Positives to take as Premier League leaders worried by Brighton
After an age away from the Amex, New Year’s Eve and the visit of Premier League leaders Arsenal finally arrived.
The Albion welcomed everyone back with pyrotechnics and a light show before kick off whilst American Express kindly offered all fans a season 10 percent discount on food and drink inside the ground. A nice gesture which they did not have to do.
There were two wonderful tributes paid before the game, one to the King of Football Pele. The other was to lifelong Brighton fan Mr Ken Valder, who was born in 1955 and sadly passed away recently.
Mr Valder was named Brighton Fan of the Year for the 2017-18 season and he seemed to reach people beyond football.
The programme carried a lovely article about Mr Valder on page 12. It certainly brings the reality home as I was also born that year and sometimes wonder to myself how many more times I will get to see the lads play. RIP to both Pele and Mr Valder.
Some readers may know that in my household, the other side of the family are born and bred Arsenal supporters from North London.
So this fixture is always challenging, and lots of banter starts in the build up to the game. You can probably imagine that I have enjoyed recent matches, both in the Premier League and the Carabao Cup at the Emirates just before the World Cup break.
With Arsenal top of the table, I was expecting some sort of comeback from the Gunners on this occasion. Steadying myself for the worst would mean I avoided being too disappointed if we did lose.
An already tough task looked even harder with the players Brighton would be missing. Moises Caciedo suspended, Alexis Mac Allister still in Argentina and defensive stalwart Adam Webster and creative forward Danny Welbeck both injured made me fear the Albion would be toppled on the day.
The inclement rain eased up as we approached the Amex but the wind remained. It made passing challenging during the game, yet this was an area where Brighton outshone Arsenal with a passing accuracy of 88.3 percent compared to 72.6 percent.
Referee Anthony Taylor blew his whistle to start the game and instantly the Gunners looked dangerous. Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard raced from the right side towards the Brighton goal and I thought to myself this was not good.
No matter, Tariq Lamptey made an excellent interception and began racing forward. But having gained possession, Lamptey had the ball swiftly taken from him.
Oleksandr Zinchenko passed to Gabriel Martinelli who crossed. There was a slight deflection off Levi Colwill into the path of Bukayo Saka who let it drop and swept the ball beyond Robert Sanchez.
Not a great start to the evening and Sanchez was clearly unhappy, gesticulating to the either the referee or his defence about what had just happened.
In celebrating their goal, Arsenal employed a timewasting tactic on a pair with the unfairness displayed by Emiliano Martinez when Brighton were beaten by Aston Villa last time at the Amex.
Every Gunners player met up in the corner, stayed in a huddle for a long time and then dawdled back to the centre circle with Eddie Nkeitah being the worst offender.
Arsenal would soon sharpen up if a rule was introduced saying that the conceding team could restart the game as soon as they were ready and the referee blew his whistle.
Such a law change would stop these silly schoolboy antics of wasting time. What do you think? Arsenal after all did not employ the slow celebration once, but every time they scored.
Something needs to be done. Brighton do not behave like that when they score; celebrate, yes, but not for 10 minutes.
Sanchez’s mood was not improved when Arsenal had another opportunity shortly after the game finally restarted.
Zincehnko crept in and it needed a good save from the Albion’s number one to prevent the Gunners doubling their lead. The highlights showed Sanchez’s facial expression as not happy as the chance should not have been able to happen.
Lamptey made a run down the right without being tackled this time and crossed towards Adam Lallana on the edge of the box.
Lallana teed up Leandro Trossard, who despite a slight mishit was not far wide of the post. It certainly gave Aaron Ramsdale something to think about.
Arsenal produced some nice passing next in the Brighton penalty box. Odegaard’s little flick went through the legs of Lewis Dunk to drop for Martinelli.
Martinelli tried to square but Colwill did really well to not only clear the ball away from danger, but get it to Kaoru Mitoma on the left wing.
That started a fantastic passage of play from the Albion. Mitoma found Gross who released Pervis Estupinan to produce an immaculate switch from left to right to Trossard.
Next the ball was played down the line to Solly March. He beat Zinchenko and squared across goal, only for there to be no Brighton player available to pop it into the back of the net.
Arsenal could not clear and the ball came back out only as far as Gross. He squared to Trossard whose shot needed Ramsdale to tip it over the crossbar.
After all that excitement, Brighton conceded a second goal with six minutes until half time. Saka took a corner headed away by Billy Gilmour to the feet of Odegaard and he fired the bouncing ball off the turf, spinning it into the top right corner.
Having watched the first half from the East Upper, I had not been that impressed by the Albion. Watching the highlights back, however, the Albion looked much better from the perspective of watching on television.
You could understand why Roberto De Zerbi felt Arsenal had been lucky as they had scored from two fortunate situations.
And at least we had not scored two own goals like poor Leicester City defender Wout Faes, whose unwanted double sent the Foxes to a 2-1 defeat against Liverpool.
What advice did De Zerbi give at half time, we wonder? Certainly not to concede a third two minutes after kick off, which transpired when Sanchez spilt a shot to Nkeita who scored a poacher’s finish.
Sanchez next saved from point blank range to ensure it did not become 4-0. After that, Brighton came into the game and finished much the stronger side. You could even say we De Zerbi-ed something from the match.
Gilmour played a ball through to Gross who rolled it into Mitoma. That fine approach play left Mitoma with a chance to shoot and he calmly beat Ramsdale to make it Brighton 1-3 Arsenal.
There was no hanging about from Mitoma, who collected the ball out the net and jogged at pace back to the centre circle, ready to go in hunt of another.
Jeremy Sarmiento put a great ball across the box but there was no striker there to convert. From there, Brighton were caught on the counter with Odegaard sweeping a magical pass out to Martinelli.
That sparked a footrace between Martinelli and Lamptey. Both were going at full throttle but Lamptey could just not catch him.
Once Martinelli made it into the box, he got a shot away. Sanchez managed to get a foot to it but the ball went straight in to give Arsenal a fourth.
More timewasting followed and that really should have been game over. Brighton though never give up until the fat Italian lady sings. That is the saying, right?
In the remaining 13 minutes plus added time, the Albion made a real mark. Dunk hit a long ball over the top for substitute Evan Ferguson.
It dropped perfectly for Ferguson, using his body weight to beat William Saliba and finish past Ramsdale.
With the score line reading Brighton 2-4 Arsenal, things were getting interesting. Arsenal players and fans were suddenly a little concerned.
The Albion hammered away at Arsenal right up until a key point in the game arrived on 88 minutes. Gross took a throw that found Mitoma who scored again.
There seemed to be nothing wrong with the goal but VAR looked and found a Mitoma bootlace offside. It was extremely unfair on the Albion, especially when Mr Taylor added on seven minutes.
Had Mitoma’s goal stood, then Brighton were so on top that it is fair to assume they would have managed a draw. What a comeback that would have been.
To give the Premier League leaders so much to worry about was a thoroughly positive way to end what has been a memorable 2022. Play like that throughout 2023 and it will be another year in which Brighton shine in the Premier League.
Up The Albion and a happy 2023 to you all.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
