Gabriel, Piero Hincapie, and Declan Rice carried Arsenal to a 1-0 win over Brighton at the Amex. Sometimes you need your leaders to step up and drag the team with them. Bukayo Saka scored early. The stalwarts at the back brought it home. It was far from a vintage Arsenal performance, in fact, the Gunners generated their lowest xG of the season. But to win the title, you need to find ways to take the points even when you’re not at your best. Arsenal did that.
It was plain to see that Arsenal were running
on fumes from the opening whistle. Brighton had more energy and more of the ball, from the off and throughout the match. Fabian Hurzeler’s comments created an unpleasant atmosphere from the home crowd in the ground, too. Fortunately, Bukayo Saka’s deflected shot from just inside the corner of the box wrong-footed Bart Verbruggen and gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead. That match might have gone much differently had it stayed 0-0 deep into the first half (and / or beyond).
As for the goal, I think Verbruggen has to do better. Yes, he’s caught out by the deflection changing the direction of the shot, but it winds up going right through his legs. I’d have more sympathy for the keeper if he’d been left stranded to watch the ball go completely into the other corner. But it was right at him.
You know, I take back what I said in the opening paragraph. It was a vintage Arsenal performance in the way that mattered most — defending. In fact, you could argue that to the Arsenal, one-nil is as vintage as it gets.
Arsenal defended resolutely and unflinchingly. On the one occasion that David Raya was called into action for a toough save, he got down to his right well to palm the shot away. Arsenal also got away with leaving an attacker uncomfortably open for a header from about eight yards out, but it was directed straight at Raya. Remember folks, headers are hard. They’re much harder to score from than everybody, announcer included, thinks.
Beyond that, the Gunners kept Brighton wide, outside the box, and closer to the middle third than final third. Declan Rice was primarily responsible for that, roaming the midfield cleaning up pretty much everything. It’s truly incredible. He came into today carrying a bit of a niggle and seemed one of the most energetic players on the pitch deep into the match, chasing players down, and winning the ball.
Anything that got past Declan Rice was mopped up by Gabriel and Piero Hincapie. The Brazilian earned his o Monstro nickname today (once again), including covering behind David Raya in the opening minutes to head the ball over the bar after a terrible giveaway. Hincapie, particularly once he moved to RCB, was fabulous. Let’s pause for a second here — the man started a left back, switched sides of the pitch and positions, and was still massive.
Hincapie swapped positions because Mikel Arteta made the right decision midway through the second half to take off a yellow-card carrying Cristhian Mosquera. The Spanish center back had to pull out of challenging for a ball / giving a foul that let Brighton get around the corner for a scoring chance. It wasn’t Mosquera’s fault, per se. He was playing a fine game and made the right choice to not risk a second booking. But you can’t have a younger, second-choice defender playing on pins and needles defending a 1-0 lead away from home in a title chase.
Mosquera picked up an early booking on what was, to me, a soft one. It’s not that it wasn’t a foul. It was. It’s a bit tough for me to describe. It was the type of foul you could book a player for committing, and I feel strongly that the time on the clock shouldn’t matter when a referee is making those sorts of decisions. Usually, referees do take that into consideration. Defenders are usually allowed a free hit early. Just ask Bukayo Saka.
The referee booked the Arsenal CB early, which should set the standard for the rest of the match. Fine. That’s his decision. But it set a low bar and he failed to maintain that standard. Several Brighton players were not booked for similar fouls, including one that was committed in a much more promising position.
It set a low bar for bookings and did so early. Unfortunately, referee Chris Kavanagh proceeded to fall short of his own low bar in the first half, letting several different Brighton players get away unscathed from similar and worse challenges. That’s the frustrating part. To his credit, Kavanagh was much better in the second half, despite Fabian Hurzeler continuing to work him and the fourth official all game. I think the Brighton manager may have hurt his own cause. If you run your mouth too much, you’re going to piss off the referee and that’ll reflect in his decisions.
At the end of the day, as much as Hurzeler tried to make this match about how referees treat Arsenal, the Gunners made it about defensive quality and willpower. I’d wager they dug pretty deep to stay focused defensively, to find the energy to keep making recovery runs, and to limit Brighton’s scoring chances (0.9 xG for the match). Raya’s early giveaway aside, today’s performance was as close as they’ve come to the defensive masterclasses that seemed to be routine in the opening two months of the season.
The introduction of Kai Havertz for the closing 30 minutes was a big help. The German attacker gummed up the works — he helped Arsenal hold the ball, push the action back into the middle third, and press the host’s defenders / midfielders, making it tougher for them to get the ball up the pitch.
Fabian Hurzeler made an absolute ass of himself in his post-match press conference. Amusingly, his classless, salty remarks make today’s win even sweeter. Perhaps he should spend more time focusing on coaching his own club than worrying about what Arsenal are doing. I won’t be spending any time at all worrying about his poor attitude nor his club. Well, maybe a bit more time when I see fit to mock him for being a pratt. It’s actually impressive how one man can completely change your outlook on a club. Brighton were the plucky underdogs, the guys who scouted well, identified talent, and did less with more. He’s obliterated all their good will in my eyes.
Hang this photo in the Louvre.
Another difficult remaining fixture out of the way for Arsenal with full points collected. Manchester City were twice pegged back by Nottingham Forest at the Etihad and Murillo dramatically preserved the draw, clearing off the line behind his keeper at the death. Arsenal are seven points clear. City have a game in hand but today’s dropped points means that they need to beat Arsenal at the Etihad, win their game in hand, and get help.
Eight matches to go — five at home, three away. Right now, seven wins seals it. They’re all going to feel like finals.
