Morning all.
Arsenal and the south coast of England have not made good bedfellows of late. St Mary’s in Hampshire and Brighton in Sussex. With Arsenal heading to the Amex Stadium on New Year’s Eve, I feared we as a club would end the year with a negative result.
Other than Oleksandr Zinchenko coming into the team for Kieran Tierney, Mikel Arteta fielded the same starting eleven which beat West Ham on Boxing Day.
The game ended up being pretty darn good, certainly for the neutral, it had everything, for Arsenal fans, for me anyway, it was a roller coaster of emotions. At times, Arsenal defended like a pub team, missed golden opportunities to put the game to bed too but at other times, certainly before Mikel Arteta made his changes, Arsenal were fantastic. It’s up to you which side of Arsenal’s performance you choose to focus on.
The early goal from Bukayo Saka was the perfect start. How cool was our young England international winger despatching his shot the way he did. The second came from captain Martin Odegaard who was simply fantastic throughout the game. He might have slightly scuffed his shot but hey, who gives a toss?
Just after the break, along came the hand stinger from Gabriel Martinelli which Brighton keeper Sanchez couldn’t hold onto. He spilled the ball and Eddie Nketiah was in the perfect position to poke it into the back of the net. 3-0 up. Dreamland.
Brighton pulled one back through Mitoma, a nice goal I thought but before there was a chance to worry about a Brighton comeback, Gabriel Martinelli restored our three goal lead. The pass out wide to our Brazilian by Martin Odegaard was sublime. He didn’t need to look because he knew exactly where Martinelli would be.
The drama wasn’t over yet though as Brighton scored again. The less said about that the better I think. They scored again to make it 4-3 but VAR spotted an offside. Anthony Taylor blew for full time and three points were in the bag.
The lack of playing time William Saliba had at the World Cup showed in my opinion as he looked rusty, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu too. I’m sure they’ll soon be back to their best.
Brighton are a good footballing team in my opinion and will nick points off of many clubs as the season goes on. With a bit of luck, those clubs will be sat in and around the top four when they do.
What a talented player Kaoru Mitoma is and he cost Brighton just £3 million.
The above table looks great doesn’t it? I thought we’d improve on last season but not for one minute did I expect Arsenal to be sat at the top of the table on the first day of 2023. If the next five months can be anywhere near as good as the first 16 games, then it’ll have been a great season. For now though, three points against Newcastle Utd is the next big challenge.
The 1st January means the transfer window is officially open. We’re still being linked to Mykhailo Mudryk although the back pages suggest Chelsea could scupper the deal by going in with a big offer. Newcastle too. However, it seems the player wants a move to north London. This is his latest social media post according to The Mail.
Happy New Year guys… 🍾🥂
Good morning Rico.
My only New Year resolution, not to get to tense in time added on when we are two goals up. 😉
A great result yesterday but some dodgy looking substitutions towards the end. Still, that often seems to be the way with Arteta.
Can we sustain the push for top of the league? Only time will tell.
Morning Rico and all.
Well put Rico. The ladder looks good. with 7 points between us and Man c but better steal being 9 point up on 3rd place with a game in hand. I must admit I didn’t see this happening this season.
Does anyone know why the ref spoke to both coaches.
Morning Cicero, Geoff.
Subs didn’t really go well did they but hey, we hung on and I’ve still got my fingernails. 😂
Rico et al.
Happy New Year to one and all.
I’ve made my New Year’s wish and resolution. ( you’ll never guess what I wished for??!!)
It was a great year for the Arsenal let’s hope that 2023 will fulfil all our hopes and dreams.😀
Happy New Year to you too Wavy. I bet we’re hoping for the same. 😆
Happy New year to everyone.
At this stage of the season it’s looking good, can’t get rid of this felling that the wheels will fall of eventually. (Hope I’m wrong about the wheels).
We’re not halfway through the season yet so it’s a bit early to be talking about being champion’s but a fourth place trophy is looking good. And with 43 points were not going to be in a religation battle come the end of the season.
So fingers crossed everything will be ok come season’s end.
Fear the worst but hope for the best.
Nice post Rico although I didn’t notice Martin Taylor?
Tomiyasu and Tierney as subs aren’t really dodgy are they Cicero? 😉
I get what mean Cicero regarding Elneny and Holding and the drop off in quality can be worrying but we have to protect Partey and Odegaard as losing them would be seriously damaging, not that you can really blame them for the White knuckle ride at the end of the game, Brighton are a pretty good side and a club with a fantastic scouting network it seems?
Kev I wasn’t denigrating Tomiyasu and Tierney, I just thought that changing both fullbacks at the same time disrupted the back line. I understand the need to safeguard Zinchenko as he’s just back from injury, but Ben White was doing well and didn’t seem to be getting tired. The other thing was adding Rob Holding which just overcrowded the penalty box.
The whole team seemed to lose all cohesion with everyone crowding back and leaving no out ball opportunity to relieve the pressure.
Thanks Kev, I was clearly thinking about the constant fouling of Saka and his name popped into my head.
Mog, many years of false hope can cause that. Lol
Nice report rico. Cicero, I share your feelings in added time, how different it was to the George Graham era, where a goal to the good, we could put our feet up and relax!
Not keen either with Arteta, and previous managers, putting a third centre back on to hold out, I’d rather flood midfield and not invite the opposition on to us.
Thanks Andrew. I honestly thought their third was going to be given and had it been, we’d have struggled I think. But, in time as these players grow older and wiser, perhaps they’ll be calmer.
Happy New Year everyone!
Tomiatsu is not in rhythm and started the game badly.
It is the second successive game with a serious error by Saliba.
White’s departure scrambles defense and midfield coverage.
The squad is short in terms of options, for the challenges of 2024.
Spurs 0 Villa 2. Great goal by D Luiz. Can they hold on, come on Emery. Would make a perfect weekend😃
Villa leading Totts 2-0 now..
And it’s finished 2-0 Villa .
Must have eaten too much of that turkey that sits on that glitter ball on the main stand.
Another excellent result for us.. Emery enjoying his return to the PL it seems.
Yeah I get that Cicero, I think that Brighton made a few changes that’s influenced the game as well, but upgrades on Elneny and Holding should be prioritised after we complete on Mudryk.
Rumours that Arsenal have agreed a 5 year deal with Mudryk so it seems that the last few details between the clubs only need smoothing out and he’s our new wing-forward.
Didn’t the Express start that story about agreeing terms. They’re not particularly reliable.
Chelsea have dropped two points as well..
Just a thought , if Saka and Saliba get booked against Newcastle they miss the Oxford cup match and are available for Spurs and United.
Not sure PL suspensions count in FA Cup
The Daily Express is beyond reproach Rico
I think it’s the FA that are the authority that hands out the suspensions Rico, they apply across all domestic competitions.
Indeed Kev.
In which case Cicero, both Saliba and Saka need to get booked on Tuesday. Right at the end..
What a start to the new year, Arsenal win, Tottenham loose and then Man c, Newcastle and Chelsea all draw.
You sound as if you don’t believe me Rico?
Emile Smith Rowe seems pencilled in for the Oxford Utd Cup tie, having him back fit and firing will be like a new signing. I do hope that Arteta protect his keys players in that match, we’ve surely got enough among our squad players and youngsters to beat Oxford?
Kev, I don’t.
New post up now