Arsenal 2-0 Brighton: Albion minds on an Emirate beach instead of stadium

Before Arsenal 2-0 Brighton, the Albion had numerous reasons to want a result at the Emirates Stadium in the final game of the 2020-21 Premier League season.

A draw would have set a new top flight points record for the club. If things went the Seagulls’ way, they could have equalled their highest ever finish of 13th which also would have entailed finishing above Crystal Palace for the first time in the Premier League. And there was the small matter of a potential £6 million more in prize money being up for grabs.

All of which made it disappointing that Brighton appeared to already have their minds on the beach with 90 minutes of the campaign still to play. Records could have tumbled and bragging rights might have been secured had the Albion actually turned up in North London.

Of everything that was on the line, it was the lack of consideration about what that additional money might mean that was the biggest slap in the face.

Palace finished above the Albion because they have been better over the course of a 38 game season, not because Brighton did not beat Arsenal on the last day of the season.

That £6 million though could have gone a long way this summer, especially at a time when finances in football are tight. If it went straight into Graham Potter’s transfer kitty, then it could pay for six Joel Veltmans, two more of Pascal Gross or six thousand Gary Harts. Stansted FC would also end up with six thousand sets of new kit, which would be nice for them.

In a way, this final week of the season has summed up the campaign perfectly. Brighton have been brilliant at times this season, as they were when beating Manchester City 3-2 on Tuesday night.

The trip to the Emirates was very much a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show. Brighton have been consistently inconsistent, capable of beating the champions, Liverpool, Spurs, and taking six point from 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United at the same time as being incapable of defeating any of the bottom four. To follow up a win over City with a limp defeat to a poor Arsenal outfit was 2020-21 in a microcosm.

Potter’s challenge for next season is getting his players to turn out City-level performances far more frequently than Arsenal-level performances. We all know what will help with that – signing a new centre forward.

Whether deliberate or unintentionally, Potter pressed his case for reinforcements up front with his team selection in Arsenal 2-0 Brighton.

With Neal Maupay suspended and Danny Welbeck injured, Potter named a front three consisting of Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Trossard – none of whom are actual centre forwards.

Brighton had beaten City with Jahanbakhsh and Trossard as a pairing for two-thirds of Tuesday night after Welbeck was forced off, so playing without a recognised striker need not have been the big deal that a lot of Brighton fans made it out to be. Those two had earned their right to have another bite of the cherry.

They were nowhere near as effective as Brighton lost 2-0 to Arsenal, however. The introduction of Aaron Connolly at half time then went onto serve as a further reminder that Brighton need better quality in their striking options.

Connolly made a couple of intelligent runs but his finishing let him down spectacularly when he found himself in one-on-one with Bernd Leno and somehow contrived to hit the corner flag.

His current penchant for diving is on a par with Wilfried Zaha and he screams of a player who needs a loan spell in the Championship next season to score goals and rebuild his confidence.

If he cannot do that and struggles for form in the second tier, then Brighton at least know to cut their losses on a striker who finished the campaign with only one more Premier League goal than Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.

Like Connolly, Jahanbakhsh had some promising moments let down by his final ball and decision making. After dispossessing Emile Smith-Rowe, he too had a chance to go tearing towards Arsenal’s goal and either take on a shot or preferably, play a simple pass to the unmarked Trossard. Instead, he did neither and harmlessly kicked the ball straight to the surprised and relieved Leno.

Those were Brighton’s only two opportunities of any note over a 90 minutes in which they registered just a single shot on target. Arsenal meanwhile struggled to create many clear cut opportunities of their own in the first half.

Rob Holding saw an effort correctly ruled out for offside and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put a looping header onto the bar with Robert Sanchez beaten.

Speaking of Sanchez, the normally unflappable goalkeeper made a couple of questionable parries and punches which on another day might have caused issues.

He was not the only one in the Albion backline looking strangely flustered; Ben White too was enduring a rare difficult afternoon just hours after The Sun revealed that Gareth Southgate has suddenly become aware of Brighton’s existence and was considering giving White a shock call up for Euro 2021.

The beauty of Brighton having such a good roster of defenders is that even when one of them has an off-day like White here, Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk and Dan Burn are all more than capable of covering. You can make strong claims that both Dunk and Webster also warrant at least a look from Southgate ahead of the summer.

One weakness that the Albion defence do have is that they are less convincing when playing as a flat back four – especially when Burn finds himself exposed at left back.

Both Wolves and Leicester have targeted the big man to great effect in 2020-21 and it was a slight tactical tweak from Mikel Arteta in pushing Nicolas Pepe a little wider right that ultimately won it for Arsenal.

Within four minutes of the second half, Callum Chambers’ ball into the box was collected by Pepe who took a touch past Burn before clinically beating Sanchez at the near post for 1-0.

Next came Connolly’s astonishing miss following a lovely ball over the top from Dunk. Straight from the resulting restart of play and Arsenal punished that squandered opportunity from Brighton by making it 2-0.

Martin Ødegaard drew Burn before slipping a pass into an almighty gap vacated by the Albion left back. Pepe latched onto the through ball and applied the finish through the legs of Dunk and into the far corner.

Potter introduced Steve Alzate after that and switched to a back three, instantly reducing the threat offered by Pepe, although Arsenal might have added a third when Thomas Partey hit the woodwork from outside the area late on.

The game was already up by that point though and both sets of players knew it. The final 15 minutes were played out at such slow speed that Brighton could have introduced the Queen up front and she would have provided an injection of pace.

As dull and depressing as Arsenal 2-0 Brighton was from an Albion point of view, there were at least positives to take from what happened in midfield.

We saw Jakub Moder in a more central role and boy did he look impressive. He might have scored on two occasions but for decent blocks and it does not seem bold to suggest that he will be Brighton’s breakout star in 2020-21 who will be on the radar of all the top clubs within the next few years.

Much like the man he seems likely to replace in the engine room. Arsenal fans went giddy about the performance of Yves Bissouma at the Emirates, trying to claim he played so well because he viewed it as an audition in front of Arteta and his future employers.

Not the case at all. Bissouma has been that good in virtually every game this season, be it Arsenal or Blackpool. It only seems right to finish our final match review of the campaign by singing the praises of the man who will surely be voted Brighton Player of the Year.

Gunners fans might think he is heading to the Emirates, but the honest truth is that he is too good for Arsenal. His talents are deserving of a place at Manchester City or Liverpool, where he can win trophies and develop into the world class player we all know he can become.

As for Brighton, a big fee for Bissouma can be wisely invested into the one area where the Albion are glaringly weak – up front. The Seagulls are a striker away from being a very good Premier League football team.

Sign the right player and that consistently inconsistent tag will disappear, we will not be constantly looking over our shoulders at the bottom three and hopefully we will never have to hear the phrase “underperforming xG” ever again. An important summer awaits.