Where to start – Saliba picked up a foot injury against Chelsea so in came Mosquera whilst Martinelli came in for Trossard. No White or Odegaard still, but Max Dowman returned.
Brighton, with two defeats to Arsenal this season already, came out of the blocks fast, they chased and they harried Arsenal all evening which made for a disjointed and at times, chaotic match. In fact David Raya almost presented the Seagulls with an early Easter present when a loose pass to Declan Rice went to a Brighton player instead who then lifted the ball over Raya’s head. Fortunately his effort lacked enough velocity and Gabriel got back to clear. Yes it was going to be one of those games!
Saka got clear afterwards but didn’t make the most of his opportunity crossing into the box to no discernible red shirt. Moments later on the 9th minute Bakayo found space again on the right following a pass from Timber, this time he just went for it, dribbling past two Brighton defenders before he hit a low cross shot which took the slightest of deflections but the Brighton goalkeeper allowed it to squirm through his legs. A nice way to celebrate his 300th Arsenal appearance. Two minutes later Mosquera got booked for a rash tackle which left him walking a tight rope for the rest of the game.
The rest of the half saw the Brighton manager continually in the ear of the 4th official and his team whinging and whining. Arsenal simply took every opportunity to break up the flow of the game and to slow down the tempo of a game which was threatening to turn into a chaotic mess. Brighton obviously wanted to knock Arsenal out of their stride which was understandable but by contrast found it difficult to accept that Arsenal would use every tool in their box to counter those tactics. Brighton lost their composure just like their manager and maybe that was the difference? H/T 0-1
The opening 10 minutes of the 2nd 45 saw Brighton put the Gunners under intense pressure with their pressing game, but the Gunners held firm and Raya stopped everything thrown at him. The Arsenal defence was creaking at times and our midfield struggled to gain any control but Brighton lacked the requisite composure to take advantage.
Finally on 57minutes the Gunners relieved the pressure and Saka had space to spin and fire in a shot, but it flew over the bar. Both Martinelli and Gyokeres had worked tirelessly up front, feeding on scraps, but we needed more control and so on the hour they were replaced by Trossard and Havertz. Both were far more effective under pressure but even they struggled at times to retain the ball.
Raya had already made a good save from Georgino on 58 but on 61 Mosquera got skinned by Minter leading to a corner. Three minutes later, our Spanish-Colombian centre half came off for the fresher and more experienced Calafiori. He dropped into left-back and Hincapie moved to right centre back, a move which helped both defensively and offensively where Calafiori provided more of a threat and Hincapie brought more composure in the middle. But the chaos continued and on 77 minutes following some neat approach play Timber cut the ball back for Mr Reliable, unfortunately Leo’s shot sliced off of his boot to the jeers and cheers from a raucous and rather one-eyed home crowd.
Zubimendi, who had been below his best recently was replaced by Norgaard on 80 minutes but Eze stayed on and maintained some semblance of a threat on the counter. I thought that Eze had a decent 90+ minutes in general but with so much mayhem surrounding him it’ll be missed. A dangerous cross then looped into the Arsenal box catching Raya out was read by Hincapie who calmed the situation and cleared the danger. Timber had been battling all match with whoever was at any time on the Brighton left-flank and to me he looked as good as I’d seen him all season. They shall not pass!
Havertz got free on the left on 88 minutes but clearly lacking sharpness saw his shot blocked. The game then drifted into 7 minutes of added time with the brilliant Arsenal away fans celebrating Elliott Anderson’s equaliser for Forest at Eastlands. Not even the efforts of Danny Welbeck trying to wind-up our lads was able to break their focus.
The celebrations at the final whistle in the away end were ecstatic and my relief was palpable but the ends justify the means and I could not give a flying fig what the critics say. We all know that they desperately want us to fail and they will look for every excuse to belittle any achievements we enjoy this season. Anyone who has supported Arsenal for a couple or more decades will know this to be true.
Well they can all do one….
We still march on….
By Kev.
Morning Kev, all. Good post.
Painful, nerve wracking, never really in control of the game but we won at a difficult ground against a difficult side. Brilliant!
‘Anyone who has supported Arsenal for a couple or more decades will know this to be true.’…..yes Kev. That is a lifetime of heartbreaks that brought us here today. Hopefully this time we will go all the way.
A very enjoyeable match report Kev. Raise my hat to you habib.
Good Morning Rico and all.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1234588798858637&set=a.490356576615200
Good morning everyone. Yes a great result last night. So good to see Saka scoring again. Long may it last.
Another life line thanks to MC! Fingers crossed this one won’t be lost.
FA Cup this Saturday so a good time to rest some of the players and give others the chance to shine. Would like to see Max D play this Saturday.
Morning all, good report Kev. Great result in what is always a difficult tie. Some leaders out there now with Rice, Timber, Gabriel and Hincapie excellent. Havertz getting back and a Saka goal both good omens. If only City hadn’t signed Semenyo, I think the title would already have been ours. To those who question Arsenals dark arts, one answer question back, who is top of the FairPlay league?
Morning Gooners, morning Rico, yeah it was the most nervous I’ve been this season especially with City bottling it at home – unfortunately that bottle narrative is only reserved for us. We might look back at the season’s end to yesterday as the day when we broke the grip City have on us? Brighton have taken 4 points off of City this season so anyone thinking that these Seagulls are easy to beat really needs to lay down in a darkened room with a Cydrax.
Thanks habib, the boring Arsenal narrative was in full flow yesterday and I couldn’t care less, when I’m hopefully standing opposite The Famous Cock on Highbury Corner cheering the open top bus on its way to Islington Town Hall in May (possibly June) then I will not give a moments thought to the haters.
no Andrew, there is no need to ask them who is top of the league. Just ask them…….where do Arsenal feature in the yellow/red card table? Where do Arsenal feature in how much the ball is in play during Arsenal games? Where do Arsenal feature in attacking moves? Where do Arsenal feature in free kicks given against and in favour?
You might be astonished on the results.
Cheers Andrew, yeah Hincapie was superb yesterday evening, he just got stronger the longer the game went on and he is surprisingly rapid when he needs to be. Delighted for Saka, he needed that goal so now hopefully he’ll have a productive run to the end of the season.
Great point regarding the fair play league.
Morning Devil.
I’d rather we win right now and away from home, I don’t really care how we do it.
Posted before this thread loaded
IT WAS THEM who created this Arsenal. With their comments, with their condescending words and with their criticism.
Are we monsters?? They created us.
It’s always been there but it really took up steam in the Ferguson / Wenger years. |Fergie had the press in his pocket and propagated the the theory that the only way to stop us was to kick and be physical . He had his golf chums on the M6 and M62 Allardyce , McLaren ,Hughes , Reid , Keane and it became the narrative in both the written and sound media .
I once read an article that managers of northern clubs were invited to play a round with Ferguson the week before their teams played us .
True or not ? I don’t know but I would not be surprised.
I wouldn’t be surprised either re Fergie, there were no depths to which he wouldn’t go to gain an advantage imo.
Arsenal are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. We’ve gone from soft, wilting under pressure, being kick to pieces frequently to being made of sterner stuff. The dark arts from City were once praised, now the dark arts from Arsenal are under constantly under scrutiny.
Football is set to change the rules because of Arsenal which in itself is quite amusing. Pathetic from the rule makers but amusing nonetheless.
This year we already have won a major title. That of living rent free in everyone’s head.
Absolute champions. A tile race that was and will never be in doubt
There’s no doubt to me that since Arteta turned on the charm offensive with the officials, in particular the 4th official, that we’ve enjoyed far more favourable treatment from PGMOL. Not Ferguson type treatment mind, just fair treatment. It probably feels like more than fair treatment to us because we’ve become so used to getting unfair treatment and this takes some getting used to.
Arteta has reigned in the intensity on the sidelines, the intense angry stares and excised a more agreeable character, he even jokes with the officials and it’s benefitted us.
We’ll never get a fair crack from the media, that’s a given, but we can exploit every other avenue fairly and be the best at it, such as with corners although Brighton were pretty dangerous – no doubt we’ll get the blame for that?
Have a great day everyone…
Good morning Kev, I agree with most of what you say apart from about Eze. In games like yesterday’s he is quite ineffective, he doesn’t get enough time on the ball and too often loses it in the first contact. He doesn’t press when we are attacking and his defensive work is almost totally lacking. I would rather see Miles Lewis-Skelly in the number ten spot rather than Eze, he is a much more combative player, he can hold onto the ball and beat defenders/midfielders with he ball at his feet. I’d save Eze for the Champions League where he would not have to face the physical side of the game so closely.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/956459810047838
Simon Jordan puts forward some interesting points. At least someone is in our favour
Thanks Kev,
Your report was a lot more fun than watching that,all worked out in the end,and the Man City result was just brilliant.
I thought our defence and Raya were brilliant at times. Brighton played well – if they concentrated on winning instead of whinging about everything.
Funny how people see things differently,I too thought Eze was OK but I thought Gyokeres and Martinelli had nightmares,and they are two of my favourites.
It will be interesting to see who lines up against Mansfield,probably a complete change with some big names on the bench. We have so many big games coming up.
I saw earlier that Spurs could sack Tudor if they lose tonight,if you think about it we could win the premier league and they could be relegated.
Lots of sour grapes from people who are desperate for us to fail,they can all do one.
I had to laugh,one of the Man City players(maybe Rodri) complaining that everyone wants them to fail,and all 50/50 ref decisions go against them.
Agreed Kev, the problem is, the old has been players, fans too see fairness as favouritism.
Next season I hope we see more of Nwaneri in the number 10 role. Hope to see MLS in midfield against Mansfield.
Limey, there was no service to Martinelli and Gyokeres from the player who should have been their provider…Eze.
If there was no service to Martinelli and Gyokeres, this time from Eze, similar to the situation with Odegaard who was constantly passing to Saka, then this is not an Odegaard issue but a training one or a tactical one or a clique one.
Havertz passes both to Martinelli and to Gyokeres. Infact they have hit it off immediately as soon as Havertz has been back from injury.
I am not trying to make something out of such a situation, but its an observation.
Because I presume, nay, expect that since we see that happening game in game out, Arteta sees it too. Its impossible for him to miss it.
I agree Gyokeres and Martinelli had no service and worked hard as always. Havertz noticeably better when he came on though.
A stat I found………Arsenal averaged 31.4 seconds per restart vs Brighton.
BHAFC average 26.5 seconds per restart this season but averaged 38.7 vs Man City (H), 33.7 vs Chelsea (A) & 33.2 vs Brentford (A).
The Common dominator? They won all three matches against City, Chelsea and Brentford.
Hunzelar didnt’t complain back then.
I don’t think there’s a clique, Arteta doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy to accept that. Then again, he too seems to have his favourites.
Havertz and Gyokeres is our best attacking combination imo.
I said that the first time I saw them play together. Their understanding is uncanny. It’s almost as if they could read each other like DB10 and TH14 did
With Haverts and Gyokeres even Martinelli and madueke thrived
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15616887/fabian-hurzeler-arsenal-brighton-dark-arts.html
You could see how comfortable and understanding of each other they were in that first game.
Totts 3-1 down at home v Palace and de Ven has been sent off.. lol
I didn’t know that OX is at Celtic and Tomyatsu at Ajax.
Nwaneri missed the decisive penalty in the Cup for Marseille yesterday.
The Totts continue to lose 🙂
It seems to me that Saturday’s game is going to be very difficult…
Hi Cicero, well I thought Eze did ok, I think Arteta plays him further forward so maybe he doesn’t see as much of the ball as say Odegaard but he’s more forward thinking than Odegaard but hey, it doesn’t matter. Tottenham lost again so rejoice…🥳
Cheers Limey, Ian Wright had some interesting comments about media bias on Arseblog Arsecast, give it a listen if you can…
Definitely need to rotate heavily for Mansfield.
Spurs lose again , 1 point off the relegation places
Bring back memories of the mid -70’s, only difference is if they do go down I reckon they’ll be down for awhile. 🤞
Yes Dev I totally agree, the Viktor and Kai duo look to be our best attacking options but we’ve gotta take it easy with Kai, we need him fit and firing when the big games come around in the Champions League.
Good morning all.
It seems that we have to sell some players this summer to avoid P S R problems.
We are already committed to paying £45 million for Hincapie.
Names of players under threat are, Nwaneri, M L S, White, Martinelli and with only another year on his contract Odegaard.
Income-wise the Champions League and Premiership title are vital. The two cups can also help of course.
I guess that Odegaard will be sold. I dpnt think Nwaneri, MLS and Martinelli will be sold. So its probably one of Odegaard or White.
I wont be happy to see White gone as I like his attitude towards the club.
The pundits and those who criticize and/or ridicule Arsenal are afraid only of one thing……that Arsenal will dominate the league in SAF proportions. They know that if Arsenal were to win the EPL and/or CL they would easily embark on a long run of winning trophies. That is their biggest fear.
Thus they criticize and ridicule us.
I would love only one thing. That if we were to win the EPL it gets presented to us by someone who is one of them.
Morning all.
I thought we were fine with PSR after our finance details were released.
Those figures did not include the players signed in the summer. Madueke, Eze, Gyokeres, Norgaard. Rico.
Ah, thanks Cicero.
Afternoon Gooners, yes Cicero I saw those rumours about the need to sell, it might point towards a summer of less of the high profile business we’ve enjoyed recently, where instead we’re relying on Andrea Berta’s knowledge and contacts? Looking to bring in bargains like Mosquera or sourcing the South American market for uncut diamonds as Brighton and Bournemouth make a habit of?
One headline stated that Arsenal might need to sell one major player to balance the books. It may mean more Hincapie type deals, that is signing a player on loan with an obligation?
We should have some dough coming in for Kiwior and hopefully Vieira, Hein will leave but we should still get some development compensation, barring those it may mean selling either one of Myles or Ethan or both. Because both are Hale End we’d get 100% benefit on our PSR.
Every club, even Man City and Liverpool are selling home grown players, unfortunately Nwaneri hasn’t yet set the world alight in Marseille.
So Julien Alvarez might be out of reach unless we can take him on a loan with an obligation? Meanwhile the academy needs to produce a few more Dowman’s and Salmon’s…
https://swissramble.substack.com/p/how-could-arsenal-spend-so-much-this-summer?
https://swissramble.substack.com/p/arsenal-finances-202425-swiss ramble
Feel a bit sorry for Nwaneri after Zerbi left.
If the club needs to make money on sales, we’ll have to sell our homegrown players because other clubs don’t seem to like paying much for the others.
Even if Odegaard goes, I bet he’ll go cheaply with his constant injuries.
Devil I remember 1991 after we had been deducted 2 points after a brawl at Old Trafford that when Gordon Taylor, head of the EFL, handed over the cup he was told by the crowd where he could stick his effing 2 points . I dont think he appreciated it but the crowd did .
Academy graduates are counted as ‘pure profit’ in clubs’ accounts – an almost irresistible incentive to sell them.
I’d hate it but my guess is the sales of Ethan, Myles, or even Max, Marli, for that matter, will help the club balance the books. I even suspect that’s the main reason why they’re displayed in our shop window asap; but then again, I do hope I’ll be proven wrong!!
Ethan has been incredibly unlucky so far at Marseille. The turning point in the club’s season was the shameful way they were demolished at Bruges in the CL – demolition in which Ethan played no part, since he was not qualified to play for OM in the group phase.
The defeat triggered a period of nonsensical decisions the club have been specialists of since forever. DeZerbi – who I think really loved the kid – was fired, and there we are. Ethan still shows glimpses of what he’s capable of – he assisted Auba’s winner against Lyon in gorgeous fashion lately – but the way he took his pen (so unlike him to hoof the ball over the bar like that) in the shootout against Toulouse in the Coupe de France round of 8 was clear evidence of his edginess at the moment.
What now? The new coach, Habib Beye, is a a smart, but inexperienced guy. I’m afraid the pressure on him is such that he’ll pick conservative setups, in order to make sure they make it of one of the CL qualifying spots. If so, Ethan will have to make the most of whatever playing time he’ll be given off the bench. He has the talent for it, though, and I think the OM fans will support him; he’s just the kind of player – skilful, creative, unpredictable – they’ve always been crazy about …
I’d not like it either, no way in my opinion should we even consider selling Dowman, Salmon or Nwaneri.
Tbh I wasn’t totally in favour of loaning out Ethan at all and I’m not so sure Mikel wanted to do it either, but in the end I was convinced by the arguments that Ethan needed the minutes and maybe the advisors to Ethan were convinced as well, but as I feared it’s all gone Pete Tong on the South of France. Tomorrow Ethan would have been a central character in the FACup tie at Mansfield but instead he’ll be kicking his heels in some Marseille apartment block, c’est la vie…
The irony is, since Ethan left for his cote d’azure adventure we’ve lost Merino for the rest of the season and Odegaard until probably April, which is great for Eze because he’ll get to play every week but the options on the bench are stark…
Other clubs have made their academies their main income stream they have either developed themselves or else hoovered up any available talent cheaply and then sold it later. We have tried this but our record of selling has not been great we tend to get them off of the books rather than get decent prices for them.
I don’t think that we will be selling the cream of our crop after all you can have many players in the academy but at the level that we aspire to only one or two will actually be good enough . The rest are saleable but we need to make sure that we get decent prices.
Hello Rico
Sadly, our Frank has closed BK, my regular go to for Arsenal banter over the past few years. I dipped my toe in here some time ago and enjoyed the reads. Would you find room in your “House” for a far flung and presently adrift Gooner?
I’m watching the Wolves/Liverpool game and it seems to me that Liverpool have brought their own referee with them.
Friday night U21 football on arsenal.com. What a great initiative – love it, even though the streaming let us down before the end tonight (I missed Norwich’s equalizer in ET).
FT Norwich 2 YoungGuns 2
Actually, the Canaries’ first goal shouldn’t have stood, a clear foul on Hammill turned into an assist for the guy who scored …
Anyway, I’ve watched all of the kids’ games lately, and this very young bunch is maturing nicely. They were deprived of Setford/Dixon/Salmon/Dowman/HarrimanAnnous tonight, but this could be the bulk of a very competitive Youth League team next season, provided the club takes this great competition seriously, at long last.
O’Neill and Ferdinand the scorers. O’Neill I like a lot, he’s only 17, has scored a lot this season, at all levels (U18; U21; Youth League, …) – I think there’s a genuine CF (he played on a wing tonight) in that boy, the goal he scored tonight was classic CF swivel on the edge of the 6-yard-box.
I find him to be more calm and accurate in scoring positions, 1v1s, than Harriman-Annous for instance. As a matter of fact Andre played right-footed LW for the U21s lately; should we see him tomorrow I wouldn’t be surprised if it were in that position …
The current rankings (and results…) of the U-18, U-19, and U-21 teams are poor. Perhaps this helps explain why the “harvest” coming from the Academy isn’t good enough.
Hi Stuart, of course, you are more than welcome.
Ditto re Nwaneri, if only Arteta had had a crystal ball.
JM I tried to watch it but it kept freezing and the sound wasn’t working but from what I did see I thought that our number 8 looked a useful player but I could not identify him . However the shape of the team was difficult to assess and I thought that it was very kick and rush and far too hurried , we had better players than Norwich and with more composure would have won it .
The number 8 is Theo Julienne, Potter, and he’s one of those having improved a lot lately; he was always full of energy but it’s not been long since he became that composed. He used to play RB for the U18s; I liked him a lot in that position too – and I think that’s where he has a future.
We were indeed better than these big, tall Canaries, who hadn’t exactly shone brightly so far …
After a decent start, the U18s’ season turned quickly into a nightmare indeed, Joaquim. As for the U19s, their 2 seasons in the Youth League have been an absolute disgrace, we won only 5 of 18 games, and all of them were dead rubbers – on the other hand, we got our fair share of humiliations, Slavia away being the worst this season imo …
A clear choice was made lately to field what looks very much like a U18 side for the PL2 games. I think it’s starting to pay off for the lads concerned. As I said I find them to be “maturing nicely”, and since they’re gonna make it to the playoffs of the competition, the games might be worth a look, if only to check on the boys who might have an outside chance of following in the footsteps of Dowman/Salmon (don’t want to look like I’m picking on him, but I have reservations about Harriman-Annous – who, I hope, will prove how misguided my judgment is, starting tomorrow) …
I have to disagree with you JM, I think the Arsenal academy has developed some really high quality players and no more or less than we usually see, the difference between the best and the rest can be though quite a drop off. I really would like to know what has happened to Josh Nichols, is he injured?
All the lads who didn’t play for the academy must be, I imagine, due to be part of the party to play at Mansfield later today. Really looking forward to seeing them strut their stuff.
Good to see some familiar new faces on HH…
I do too Kev and well hopefully see 2/3 of them today in Annous, Dowman and Salmon. It’s easy to forget that ESR, Iwobi, Nelson, Nketiah etc etc are still enjoying football at a high level. Plus the players we have coming through.
Just because one or two don’t make it at Arsenal, it doesn’t mean they are poor players.
Lg, I hope Annous plays today too, I think he’s been out injured for a while. Dowman and Salmon who I think are looking really promising will hopefully get minutes too. A lot of minutes.
New post up.