Brighton 0-1 Arsenal: Player ratings for Potter’s mad team selection
The WAB player ratings for Brighton 0-1 Arsenal feature a host of names who you would not have expected to start against the Gunners at the Amex – unless you had been drinking from the same super-strength cooking sherry that Graham Potter must have been swigging on before selecting his team.
Davy Propper, Bernardo and Alexis Mac Allister all made their first starts of the campaign. Alireza Jahanbakhsh only his second. There were no recognised centre forwards for a winnable game against the side who arrived at the Amex just one place higher than the Albion in the table. Talk about waving a white flag.
Despite that, those selected in this most mad of line ups did relatively well. All except for Mac Allister and Jahanbakhsh, which will hardly come as a surprise given Potter spun his selection roulette wheel and it landed on playing both of them out-of-position as strikers.
At the other end of the scale, Yves Bissouma was Brighton’s best player for the second game running following his dominating performance at West Ham United.
Robert Sanchez was much improved on a shaky showing at the London Stadium and Bernardo and Propper did their case for greater future involvement no harm.
Here is how Potter’s ridiculous team for Brighton 0-1 Arsenal were rated.
Robert Sanchez – 7.00
After struggling a little in the 2-2 draw with West Ham United, Big Bob gave an excellent display to be the second highest scoring Brighton player in the ratings for the 0-1 defeat to Arsenal. Confidently claimed a couple of aerial balls into the box and his use of a cricket long barrier to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from point blank range was an inspired piece of world class goalkeeping.
Adam Webster – 5.50
Partly culpable for the only goal of the game as he allowed Alexandre Lacazette far too much time and space in which to turn and beat Sanchez at his near post. Passing not at his best but he did make a few forays forward in the first half.
Lewis Dunk – 6.14
One of his better games in a season which has not lived up to his high standards so far. Some trademark flying blocks, a couple of last ditch tackles and there was even a clever Danny Cullip-esque back header to Sanchez.
Dan Burn – 4.79
Not a good evening for Big Dan Burn as he found the talent of Bukayo Saka too much to handle, especially when Saka tore past him to tee up Lacazette for the goal. Should have done better with a free header from an Yves Bissouma clip into the box in the first half after Arsenal bizarrely decided that the miniature frame of Hector Bellerin was the player they wanted marking him from set pieces.
Joel Veltman – 5.36
A score of 5.36 in the Brighton 0-1 Arsenal player ratings is a little harsh on the Dutch international. He did not do much run defensively, surged forward when allowed and delivered the cross of the game which Jahanbakhsh and Bernardo both managed to miss completely.
YVES BISSOUMA – 7.79
Arsenal are one of the clubs said to be interested in buying Bissouma and their enthusiasm will only have been stoked further by the performance he gave against them. Broke up a number of attacks and tried to get Brighton on the front foot. His talents deserve better than to be playing in a side 17th with two wins to their name all season.
Davy Propper – 6.50
Handsome Davy Propper used his first Premier League start of the season to remind everyone just what a classy operator he can be in midfield. Had a couple of opportunities to score but it was the control he brought alongside Bissouma which stood out more than anything. That and his fantastic hair.
Bernardo – 6.50
A player who has undoubtedly gone backwards under Potter from the swashbuckling left back who was one of the few bright lights in Chris Hughton’s side towards the end of the 2018-19 season. This was a welcome return towards that sort of form as he got the better of Bellerin on numerous occasions with a performance that should elevate him to second choice left wing back behind Solly March in the pecking order.
Pascal Gross – 5.21
Struggled to make much headway although he did produce some nice touches. You can normally tell when he is struggling when his set piece delivery goes to pieces and he was uncharacteristically poor all evening with dead balls.
Alexis Mac Allister – 4.79
That the Argentinian scored so lowly on his first Premier League start of the season should hardly come as a surprise given he is not a centre forward. He did at least show a willingness to take a shot when getting a sight of goal which made a refreshing change from the 30 sideways passes in the opposition half that has become a theme of Brighton’s approach play in recent weeks.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh – 4.64
Brighton’s lowest scoring player against Arsenal but just like Mac Allister, he was played up front despite not being a striker. Might have done better when his first half effort from a Bernardo cross posed more danger to the windows of Dan Ashworth’s office than Bernd Leno’s goal. He was then denied by an excellent stop from Leno.
Neal Maupay – 4.86
Following his goal at West Ham United 48 hours earlier and with such a good record against Arsenal, this game seemed tailor-made for Maupay. Of course, Potter therefore decided to give him 22 minutes off the bench once the Albion had already gone 1-0 down.
Solly March – 5.57
Introduced for the final 20 minutes, by which time Arsenal were already well in control and Potter had decided to play Bernardo in central midfield. Understandable that he could make little impact.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
