Match Preview – Brighton v Arsenal
Arsenal – the club
It’s going to be important to be nice to Arsenal supporters at the Amex as they are going through a tough time of it at the minute. Forget Coventry City who will be homeless at the end of the campaign and owned by a hedge fund who have overseen three relegations in six years; forget Blackpool who went from top tier to bottom tier in the space of six seasons while they were asset stripped of their Premier League riches by their owners; forget the clucking mess Blackburn are in under Venky’s and forget Hull who have a bloke in charge who wants to throw 114 years of history out the window by re-branding them as Hull Tigers and is willing to see them go out of business if he doesn’t get his way. No, it’s Arsenal fans who support the country’s crisis club. They are only sixth in the Premier League table having just played in a cup final at Wembley and have a trip to the San Siro to face AC Milan on Thursday. As supporters of a club whose chairman sold our ground to pocket the profits, leaving us bottom of the Football League and homeless for 14 years, we should be grateful we only had that to deal with and not Arsenal’s current plight.
Arsenal – the place
Long before McDons became hated for upping sticks and moving from London to Milton Keynes, Arsenal were the countries original Franchise FC. Originally from Woolwich in saaarrrffff London, they moved north of the river to in 1913. They currently claim the Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park areas as their own which are famous for the mosque were Captain Hook wannabe Abu Hamza used to preach shit and being the home of Jeremy Corbyn, a man who is strangely hero worshipped despite losing the last General Election.
Arsenal – the people
Mr Corbyn himself is an Arsenal fan, as is professional twat Piers Morgan. Morgan actually lives in Sussex so it will be interesting to see whether he attends the game although it will no doubt be difficult to see what is going on with his head positioned a long way up Donald Trump’s arse following their recent television interview.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Arsenal at home
We’ve only ever won two games against Arsenal, both of those coming in the early 1980’s and both of these being at home. In more recent times, the Albion pushed Arsenal all the way when the Gunners visited in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2013, Arsene Wenger having to send on Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere in the second half to seal their place in the fifth round with a 3-2 win. The attacking performance that day and a debut goal from Leonardo Ulloa were the good bits…
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Arsenal at home
And then there was the bad bit, namely Gus Poyet’s team selection on the day. Poyet decided to rotate his goalkeepers, resting number one Tomasz Kusczcak in favour of giving Casper Ankergren a game. Not only did that mean that sales of Marlboro Light in the UK were down 274%, that day, but it also cost us a genuine chance of a huge upset as its unlikely Kusczcak would’ve been beaten quite so easily as everyone’s favourite chain smoking Dane.
Played for both
Former Brighton manager Liam Brady’s role at Arsenal’s academy used to lead to claims of us having a “special relationship” with the Gunners when it came to loan players. It can’t have been that special, given they’ve sent us Chuba Akpom, Gavin Hoyte, Joe O’Ceaurill, Graham Barrett and Mark Flatts. They did offer us Kolo Toure in 2002, but Martin Hinshelwood decided he would rather sign Guy Butters instead. It remains a mystery why his career as a football manager lasted only 12 games.
Dangermen
In crisis they may be, but Arsenal are still packed with talent. They’ve got World Cup winner Mesut Ozil pulling the strings in midfield, a fit and firing Jack Wilshere and a £56m striker in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who cost four times more than the Albion’s most expensive player, Jurgen Locadia.
Betting
Seven of the last nine meetings between the Albion and Arsenal have seen both teams score, so we’d back that trend to continue – especially if, and it is a big if, Chris Hughton maintains that attacking mindset that has seen us plunder 10 goals in our last three home games. It would be a massive change of approach from the Albion boss to his normal contain the top six at all costs, but given that in seven games with the big teams we haven’t scored from open play and have conceded 18 times, what is there to lose?
Prediction
This probably represents our best best chance of taking the scalp of one of the big clubs this season. Arsenal have played Manchester City twice in their last two games and, given that they are 10 points off fourth, winning the Europa League looks their only realistic route back into the Champions League. With that in mind, they may have one eye on Thursday nights game with Milan. The Gunners are also susceptible to pace given that their back line makes a 90 year old woman fresh out of hospital for a hip replacement look like Usain Bolt, and if Hughton keeps the handbrake off and goes for the win, the pace of José Izquierdo could frighten the life out of them. Have we convinced you? Good. We’ve convinced ourselves. So here comes the inevitable 4-0 Arsenal win.
