Brighton 1-1 Arsenal: Arteta loses head against Albion again
Brighton 1-1 Arsenal saw the Albion secure a deserved point against the title chasing Gunners – and reaffirm that there is arguably no current Premier League team quite as dislikeable as that managed by Mikel Arteta.
For the second time this season, Arteta lost his head at drawing with Brighton. Toys were left strewn all over the Amex, thrown from the pram of the Arsenal boss as he whinged about the match officials and injustices.
Gunners fans are no better. They firmly believe that every game Arsenal have failed to win going back to the 1932-33 season is because of refereeing rather than their own shortcomings.
Corruption in football is the only possible explanation that the Gunners are not 15 points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table with 60 points out of a possible 60.
All rather tiresome, isn’t it? Brighton have been good value for their two draws against Arsenal this season. Not that many people have spoken about that thanks to Arteta’s petulant reaction to both.
It leaves me hoping the Gunners get close enough to Liverpool to miss out on being champions by four points, just so we can say the Albion cost them the title.
Rather than ranting and raving about referees, Arsenal should probably focus on why they were unable to put away a Brighton side who were there for the taking in the first half.
Fabian Hurzeler made a number of strange selection decisions which led to a poor opening 45 minutes from the Seagulls in Brighton 1-1 Arsenal.
The Youngest Permanent Manager in Premier League History left Kaoru Mitoma on the bench when many felt the Japanese Bullet Train could have a field day playing against Thomas Partey out-of-position at right back.
Matt O’Riley in a more advanced number 10 role did not really work. Yasin Ayari and Brajan Gruda were both poor in the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa yet maintained their places.
And the biggest surprise of all came with Hurzeler naming Joao Pedro as captain in the absence of Lewis Dunk, who was ruled out with a “minor” calf problem.
Expect to see Dunk back in around four to five months, given how long it takes Brighton to treat a “minor” problem these days.
Pedro spent much of December looking disinterested. Handing him the captaincy was an interesting way to reward that disinterest.
In fairness to Hurzeler, 90 minutes later and the responsibility had drawn a best performance for many weeks from Pedro. And Ayari had an excellent second half compared to a woeful first.
The selections of O’Riley, Gruda and Simon Adingra over Mitoma did not work though. But at least Hurzeler admitted as much by making early changes.
O’Riley and Gruda were hauled at half time and Adingra on the hour mark, which goes a long way towards explaining why the second 45 minutes were a million times better than the first from an Albion perspective.
Brighton fell behind after 16 minutes, conceding yet another poor goal. Pervis Estupinan and Igor Julio went missing from the left side of defence, enabling 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri acres of space to charge into.
After bearing down on goal rapidly, Nwaneri hit a shot straight at Bart Verbruggen. Somehow, it squirmed under the body of the Albion goalkeeper to give Arsenal the lead. Dare I say it, but Jason Steele saves that?!
Arsenal dominated up to the break but for all their possession, never really troubled Verbruggen. Maybe they would have done had they not began time wasting from the minute they took the lead?
This lack of teeth and resorting to running the clock down against a side winless in seven should be of bigger concern for Arteta than the second half penalty which made it Brighton 1-1 Arsenal.
The closest the Gunners came to doubling their advantage was, predictably, from a set piece. Hurzeler tried to counter Arsenal’s prowess from corners by standing three Brighton players on the halfway line, forcing the visitors to leave at least three back to avoid being overrun on a counter.
It was a bold ploy but one that worked. Arsenal did not like it, as if the Albion should just roll over and enable them to play to their dead ball strengths. The entitlement was astounding.
Brighton’s first half meanwhile was best summed up by what happened with two rare opportunities they fashioned. Adingra fell over to skew a shot wide from a good position. Carlos Baleba then went for goal from distance with his weaker foot, sending the ball out for a throw.
The introduction of Georginio Rutter and Yankubu Minteh at the break sparked the Albion into life. Rutter constantly looked to get Brighton on the front foot and with Minteh providing a far bigger threat than Gruda, Arsenal were forced to pay attention to the flanks.
This created more space for Pedro to work in. On the hour mark, a Rutter flick into the air saw Pedro challenged by William Saliba.
The Gunners centre back got his attempted clearing header all wrong, instead making contact with head of Pedro as the Albion captain escaped his attention.
Referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot. Darren England on VAR confirmed the decision. Pedro did the rest, beating David Raya with the first penalty awarded to Brighton this season.
Arsenal looked visibly deflated at Brighton making it 1-1. Suddenly, the two days extra rest the Albion enjoyed having played on Monday night compared to Arteta’s side facing Brentford on New Year’s Day became visible.
The Albion had a glorious chance to win it via a brilliant move up the right flank. Verbruggen chipped to Joel Veltman, who produced an outrageous piece of skill to scoop over Mikel Merino, run around the Spanish midfielder and collect the other side.
Veltman fed Minteh up the line and his low pass across the face of goal was just begging to be touched in. Unfortunately, neither Ayari nor Mitoma could quite reach it.
If we were Arteta or an Arsenal supporting website, we would find a tenuous way to blame the referee for that…
