Brighton 0-3 Arsenal: Verbruggen tops ratings third game running
He’s done it again. Brighton 0-3 Arsenal made it three games running in which Bart Verbruggen has topped the player ratings, which tells you something about the current rut the Albion find themselves in.
Verbruggen made three outstanding saves over the course of the 90 minutes to prevent the Gunners inflicting an even heavier defeat on Brighton as the Seagulls lost their 12 match unbeaten home record.
Positives were in short supply, although the top three in the ratings does give cause to be optimistic about the future. Joining Verbruggen in posting scores above six were Carlos Baleba and Julio Enciso.
Verbruggen, Baleba and Enciso are all under 22 years of age. If Brighton can hang onto them for the next couple of seasons, they have the potential to develop into seriously good footballers providing the spine of the Albion team.
Here are your Brighton 0-3 Arsenal player ratings.
BART VERBRUGGEN – 6.57
Roberto De Zerbi would have to be certified as insane if he now goes back to his goalkeeper rotation policy and recalls Jason Steele. Arsenal extended Verbruggen in every which way, leading to those three aforementioned stops – two at full stretch preventing what looked to be certain goals.
Tariq Lamptey – 4.00
The penalty he conceded when bringing down Gabriel Jesus in the box seems likely to divide opinion forever more. Either way, it was a rash and somewhat unnecessary challenge and probably explains his low rating.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 5.86
Both he and Lewis Dunk defended pretty resolutely even as the Gunners scored three times. Van Hecke was decent on the ball too and found himself striding forward to try and instigate attacks on a couple of occasions, which gives him the edge on his centre back partner in the Brighton 0-3 Arsenal player ratings.
Lewis Dunk – 5.71
In addition to his defensive duties, Dunk played the best pass of the night with a beautiful first half ball to release Simon Adingra. No mean feat to pick up that accolade when sharing a pitch with Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard
Pervis Estupinan – 5.71
Given a real test up against the lively Jesus. This was a better performance than in recent weeks from Estupinan, who made one first half break which showed shades of his form from last season.
Pascal Gross – 5.00
If you ever wondered just how important Gross is to Brighton, then the last three games gives some indication. With Gross unusually out-of-form, the Albion have struggled to create many clear cut opportunities and drawn blanks in their past two matches. The sooner he stirs back into life, the better.
Carlos Baleba – 6.43
Like Verbruggen, the performances of Baleba over the Liverpool, Brentford and now Arsenal matches has been a real positive. The more experience he gets under his belt between now and the end of the season, the better he will be in 2024-25.
Simon Adingra – 4.57
Clearly needs a rest as the workload caused by being one of the Albion’s only fit natural winger and his exertions in helping Ivory Coast win AFCON are catching up with him.
Jakub Moder – 5.57
Struggled to influence the game too much, bar dragging a shot wide of the post. There is a debate to be had over whether he is creative enough to be playing as a number 10 or is better suited to a more defensive midfield role.
Julio Enciso – 6.43
Enciso was the Brighton player who looked most likely to hurt Arsenal, including when drawing David Raya’s best save of the night on the stroke of half time. His role in the second Gunners goal cannot go without note, however, as he first gave away the ball and then did little to track back and retrieve the situation.
Danny Welbeck – 5.00
Dat Guy is normally good for a goal against a former club but not on this occasion. Failed to have a meaningful shot of his own. His best moment being to tee up Moder for the Polish midfielder’s off-target drive.
Facundo Buonanotte – 5.57
Worked hard when introduced immediately after Arsenal scored their second. It was difficult though as the game had effectively been killed off by that point.
Joao Pedro – 5.71
Late chance for a consolation was blocked by some good Gunners defending. Resting Pedro against Arsenal as part of a managed return from eight weeks out will look like an excellent piece of management if he goes onto terrorise Burnley next weekend to get the Albion back to winning ways.
Ansu Fati – 4.71
Game was done by the time Fati came on, giving him no opportunity to make a mark.
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.
