Why are Arsenal so rattled by a club like Brighton?
Oh dear, Gunners fans. What has happened to you? How have Arsenal, one of the most famous clubs in the world, 11 time champions of England, a footballing institution, ended up becoming so rattled by a club like Brighton?
The fall out from the Albion’s 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Amex Stadium shows no sign of abating. True, it was a game laced with controversy thanks largely to Le Petit Shithouse Neal Maupay but even so, it is hard to recall a Brighton fixture against any team where the opposition are still suffering a meltdown over what happened nearly a week on.
We all know Maupay is a windup merchant. The sort of player that you love to have in your team but hate to come up against.
He has demonstrated that to multiple opposition across his career in England with both Brighton and Brentford and yet it is Arsenal whose skin he seems to have gotten under particularly effectively.
When Maupay challenged Bernd Leno for a bouncing ball with 10 minutes remaining of the first half – as he was entitled to do – Leno ended up falling awkwardly and twisting his knee.
Arsenal fans reacted by screaming blue murder. They wanted Maupay red carded, banned for life or executed in the Tower of London. He had apparently ended Leno’s career and as such, was deserving of a career ending injury himself.
Talk about hysterics. And now it turns out that Leno will be out for only six weeks following the incident. While Leno had every right to be angry with Maupay at the time, the reaction of Arsenal fans was so disproportionate as to be comical.
Their mood certainly wasn’t helped when Maupay then went and scored a 95th minute winner, dealing another blow to the Gunners’ hopes of qualifying for Europe.
It isn’t Brighton & Hove Albion’s fault though that Arsenal have become such a shambles, so why were they taking it out on us.
Their supporters hounded Arsene Wenger from their club and are now reaping what they sowed with Unai Emery being forced out and a rookie manager in Mikel Arteta having to learn on the job.
Maupay’s late winner isn’t to blame for the mess Arsenal are in. Perhaps if they signed the world class defenders that even Roy Orbison has been able to see that they have needed for a decade then, they would not be such a soft touch.
There was an irony in the way that Arsenal fans criticised Maupay for his actions throughout the game at the same time as moaning that their current side lacks fight and battle – the exact same qualities that Maupay showed against them.
Long gone are the days when Martin Keown, Ashley Cole and Kolo Toure would surround a Manchester United player and hound him for missing a penalty as the Gunners went on their way to an entire league season undefeated. Now, they lose their minds when a Brighton striker challenges for a loose ball.
Maupay is living rent-free in Arsenal fans’ heads. Ty from Arsenal TV said after Saturday’s game, “Maupay, you’re a cheat, you’re a disgrace and I hope Brighton get relegated.” You need to calm down, as the great Taylor Swift once said.
Then there was the reaction from North London when Maupay missed a penalty in Brighton’s 0-0 draw at Leicester City on Tuesday night. Twitter was awash with Gunners fans celebrating wildly that Kasper Schmeichel had kept out Maupay’s spot kick.
Judging by the reactions, it was the greatest moment in Arsenal history since Michael Thomas’ last minute winner at Liverpool in 1989 to win the title.
What a fall from grace that is. The mighty Arsenal; the club of Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger; a team of double winners and invicibles; reduced to celebrating a Brighton striker missing a penalty at Leicester City. Bless.
It isn’t just Arsenal fans who seem to be completely rattled by Brighton either. According to various reports, Matteo Guendouzi spent the game taunting the Albion’s players about how little money they earn and calling spent them “shit”.
“He was saying the Brighton players were shit and that he and his teammates earn so much more than they ever will. Arsenal are a decent club and hate that sort of behaviour.”
The irony about Guendouzi’s comments is that he is said to earn £40,000 a week, which actually puts him on less than the likes of Lewis Dunk, Maty Ryan, Pascal Gross, Dale Stephens and Maupay.
Brighton cannot be that shit either, given that Arsenal have now failed to beat them for five games stretching back to October 2017, the Albion winning three and drawing two. The Maupay-inspired win at the Amex completed Brighton’s first ever league double over the Gunners.
Guendozi didn’t take losing to such a shit team particularly well, throttling Maupay at the final whistle to start a melee in which any notions of two metre social distancing went out the window.
Maupay addressed Guendouzi’s behaviour both throughout and after the game in a post match interview in which he told Arsenal to learn some humility.
The French striker said, “Some of the Arsenal players need to learn humility maybe sometimes. They’ve been talking a lot first half, second half when they were 1-0 up – they got what they deserved.”
While Arsenal may be getting increasingly rattled by a small club from the south coast of England, we are thoroughly enjoying the meltdown.
For while it is very much a sign of how far Arsenal have fallen that they are so preoccupied with Brighton, it is also an indicator how far the Albion have come.
In the 1997-98 season, Wenger led the Gunners to their first double under his management. That was the year in which Brighton finished 91st out of 92 teams in the Football League on 35 points in the bottom tier, whilst playing home games in front of 2,000 fans every week at Gillingham.
When Wenger won his second double in 2001-02, Brighton were playing home games at a converted athletics stadium which held just 7,000 and didn’t have a roof.
Captain Danny Cullip handed in a transfer request because he was fed up of treading in dog crap as the players were training in Preston Park due to a problem with the pitches at the University of Sussex.
Arsenal’s invincibles season saw Brighton competing in the third tier. When the Gunners played Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final, the Albion had just finished bottom of the Championship and lost their final game of the season 5-1 at home to Stoke City.
That a club of Arsenal’s statue and pedigree have developed such a disliking for Brighton – largely because we keep beating them – is a sign that the Albion have truly arrived in the Premier League. We’re equals to the Gunners and they just cannot comprehend it. And we bloody love it.
Based on Brighton’s two post-lockdown matches so far, Ty from Arsenal Fan TV and all those countless other Arsenal supporters who want the Albion relegated won’t be getting their wish either. Sorry to disappoint.
The magical 40 point mark is just two wins away. Even one win from the final seven games could be enough to keep Brighton in the Premier League for a fourth successive season.
In which case, roll on our annual six points from Arsenal in 2020-21 to rattle the once-mighty Gunners even more.
