That was probably closer than what Gunners fans would have liked, but they can’t complain about the result. For the first time in probably 100 years, Arsenal have finished a calendar year atop the Premier League as they pushed their gap to 7 points with a 4-2 win over Brighton.
The Gunners really are title contenders. There’s no doubt about it now after this victory.
This was the classic ‘trip-up’ game that all title challengers face at some point in their season, though the opponent was especially personal to Arsenal given how many times Brighton has beaten them in the past. In the last seven matchups Brighton has played against Arsenal (i.e.: all of the games played since the start of the decade), Brighton has won three, drawn once, and lost three times to the Gunners.
Now, that’s obviously not the best record you’ve probably ever seen since they are only .500% against Arsenal, but when you see how important some of these matchups were to Arsenal and their fans, you’ll see why these two clubs have formed a small rivalry in the recent seasons.
Both of Brighton’s Premier league victories over Arsenal and the draw has cost the London side valuable points in two Top-4 races that saw them miss out by 6 points in 2021 and then 2 points in 2022.
More recently, Brighton beat Arsenal 3-1 in the EFL Cup this past November, ruining a golden chance for the Gunners to win their first trophy since the 2020. So, it’s pretty obvious that Arsenal was out for vengeance against the struggling East Sussex side. And they got it…with a little difficult.
Despite missing star striker Gabriel Jesus until March with a knee injury he suffered for Brazil at the World Cup, Arsenal’s attack was nothing short of sublime all game long as they racked up chance after chance on the break against a slow Brighton defense. In fact, the Gunners got off to an extremely early start as Bukayo Saka scored in the opening minute of the game off a blocked Gabriel Martinelli shot.
That goal really set the tempo of the game as the Brighton crowd was very lively prior to the kickoff, while the Brighton players were aggressive and more than willing to throw bodies forward on the attack. I still believe Arsenal would have won this game even if Saka didn’t score so quickly, but his goal definitely sucked all of the oxygen out of the Amex and the Brighton players.
Nevertheless, the early goal actually set up Arsenal in the best possible position for their depleted striking core as it allowed the team to give up possession to Brighton, win it back through the defensive prowess of Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey in midfield, and then have Martin Odegaard send through balls past the defense to allow the pace of the strikers to run in behind and get quality, uncontested chances.
And that worked wonders as even though Brighton finished with 68% of the ball, double the number of passes (597 vs. 286), and 7 corners, Brighton soon found themselves behind 3-0 a minute into the second half from a Martin Odegaard strike and an Eddie Nketiah tap-in.
Now, just saying that Arsenal’s attack was too good isn’t telling the whole story.
Sure, it’s true that the Arsenal attack is almost impossible to stop, but the Brighton defense made a lot of mistakes that lead to these goals. The first goal came from Tariq Lamptey getting caught on the ball in midfield, the second was from a breakdown of defensive coverage on a corner, the third was down to Robert Sanchez dropping a shot he should have held onto, and the eventual forth from Gabriel Martinelli squeaked through Sanchez’s legs.
In reality, this game should have ended 3-2 Arsenal or even a 2-2 draw, but mistakes are a part of the game and Brighton paid for their errors.
Still, that didn’t stop the Seagulls from getting back into the game through Kaoru Mitoma. The Japanese star scored a fantastic sidefoot goal into the bottom corner to bring Brighton back into the game at 3-1, and then dribbled past three Arsenal players in the box (including William Saliba) to place home another curled shot into the far corner to bring Brighton to within one goal at 4-3 with only stoppage time remaining.
Unfortunately for Mitoma and Brighton fans, it turned out that the back of his heel (yeah, VAR is becoming this petty) was just behind the last Arsenal defender on the goal’s buildup, forcing the ref to rule out the goal and end Brighton’s chance of sneaking away with a miraculous multi-3 goal comeback draw.
However, Mitoma showed what a talent his is as he was the best offensive player on that Brighton side of the field by a mile and would probably have been the Man of the Match if that second goal was allowed. If he continues to play as well as he did today for the rest of the season, then I see Roberto De Zerbi’s side finishing in the Top-8 for another year.
Furthermore, with Chelsea not playing until New Year’s Day (tomorrow), this loss doesn’t matter to the standings as Brighton will still finish above Chelsea and old boss Graham Potter for the 2022 calendar year. Isn’t that a great stat for Potter and his struggling Blues?
As for Arsenal, they really have a great chance of breaking up the Man City-Liverpool domination over the Premier League. They continue to pull out victories from the jaws of defeat by playing compelling, attractive football, something not seen since the Invincible years.
With Gabriel Jesus out, its best if they buy a striker in the January market to cement their title charge, but it’s not necessary. This team has the ability to compete with Manchester City step-for-step with or without a new striker, and now they have a 7-point gap to start off the final half of the campaign.
Happy New Year, everyone!
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