Match Preview: Brighton v Arsenal
Boxing Day football may be a great British tradition, but when it comes to getting to the Amex to watch Brighton and Hove Albion then it becomes an absolute travel nightmare.
For the visit of Arsenal there are no trains running between Brighton and Falmer and a limited service that stops before the final whistle between London and the South Coast. Good luck with that.
The club have put a number of alternatives in place (sadly our suggestions of a giant log flume or the use of the flying bed from Bedknobs and Broomsticks haven’t gained traction yet) but it still going to take a monumental amount of effort to get to and from Falmer on December 26th.
Will it all be worth it? If it is a repeat of last season’s 2-1 win over the Gunners then it certainly will be, but they appear to be a different beast under new boss Unai Emery so far in this campaign. A tough evening awaits.
Who are Arsenal?
Arsenal were the original Franchise FC before MK Dons stole their crown. The Gunners were originally formed as Royal Arsenal in 1886 and played in South London before relocating north of the Thames in 1913 to Highbury. They’ve had two real golden eras, the first coming in the 1930’s under Herbert Chapman when they lifted five league titles and two FA Cups and the second around 15-20 years ago after Arsene Wenger’s arrival at the club. Wenger claimed three league titles and seven FA Cups during his 22 year tenure but they haven’t been crowned Premier League champions since 2004, instead preferring these days to celebrate who finishes higher out of them and rivals Tottenham Hotspur with Spurs having the upper hand over the last few seasons.
What are they like now?
Wenger’s reign came to an end in the summer and his place in the dugout has been taken by former Seville and Paris Saint-Germain boss Unai Emery. Many pundits wondered if Arsenal would suffer the same sort of decline that Manchester United have gone through when trying to replace Sir Alex Ferguson but Emery has been a breath of fresh air so far, leading the Gunners on a 22-game unbeaten run and putting them back into title contention within six months of his reign. Overhauling Liverpool or Manchester City might be a little beyond them this season but the signs for the future are promising under Emery’s management.
Which players should we be worried about?
One of the main reasons behind the new manager’s early success has been getting both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang into the starting line up and scoring goals. Such firepower makes them a match for any team in the division and Shane Duffy and Leon Balogun could have their work cut out dealing with the pair. Aubameyang scored at the Amex last year despite not playing particularly well.
What’s the Albion’s record against Arsenal like?
Given that Arsenal have spent the past 100 years in the top flight of English football, meetings between the two clubs have been few and far between. The Brighton v Arsenal head-to-head shows three league wins for the Albion and all those have come at home which is an encouraging pointer. Less encouraging is the fact that we concede an average of three goals a game against Arsenal, a statistic not helped by the 44 conceded in 12 games during World War II with 5-1, 5-0 and 6-3 defeats all contributing to that horrific goals against figure.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Arsenal at home?
Last season was pretty special, but we actually preferred the FA Cup fourth round meeting in the 2012-13 season. Arsenal were the first big four side to visit the Amex and Gus Poyet’s team gave them a real fright that day with Leonardo Ulloa scoring a debut goal. It was the first indication that we had that we could compete with a top Premier League club but it of course took another five years for us to make it to the top flight with Chris Hughton having to come in and smash his way through Poyet’s “glass ceiling”.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Arsenal at home?
The second FA Cup meeting was a horrific day from a WeAreBrighton.com point of view given that it inexplicably ended at 4am the next morning in the Walkabout with a large amount of sick all over the floor after watching the WWE Royal Rumble live on a big screen. A low moment for all concerned and one that highlighted the many perils of Sunday drinking.
Whose played for both sides?
When former Brighton manager Liam Brady took up a position in charge of the Gunners youth team, hopes were high that he would send some of their highly rated prospects towards the Albion on-loan. This didn’t quite work out how we’d imagined it going, with the likes of Graham Barrett, Gavin Hoyte, Valur Gíslason and Joe O’Cearuill all turning out to be terrible. Steve Sidwell was one of the few loaned-Gunners that was a success and Kolo Toure might well have been had Martin Hinshelwood not made the insane decision that Guy Butters would be a better signing than a man who would go onto win trophies galore with both Arsenal and Manchester City.
Other than football, what is Arsenal famous for?
Arsenal are located in the Finsbury Park area of London, famous for it’s mosque which gained notoriety for it’s hate preacher Abu Hamza and then for later being the scene of a terrorist attack when a mentalist in a van tried to mow down worshippers. It is also home to the London Metropolitan University and what must be the only Wetherspoons in the world that doesn’t open before 10am as we found to our cost on last year’s visit to the Emirates Stadium.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Arsenal?
Unsurprisingly, Arsenal are odds on favourite. The Albion have become very adept over the course of 2018 at scoring against the big six and both teams scored in the home games we’ve already played this season against Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea. Both teams to score at 10/13 looks decent then, as does over 2.5 goals at 4/5.
Prediction
A repeat of the last home game against Chelsea with a 2-1 victory for our illustrious visitors.
