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.