli needs to be taught how to be less selfish. He nearly miss that chance even though Saka was in a better position. He just put his head down and try to go all alone.
Defence concentration needs to be emphasised this week, we can’t afford school boys error against the top teams we play next
Hello Mr. Dan! Just a reminder of what I told you about this arsenal team. Keep writing us off in your predictions.
DAN SIMPLY GAVE HIS OPINION AND, ON THIS OCCASION IT WAS WRONG. So what? Have you never got one wrong!
More importantly, why do think predicting our narrow loss in what was a difficult game is “writing us off”? It plainly is not doing so.
“An astonishing performance”? You must be kidding..The front three ,once again were the strength of the team along with our supremely talented Captain.Defensively we are there for the taking.Time and time again Brighton created space out wide.In the first half on their right side,and on the left in the second, particularly after Ben White was rested.Saliba had his poorest game for Arsenal failing to track his direct opponent on at least 5 occasions.When Arteta and his support team analyise the match they will, I am sure point out the defensive weaknesses clearly evident and take steps to rectify the individual and collective problems which could have cost us the game.Brighton were without their two best midfielders , yet they bossed possession and created real problems in the second half.I may well be accused of being ultra negative, but to suggest that our performance was “astonishing” is just a figment of someone’s imagination.At the end of the day however the creativity of Odegaard allied to the skill and industry of our front three win us the points and with Man City and Newcastle dropping points,the year has ended on a high note for us.
We had under 40% of possession,the defence being under pressure was to be expected.
For me this was the perfect away game performance (bar few mistakes but eh!).we scored early which forced Brighton to attack and leave themselves open to counter attacks.do you think this was a coincidence we played so many long balls?no it was not, Brighton are very good at pressing high/midfied.these long balls allowed us to bypass that press.as I said,having scored first and early, Brighton had no choice to attack and we took advantage of it.the last part was to see the game off,which we did.
Job well done if you ask me!!
Grandad, I’m sure that you are aware that it is Arteta that wants us to play high defensive line,as you know it can be very risky.
Lol Grandad – I agree. Entertaining game and credit to Brighton who were excellent, but defensively (at least Saliba – suffering with concentration an confidence since the WC, Tomi and Tierney) we were poor. We sat deeper as Brighton’s strength is to play through a high press and our midfield (Partey, Ode and Zinchenko) were withdrawn and we all saw the result. Possession TIME isn’t everything – we attack quickly and are possibly the hardest team around to keep out, so it’s the quality that matters. The issue was we sat back with 3 of 4 defenders playing poorly and no midfield, thinking they’d given up, but all credit to Brighton.
Agree Grandad, Brighton & Hove Albion are a good side (as indicated by their league position) and difficult to beat at home. They were missing some key players; however you can only beat what’s in front of you. The importance of Thomas Partey to Arsenal’s balance is shown by the fact that the only loss (Machester United away) occured in Partey’s absence.
@Grandad
Thank you very much for keeping it real…👍🏾
Saliba is a monster, a young one at that, but he is learning and am so glad we have him!
Great team WIN, away at BHA.
Ode, geez what a player.
Need a cam and a winger THIS window, it is obvious for everyone to plainly see.
Arteta has got the team playing amazing futbol!
Long may it continue.
Congrats Gunners, what a game!!!!
Good way to end the year…. Let’s take it game by game, next Newcastle…. COYG….
Man City draw. 7 points ahead. I’m loving it
COYG
GUNNERS OF LONDON!!! 💪💪💪
Dboy, Just curious, what are those emojis meant to mean? They look like three swans looking back or three arms flexing muscles.
Either way, that means nothing to me. CARE TO EXPLAIN?
And while you are at it, can you also explain why unreadable emojis are used by juvenile posters!
Xhaka did act the ass once today. More proof of MAs brilliance
Partey and Odegaard, sounds like an accountancy firm…..BUT what a pairing. We have great forwards and they can score given MO is creating and TP is holding the middle. There is NOTHING wrong with William Saliba. A few games ago he was a giant and Gabriel was taking hits. Now Gabriel is a giant. Remember when we had Mustafi, Djourou, then we had to worry. Saliba is a 21 year old prodigy, and along with Gabriel are giving us our best back line for years. Bloody hell, White, Saliba, Gabriel and Zinchenko…..and Tomiyasu and Tierney as cover. **** that is some defense My only worry, as others have said, we need at least another two top players to give us depth. That is where we can fail, injuries and tiredness. It’s hand in pocket time for the Krankies.
We lost to manchester united! Unbelievable.
Very good running out for the lads. BHA absorbed all we gave them. Had they those missing players on the pitch, it would have been a very different match. Big ups to them on the fight back. We need to learn to pace ourselves better next time…Jus sayin.
For me NYG it wasn’t about pacing ourselves, it was the subs all underperformed. We thought Brighton had capitulated but they hadn’t!
@guy
That as well. We started the second half good, then slacked off after the 4th goal. Our back line were all over the place…Just sayin
Running out of just saying sayings no? Given top 4 was always a success, can’t move the goalpost to just saying if we lose to City in the end. Ignoring the fact we are 7 clear anyway……………. jus saying.
Curious if we should pace ourselves to be 5th or worse so you could actually be accurate with your many previous just saying jibes?
@Angus
You felt you just had to say something, eh?
You can say we also miss G. Jesus, his hold up play would have absorbed a lot of pressure and would have won a couple of fouls to settle nerves. We might have won against Brighton even with their full squad.
We won the match that’s all that matters.
@Angelo
True, winning is all that matters, on the night. That shouldn’t take away the need to regain our shortcomings. Our rivals watched the match and am sure they will look to capitalise in some way from it. Jus sayin…
Love Eddie but man needs too press no fault his own but he’s not match fit
Congratulations to arteta and his boys. Is Saliba’s mind still in the team? He is making silly mistakes frequently.
Mitoma to me is a real deal.
Saliba mind is just not there, he’s far better than that.
Maybe this is the worst have seen him played, but credit must be given to the team as a whole, we went there with a plan and executed it nicely.
Maybe he was not happy about contact extension being activated still feel there is a rift there between him and Arteta and the fact Arsenal had to do this shows they are not close to getting him to sign a long term contract otherwise pretty sure it would have been done by now only my opinion but don’t see him signing and will be forced to sell him at some point!
excellent result! A tough match away and I was very tense in the 2nd half wondering if BHA would force a draw with us but the VAR gods smiled our way this time. Boy am I happy to see people on Twitter moaning about VAR helping Arsenal! Extremely disappointing from Saliba but dropping him now might damage his confidence even further so lets just keep the faith in him, if he effs up vs Newcastle then Tomiyasu should play CB.
Big test past. I believe the next 3 games will determine the rest of our season.
Newcastle
Spurs
Man U
If we can get 6 points from the above fixtures I’ll be extremely happy.
Mixed emotions. Great result but my son’s tv had a glitch snd most of the first half was spent trying to get NOW tv to load. Ended up watching it on a French channel courtesy of my niece’s French boyfriend’s phone which we wired up to the tv. Lost all sense of the match by then but Brighton didn’t roll over and I noticed Arteta attempting to calm the players down before the goal being ruled out.
The added minutes added to the drama but we won and I’m looking forward to the Newcastle game on my tv
I’m glad to have been able to read all your comments
Happy 2023 everyone
I love the strategy Arteta used against Brighton, didn’t give them any opportunity for a pacy game,
Onward to the next game.
This is very true. But i believe Guardiola is no fool. I believe he already knew his style of play will be altered(or will change?) with the arrival of Haaland.
If you look at the top teams, they are all going for Haaland type strikers. Liverpool with Nunez. Real madrid wanted Mbappe. Newcastle with Isak. Remember, Artetas first choice was Vlahovic.
It may be difficult to see, but these men are changing the game in ways that may not take effect now, but will. Its just a matter of time.