Brighton 2-4 Arsenal: Brighton Rocked

Match report – Player ratings – Video

Arsenal go into 2023 seven factors clear on the high of the desk after a 4-2 win over Brighton final evening.

Ending the outdated 12 months in type, we bought off to a quick begin as Bukayo Saka put us forward with simply over a minute gone. The contact and end had been as calm as you want, however misplaced within the evaluation of the objective itself was the truth that had the ball not fallen to him, it will absolutely have been a penalty due to an apparent handball by the Brighton defender. I’d a lot choose a objective to a spot kick anyway, however we’d have had one other chew on the cherry.

In these opening minutes we had been nicely on high, Oleksandr Zinchenko virtually made it 2-0 and there was a style of issues to come back when Martin Odegaard produced a second of magic within the field with a nutmeg go to Martinelli in an area the scale of a telephone field, however the Brazilian’s cutback into the centre was cleared.

The sport settled down and we allowed Brighton to come back again into it by way of possession no less than. I believed we had been only a bit too passive at occasions, however nor did the house facet threaten us notably. About 5 minutes earlier than the break, Odegaard doubled the lead with a shot from a nook which wasn’t cleared very nicely. It seemed prefer it wasn’t his cleanest strike, bouncing down after which up and over the determined leap of the defender, however such is his high quality you couldn’t rule it out being deliberate both. I believe he meant it.

The second half started strongly. Gabriel Martinelli had discovered it troublesome sufficient towards Tariq Lamptey who defended nicely within the first half. When the ball got here to him this time, he didn’t attempt to come again on his proper foot like he did beforehand, as a substitute taking a shot together with his left foot that was too sizzling for the keeper to carry. And if you give a poacher like Eddie Nketiah a sniff, he’s often round to make you pay. He did simply that, poking the ball dwelling for his second objective in two video games. I don’t assume we speak rather a lot about Martinelli’s left foot by the best way. Three of his seven targets this season have come together with his left, and now this ‘help’ too. That additional risk he can pose by going the opposite method is a vital facet to his effectivity as an attacker.

Given the best way we’ve managed video games this season, that ought to have been that, however Brighton are a great group and so they stored going. There have been some warning indicators earlier than their objective – and having introduced off Ben White, there was a vulnerability that they took benefit of. Rapidly, the ball excessive was on for them down their inside left channel, and Kaoru Mitoma – who had been fairly quiet all evening – sprang into life to get one again.

Our response was excellent. We survived one other Brighton scare, earlier than Martin Odegaard produced one of many best passes you will note all season. The best way he moved to take the ball from Granit Xhaka, whereas trying up a few occasions to see the area and Martinelli was wonderful, however the execution of the go itself was world class. The proper angle, the proper weight, and Martinelli blazed past Lamptey and toe-poked it dwelling. I’ve seen folks speaking about how he ought to have squared it for Saka, however that seems like essentially the most pointless argument of all time. He scored. What extra do folks need? Get pleasure from a objective of elegant high quality in its creation. The ‘what if he missed?!’ is an irrelevance. I appreciated the end.

That actually ought to have closed the sport out, however Brighton scored once more. There’s little doubt William Saliba has returned from the World Cup slightly rusty. This was the sort of scenario he’d ordinarily cope with calmly and casually (within the one of the best sense of the phrase), however he misjudged it, permitting younger striker Evan Ferguson to take a pleasant contact after which roll it between Ramsdale’s legs.

Mikel Arteta activated the Rob Holding plan, which seemed prefer it was going to backfire when he caught a toe out to deflect a Mitoma shot past his personal goalkeeper. That will have been 3-4 with a couple of minutes to go, however VAR intervened. The Brighton man had come again from an offside place, however it was extraordinarily tight. I don’t assume I might have loved these closing couple of minutes had that objective stood. But it surely didn’t, and the sport completed 4-2 to the Arsenal.

It clearly wasn’t an ideal efficiency, and it was notable that the supervisor spoke afterwards about how his gamers acknowledged that within the dressing room afterwards:

My pleasure comes after I go within the dressing room and the gamers are speaking about what they need to’ve achieved higher in the present day. Which means they know that we nonetheless can play higher, be higher and towards Newcastle we must be higher.

Nonetheless, he referred to as it a ‘huge win’, and I believe that’s proper. We went to a facet who’ve brought on us loads of issues in latest seasons and scored 4 targets away from dwelling. The truth that Man Metropolis had dropped factors beforehand was an element too. Saka and Odegaard went with the ‘We don’t care about different groups, we give attention to ourselves’ mantra on Sky afterwards, however that’s what you say publicly. Arteta was slightly extra open, saying in fact they knew the end result and the way that gives a bit of additional alternative/stress, however this isn’t the primary time we’ve needed to cope with that this season. Metropolis have dropped factors and we’ve taken benefit; Metropolis have performed earlier than us and closed the hole, and we’ve responded. That tells you one thing about this group.

Clearly the Premier League desk tells you a lot too. We’re in pole place right here. There’s a protracted strategy to go, however high on New 12 months’s Day with 43 factors from 16 video games and with a 7 level hole over a facet pretty much as good as Man Metropolis is an unimaginable place to be at this level of the season. There are at all times going to be wobbles throughout video games, we had that final evening, however nonetheless did greater than sufficient to win the sport. We will work on the issues that weren’t fairly proper, however we’ve to acknowledge the standard and the hassle that has us the place are within the desk proper now.

Chapeau, you may say.

Proper, that’s it for this morning. We’ll have an Arsecast Further for you tomorrow as common, and there might be give attention to Newcastle who come to city on Tuesday.

Glad New 12 months of us!