Arsenal 0-3 Brighton: Albion rule the Emirates… again

Here is a question after yet another phenomenal afternoon watching Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls – was Arsenal 0-3 Brighton the greatest performance in the 122 year history of the Albion?

It is a struggle to think of many better. The Gunners have led the Premier League table for over 90 percent of the 2022-23 campaign, ahead of a Manchester City side who are one of the best to ever play the game.

Arsenal are therefore no slouches. People talk of them bottling the title having been five points clear as recently as March, but that does the Gunners a disservice.

They have not so much crumbled as been reeled in by a relentless sportswashing empire with unlimited wealth. 11 wins in a row for City tells its own story; Pep Guardiola, Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and the rest being fantastic does not mean Arsenal are not good.

And if Arsenal are good, what does that make Brighton? The Albion rocked up at the Emirates Stadium missing Solly March, Adam Lallana, Adam Webster, Tariq Lamptey and Jeremy Sarmiento through injury.

Not many teams come away from the red corner of North London with anything to show for their efforts even with a full strength XI. In fact, City had been the only visitors to leave the Emirates with three points this season.

Brighton did not just beat Arsenal on their own patch. They hammered and humiliated them, putting what is surely the final nail in the Gunners’ title dreams coffin.

If an alien popped down from one of the moons of Saturn for the afternoon with no knowledge of the Premier League table, they would have watched and assumed the Albion were the team challenging to win the league.

Arsenal 0-3 Brighton was made all the more sweeter by what happened in January between the clubs. The Gunners bought Leandro Trossard for £25 million; no problem with that.

They then bid £60 million for Moises Caicedo. Again, they were entitled to ask the question. The Albion though told Arsenal in no uncertain terms Caicedo was not for sale in the winter transfer window.

The Gunners did not listen. They came back with a £70 million bid and then tried to unsettle Caicedo, leading to his agent posting that pathetic statement on Instagram asking for Brighton to sell and the player ending up on gardening leave.

Arsenal fans behaved with even less class. They were arrogant and entitled, insisting that the Albion had to sell because the Gunners were top of the Premier League and a much bigger club.

When Brighton would not budge, they lost their minds. Arsenal supporters assured us that keeping Caicedo would lead to an unhappy player, disruption in the squad and cause Brighton to fall into mid table whilst they won the league.

How wrong can you be? Caicedo has been in even better form since January than he was before the Gunners attempted to turn his head, signed a new contract and added many more millions to his value by playing successfully at right back as well as in the middle of the park.

As for falling apart, Arsenal 0-3 Brighton meanwhile lifted the Albion into sixth spot in the table, one point above Spurs with two games in hand.

European football for the first ever time is within the Seagulls’ grasp whilst Arsenal are set to finish the season with, well, nothing.

It is little wonder that Gunners supporters have such a problem with Brighton. This was not the first time the Albion have crushed Arsenal’s ambitions for the season at the Emirates, a venue they have now won at on their past three visits.

Last April’s 2-1 win under Glow Up Graham Potter was the catalyst for Arsenal missing out on the Champions League.

Two years earlier and Chris Hughton masterminded a 1-1 draw which confirmed the Gunners would not qualify for the top four, followed by Yves Bissouma rubbing salt into the wounds by laughing hysterically on the pitch after the full time whistle.

Given when happened when Everton won 5-1 at the Amex six days ago, Arsenal would have been confident of avoiding a repeat this time around.

Brighton looked fatigued as they came unstuck against the Toffees, playing two games a week since the beginning of April seeming to catch up on a thin squad.

In the aftermath of the Everton defeat, De Zerbi promised a reaction: “I think on Sunday (against Arsenal) we will show our quality, we will get back to our style and you will see the true Brighton.”

The Albion head coach and his players more than live up to those words. To lift spirits after such a humbling at the hands of a side 19th in the Premier League and reenergise the side both physically and mentally in six days is an incredible piece of management. De Zerbi is truly elite.

He sprung a couple of surprises with his team selection. Pascal Gross started in midfield with Caicedo switched to right back, an eminently sensible decision as Gross against the pace of Gabriel Martinelli had the appearance of a slight mismatch.

Billy Gilmour returned to partner Gross, Levi Colwill took over from the injured Webster at centre back and Julio Enciso came in on the left wing with Kaoru Mitoma switching to the right.

Martinelli and Mitoma were involved in the first flashpoint of what turned into a pretty feisty first half. Martinelli clattered into Mitoma with an elbow to the head, somehow avoiding a booking for a challenge which would not have looked out of place in a WWE ring.

Was European Super League Elite Six bias already coming into play? No, it turned out. A few minutes later and Caicedo took retribution with a foul on Martinelli equally worthy of a booking which referee Andy Madley again let go.

Martinelli was clearly struggling after that and eventually succumbed to the pain with 20 minutes played. Trossard took over and came closest of anyone to breaking the deadlock, clipping the bar with a powerful drive from inside the area.

De Zerbi switched Mitoma and Enciso shortly after and that proved to be bad news for Ben White, the former Albion defender being given a torrid time over the next hour by the Japanese Bullet Train as Brighton took control.

Mitoma sped away from White and crossed low and hard into the middle of the goal, only for Enciso to wastefully blast into the top tier of the North Bank.

Enciso made up for that when giving Brighton the lead six minutes into the second half. Colwill hit a lovely ball down the left to find Mitoma, who in turn released the overlapping Pervis Estupinan.

The first attempt at a cross into the box from Estupinan was half cleared. The second cross was a bit of a weird one, a volley drilled into the ground.

It did though catch Arsenal out and Enciso was able to capitalise, heading home completely unmarked from close range for his third goal since the start of April.

So good has Enciso been these past seven weeks that it is easy to forget he is only 19 years old and has lived in England for just nine months.

None of the other South American wonderkids at Brighton made an impact so early in their Albion career. It is frightening to think how good Enciso is going to become.

Arsenal became increasingly frantic after falling behind. Mikel Arteta went too far and earned a booking for his theatrics on the side line whilst De Zerbi in the other dugout made an incredibly bold change, introducing Danny Welbeck for Gilmour.

How many other managers in the Premier League would replace a holding midfielder with a striker when 1-0 ahead at the side second in the table? Again, De Zerbi is truly elite.

Brighton doubled the lead with four minutes remaining and there was rather a lot of glee that Trossard got the assist, despite now being an Arsenal player.

The Vampire of Genk received a short goal kick from Aaron Ramsdale, only to see his attempted forward pass hit Gross and rebound towards Deniz Undav.

With just Ramsdale to beat, Undav was calmness personified as he lobbed the ball over the Arsenal goalkeeper. 2-0 to the Albion and a mass exodus of Arsenal fans.

Those who deserted missed it become Arsenal 0-3 Brighton in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Ramsdale parried a shot from Undav straight into the path of Estupinan, who was still charging forward at every opportunity despite the game being all but over.

Estupinan was suitably rewarded when he tucked the rebound beyond Ramsdale for his first Brighton goal, richly deserved for one of the most unheralded signings of the season.

De Zerbi slid on his knees as the rout was completed. That will undoubtedly be the defining image of Arsenal 0-3 Brighton, when the Seagulls soared to heights never before reached.

How on earth do Brighton top that? Victory at the San Siro in the Europa League next season, perhaps?