Joao Pedro’s second-half penalty earned Brighton a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal on Saturday night.
Both sides desperately lacked fluency in a small, fractious contest. The Gunners struggled to create any meaningful openings after Ethan Nwaneri’s 16th-minute opener, while Brighton were hampered by their own quick approach in the final third.
Pedro won and converted a penalty on the hour mark to ensure his side picked up a point which – based on the overall balance of the game – was the least they deserved.
How the match unfolded
While Fabian Hurzeler tried to emphasize the positive aspects BrightonPerformances – rather than points totals – in recent weeks, Mikel Arteta did not need such mental gymnastics. The Gunners started with the bubbling confidence of a team fresh off a 12-game unbeaten run, going close Gabriel Jesus before Ethan Nwaneri converted from the deadlock.
Arsenal’s fantastic teenager put in a lot of effort without any end product on his end full Premier League debut against Brentford midweek but got a deserved goal on the south coast. Catching his stronger left foot on the right flank, Nwaneri slotted the ball under Bart Verbruggen with an unnerving shot an injured compatriotBukayo Saka, he would be pleased.
Brighton were buoyed by falling behind, enjoying a flurry of forward attacks either side of the interval. Still, the quirky Seagulls seemed intent on finding new, increasingly creative ways to waste these briefly promising waves.
William Saliba’s fortuitous challenge inadvertently ensured that Brighton’s new attack would not fail. Joao Pedro juggled the ball temptingly in the crowded penalty area ArsenalThe French centre-back into an aerial challenge that saw him connect exclusively with the striker’s scalp. Brighton’s number nine kicked the dust and converted the spot-kick.
Arteta brought Martin Odegaard off the bench for the final 25 minutes, but the hosts came closest to taking all three points. As Arsenal’s captain faltered in the closing stages, the Seagulls kept pushing. By the time the final whistle blew on the wet corner of the south coast, Brighton would have been more disappointed with the point than their title-chasing visitors.
Check out the player ratings for Brighton vs Arsenal here.
Brighton’s tumultuous home ground rocked the song after Saturday night’s collapse. Instead of saluting their own players, the south coast crowd condemned Arsenal’s upset.
Nwaneri was booked for time-wasting in first-half stoppage time, but justifiable groans about the labored restart began within the first half hour. “Boring, boring Arsenal” was a fair description of the visitors, who were only willing to go forward when there was a corner to attack. The north London outfit recorded a miserable 0.44 xG from open play on Saturday, desperately missing Sak and an in-form version of Odegaard.
“We have to continue to be like a hammer,” Arteta demanded earlier this week, “to be there every day, every day, every day.” The Gunners could be content with being “there” for the full 90 minutes of the game before setting their sights on something more ambitious.
It’s incredible to think that a player born eight months after the Emirates Stadium opened has already been confirmed as Arsenal’s next great hope. Making your second Premier League Starting four days apart, Nwaneri was full of the same feathery flicks and sugary drinks that peppered his starring role against Brentford in midweek.
However, the inevitable grip of fatigue began to creep into the edges of the teenager’s game as Saturday’s first half wore on. Nwaneri – like many of his team-mates – was guilty of some loose touches and, unlike Arsenal’s typical set-up specialists, took two undercooked corners on the spin.
Arteta removed Nwaneri at half-time more for himself than for the team. The Spanish boss recently lamented that Arsenal will never be able to repeat Barcelonaof the famous academic system, but it would be wise to avoid the way the Catalans have chronically overdone these young gems.
Making it Premier League Starting in almost a month, the metaphorical rust that appears so readily between Jorginho’s 33-year-old limbs was evident at the AMEX. The metronome at the foot of the midfield did not match the rhythm of the game.
On too many occasions during the hour he spent hanging around the pitch, Jorginho was mugged, mugged and bullied by the youthful hosts. Even the Italian’s trademark brooding look at the referee when complaining about a non-existent foul didn’t work on Anthony Taylor. It may be more than a month before Jorginho is called up again.
An Arsenal win on Saturday would lift the Gunners to just three points behind Liverpool. However, the frustrating stalemate ensures the gap could be as much as eight points if the Reds beat Manchester United on Sunday as expected. The Merseyside side will still have a game in hand after the weekend fixtures.
The idea of a title race was false at best given the relentless nature of Liverpool’s campaign so far, but Arteta was hoping Arne Slott would be wrong.
“If someone wins all the games, congratulate them and we’ll go to the next season, but if they don’t, which has never happened in history, we’ll be there,” the Gunners boss said recently. Liverpool may experience a dip in form over the next five months, but the idea that Arsenal will be able to capitalize on any hypothetical blip looks increasingly fantastic.
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