Gunners too good for tired Albion: Arsenal 2-0 Brighton photos
The Emirates has provided Albion fans with some pretty good away days in recent years… but not so much on this occasion as our photos from Arsenal 2-0 Brighton show.
Having won on their past three visits to the red half of North London, a fourth consecutive success always appeared a stretch too far given the circumstances.
Less than 72 hours had elapsed since Brighton beat Marseille 1-0 to secure top spot in Europa League Group B.
The effort which went into that victory from a threadbare squad coupled with the inevitable comedown from the euphoria of winning so late in the day meant the Albion were always going to be tired and on a comedown facing the Gunners.
Arsenal in contrast had rested most of their first choice players in a dead rubber against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night.
Take fatigue out of it and the Gunners are not a bad side in their own right. Roberto De Zerbi went so far as to claim afterwards that Arsenal were the best team Brighton have faced this season.
Lewis Dunk agreed, saying no other opponent had managed to stop the Albion playing DeZerbiBall quite as effectively as Arsenal.
The stats bear that out. Brighton only had one shot on target all afternoon as they failed to score in a Premier League game for the first time this season.
Arsenal in contrast would have won by a far bigger winning margin than only two were it not for the excellence of Dunk and a series of good saves from Bart Verbruggen.
Despite the Gunners’ dominance, they needed an early Christmas gift to take the lead. Brighton’s marking from a corner was woeful, allowing Gabriel Jesus to head home unmarked at the back post.
The Albion might have snuck an undeserved draw had Pascal Gross not fired a Kaoru Mitoma cross into the side netting with eight minutes remaining.
That miss was punished six minutes later when Kai Havertz wrapped up the win for Arsenal, rounding off a counter attack led by Gabriel Martinelli.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Arsenal 2-0 Brighton gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
