Match Review: Arsenal 1-1 Brighton
Thanks, Crystal Palace. As hard as it might be to appreciate that lot at the other end of the A23, we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their work this weekend.
The first and most obvious place to start is that by beating Cardiff City 3-2 on Saturday evening, they confirmed Brighton’s place in the Premier League for a third consecutive season by relegating the Bluebirds. We’ve always said that Zaha bloke was alright.
But it is perhaps the second consequence of the Eagles’ win in the Welsh capital that will have the greater long-term impact on the Albion. With safety guaranteed and no pressure on the result, Chris Hughton finally released the handbrake and sent a team into an away game with the intention of actually attacking.
The outcome was a first point away from home against one of the big six and a performance that was bloody brilliant to watch. What it hopefully showed Hughton is that this squad of Albion players can be trusted to try and win games on the road. Play like this and we don’t need 10 men behind the ball to bore our way to a point.
As a result, Sunday 5th May at the Emirates Stadium should provide the blueprint for away performances next season. If we can outplay Arsenal for 45 minutes on their own patch, then we’re more than capable of going to the likes of Southampton, Burnley and Plucky Little Bournemouth and trying for three points. Okay, maybe not Bournemouth with our terrible record against the Cherries, but you get the picture.
Arsenal were the better side in the first half, but thanks to the excellence of Maty Ryan and another stupendous show of blocking from Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy, they only had one goal to show for it going into the interval. And it was a controversial one at that.
There’s a reason that the Gunners have picked up the most yellow cards for diving so far this season and we saw it with our own eyes with just nine minutes played. Alireza Jahanbakhsh appeared to get the ball when making a rare foray back to tackle Nacho Monreal as the Spanish full back took a theatrical tumble in the box.
Unfortunately, referee Anthony Taylor was fooled and pointed to the spot. It’s a sad state of affairs when a club with the traditions of Arsenal, renowned for their breathtaking attacking football in the early part of this century under Arsene Wenger, are resorting to throwing themselves to the ground at every opportunity and constantly moaning at officials. Although perhaps it isn’t a surprise; clearly, the attitude of their whinging fans with their sense of entitlement has transferred from terraces to pitch.
Anyway, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang took a faultless penalty to beat Ryan. Conceding the penalty also gave Jahanbakhsh his first assist in the Premier League on what was yet another disappointing afternoon for the Albion’s £17m record signing.
His supporters have often said that he has looked ineffective this season because he’s playing in a side which doesn’t attack and his talents are being strangled as a result. Well, here he was playing in a side that had been sent out to attack and he still looked like he’d struggle to make an impact for the Kings Head Reserves in Sussex Sunday League Division Six.
The Iranian international failed to get a shot away when well placed on the edge of the Gunners box and his lack of effort was a constant source of frustration given that it was happening right in front of the away section. Whilst you could see Solly March and Pascal Gross busting a gut to get back and defend when the Albion lost the ball, Jahanbakhsh merely trotted around as if his mind was on what his next Instagram post would be rather than helping out defensively.
So poor was Jahanbakhsh that we actually saw a rare half time substitution from Hughton as Anthony Knockaert replaced him at the break. That gave the Albion two dynamic wingers – March was having an absolute stormer down the left – and suddenly, the Albion had the Arsenal defence in real trouble.
They didn’t look like they knew what to do anytime Knockaert and March had the ball. They also looked scared whenever Yves Bissouma was in possession as he gave one of his “I will one day be a £50m player” performances. There was one moment in the first half when Bissouma was just dancing around red shirts in the box. Even when they pushed him to ground they couldn’t get the ball off him as he showed the sort of balance and poise that Dame Darcey Bussell would be proud of to fashion another opportunity for the Albion.
It was such a far cry from the home games with Southampton and Bournemouth during which he managed to giveaway a combined total of three goals. If Hughton can iron out the defensive deficiencies in Bissouma’s game this summer, then he is going to be some player. Add that to your list of tasks along with bolder tactics please, Chris.
March was the man who created the Albion equaliser on the hour mark when his run into the box was halted by a brain dead challenge from walking yellow card Granit Xhaka. Glenn Murray’s penalty was every bit as good as Aubameyang, and it gave him his 200th career goal. 108 of those have come in Brighton colours, leaving him 15 behind Tommy Cook. There would be no more fitting end to Murray’s career than becoming the Albion’s record goalscorer over the next season or two, providing he can keep fit and firing.
Aubameyang produced a sensational miss from seven yards out in what proved to be Arsenal’s last chance of the game as Brighton pushed forward in search of winner (pushed forward in search of a winner!!!!!!!!!) in the last 20 minutes. Bernd Leno saved down low from Knockaert and then produced a stunning reaction save from a shot from March which looked to all the world to be going in. Gross managed to skew the rebound out of play.
With better decision making from Florin Andone, two more opportunities could have been forthcoming. On occasions, the Romanian’s ‘head down and run’ approach can be very productive as we saw with his brilliant individual goal in the 3-1 win over Palace in December. On others, it’s a right hindrance and that was the case twice here as he failed to pick out March with what would have been simple passes during two-on-one breaks. Frustrating stuff – nearly as frustrating as our negative football away from home.
Hopefully, those days of Brightonil away from home are coming to an end. The players have shown Hughton what can be achieved with a more proactive approach, and you won’t get much stronger evidence than a point from the Emirates Stadium, ending Arsenal’s hopes of a top four finish in the process. Throw in the fact that with better decision making it could have been all three and the prosecution’s case for a bolder approach in 2019-20 rests.
A watershed moment in the Albion’s Premier League story? If Hughton has any sense, it should be. We’ll find out next season, but if it is then we’ve got Palace to thank. Six points, kept us up and now helping the Albion realise the benefits of a change of tactical approach. They’ve been great for us this year, haven’t they?
