Brighton used to be a team that I quite liked. A nice seaside town (albeit rather ‘Green’), good fish and chips and a well-run club that seemed to have an amazing worldwide scouting network that unearthed gem after gem, played good football and appointed a series of intelligent, fair-minded coaches. Then Hurlezer arrived. He adopted a snarling, cynical demeanour in interviews and his teams mirrored a not dissimilar approach on the pitch. The gamesmanship that resulted in Declan Rice getting a second yellow from a muppet referee (who I believe has been selected for this game too!!) who ‘didn’t have a choice’ lives long in the memory as do the coach’s subsequent remarks supporting the sending off. Such calumnies tarnish that club for me.
We have played Brighton on only 34 previous occasions. That’s because they have spent almost their entire history in lower divisions with which, of course, once promoted to the top tier in 1919, the Arsenal have never soiled their shoe leather, unlike certain London clubs, inclined to posture, that I could name.
We first played Brighton in 1935, in an FA Cup tie, at the Goldstone Ground, their home from 1902 until 1997, and won 2-0 with goals by Joe Hulme and Ted Drake. We didn’t face them again until 1979 after their promotion to Division One (remember that era, chaps? – ask yer pa if you don’t). Over the years, we have won 19, lost 8 and drawn 7. In league games, at their place, those numbers are 5 wins, 3 draws and 4 defeats. Since Brighton’s return to the top flight in 2017, our Premier League record at their place is 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. Most of these games have been very tight, one goal margins, though we did have an excellent 3-0 win at the Amex Stadium in April 2024 with goals from Saka, Havertz and Trossard but, on the other hand, Brighton did beat us at the Grove by the same margin a year earlier. We need a repeat of our 3-0 away win and those three goal scorers from 2024 may all be available for the forthcoming match to repeat their scoring feats.
If you want an analysis of how Hurzeler’s Brighton can be expected to play, check out Ned’s excellent preview to our home game against them from just after Christmas. Brighton are coming off a 2-1 home win against Forest, in which they had 54% possession, made 522 passes, had 14 shots, 7 on target, had 2 clear cut chances and gained 3 yellow cards but they did allow Forest 14 shots, 1 clear cut chance and 4 corners. That was Brighton’s first home league win since beating Burnley at the beginning of January. However, their home record isn’t too shabby, having won 6, drawn 5 and lost only 2. Nonetheless, that home record has deteriorated since the home defeat to Villa in early December: they have drawn at home against West Ham, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Everton and lost to Palace. Brighton currently sit in 11th place with a goal difference of +3. Their season isn’t going as well as was expected and Hurzeler has been under recent pressure so this game is extremely likely to be another scrap as the German tries to relieve that pressure with a statement result. As far as I can see they have no key players absent apart from longterm injuries to Tzimas and Webster. Ayari is returning from injury but this game may be too soon for him.
So, what of the Arsenal? We started well against the Chavs on Sunday, had a wobbly middle period, recovered our mojo then had an extremely nervy final ten minutes against ten ASBO’s during which we were extremely grateful to Raya for his superb reflexes. We need to sort out those nerves – we really should have kept the ball and used our extra man advantage in the final phase of the game rather than get defensive jitters and, yet again, show a suicidal tendency that may yet harm our title challenge. I don’t know whether the late addition of multiple attackers with fresh legs from the Chav bench made the difference against our tiring midfielders and defenders or whether it was the result of deep seated anxiety primed by the late equalisers conceded at Wolves and Brentford or a mixture of both. Either way, it needs to be sorted or we will not achieve our objectives.
Although it would be reasonable to argue that we need to make changes to the starting XI for this game, if only because our late jitters may reflect tired legs and tired minds, the fact that the subsequent game is an FA Cup tie against Mansfield Town gives a bit of leeway, as key players can be predictably and more safely rested in that game. Raya who was superb on Sunday, clearly keeps his place and Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Hincapié had, until that late mass wobble, excellent games against the Chav forwards. White is apparently still unfit. However, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Calafiori start at left back given how much Hincapié has played recently (and very well, he has, too).
Declan Rice pulled up in the late stages of the Chavski game, with what looked like a muscle issue, after haring back to cover a breakaway and was limping as he came off so he was a doubt for this game. However, in his pre-Brighton press conference, Mikel Arteta was confident he would be fit. If he wasn’t fit, I expected Nørgaard to start as our holding midfielder with Zubimendi at left ‘8’, but given the likelihood that Rice will play, it may be that Zubimendi will get a rest either during the game or even from the start.
The absence of Merino is certainly coming home to roost as our key midfielders are getting no breaks at the moment. It sounds as if Ødegaard isn’t going to be fit for this game though his knee injury is ‘not serious’. If he had been fit, I would have started Ødegaard rather than Eze as the former provides far greater game control albeit, these days, he offers fewer ‘wow moments’ but Eze was quite disappointing for much of Sunday’s game and didn’t provide the defensive cover that Ødegaard regularly offers. We will need reliable tracking back if Rice doesn’t make it after all and for this reason, Havertz, if fit enough for 90 minutes, might be a better option in the advanced midfield role than Eze. Of course, another option would be Saka with Madueke playing wide right. That would certainly give Brighton’s left sided defenders a challenge but I suspect that’s well down Arteta’s list of options.
If there are no issues about our midfielders’ fitness, my front three would be Saka, Gyökeres and Martinelli. Saka was our best forward on Sunday when the attack didn’t exactly shine. Gyökeres needs to rediscover the élan he displayed against the neighbours but his recent scoring rate makes him first choice striker ahead of Jesús and a rehabilitating Havertz while Martinelli added energy to our attack when he replaced a somewhat lacklustre Trossard on Sunday and the Brazilian must be determined to regain his starting place. Although Trossard is likely to be keen to play against his former employer he didn’t do himself justice on Sunday and I think he’ll start on the bench.
However, if we haven’t done the business by the hour mark, I’d have a low threshold for freshening things up with several options from the bench to craft the win that we need. While I am confident MA8 has run through all these permutations in his mind, I expect that, given his conservative approach to team selection, his starting XI to be:
Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapié,
Zubimendi
Eze, Rice
Saka, Gyökeres, Martinelli
I expect another spiky, tight, ‘in your face’ contest so 2-1 to the Arsenal strikes me as a likelier final score than a 3-0 canter, although the latter would be extremely welcome. If it’s not to be a canter, a consummately professional performance, dominating and controlling the game, while we come out confident winners with no hint of late nerves or injuries, would be very acceptable indeed.
Enjoy the game Holics!
If you can!
Excellent, Bath – thank you !
Can’t disagree with any of that – not that I wanted to. One selection issue which never seems to get aired – Niro least by Mikel Arteta – is that of playing MLS in midfield if our regulars are running on empty. He could partner Rice or Zubimendi for a half each if necessary, and woukd gave plenty of experience all around him.
I’m right with you on Herr Hurzeler although my dislike of the Seeaagulls (Cheeserolls) began with the despicable Maurice Maupay. Ugghh !
Cone on you Reddsss ! Any win. Open play. Corners. Free kicks. Who cares ? Not I !
Indeed, a fine read, Bath, and thanks for the h/t. Tight and in-your-face is probably how it will be. This is a game for calm and control. A 2-1 free of alarms and injuries will do nicely. I think being able to get our key starters off after 70-75 mins in the next few games will go a long way to keeping them recharged for the final games.
Mike McDonald on the Sunday jitters: https://gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2026/03/03/can-we-do-this-down-the-park-positives-needs-hopes-ars-2-1-che/
Thanks Bath, excellent preview of a game that despite their recent revival I expect us to win. I hope that the in-form Welbz will leave his shorting boots at home and we can come away with a 2-0 win. A nice clean sheet to restore the customary calm in our PL leading defence and a goal or two from Viktor and Leo.
I think Leo will start this one as, from memory, MA usually picks him against Brighton but apart from that Bath’s XI looks likely unless Kai makes it. I’d be tempted to start Norgaard too but I don’t think MA will.
Trev @1
I expect to see MLS in midfield this weekend against Mansfield as I think that was the plan against Wigan until Calafiori (or was it Hincapie?) got injured in the warm-up. I hope so anyway as I’m looking forward to seeing him in midfield, especially with the sturdy safety net of Norgaard to back him up.
@2 Ned
When I said in recent drinks that Wolves had no chance of staying up this season I meant of course the complete opposite 😃
Difficult game but I hope Forest can surprise C130y . If they can get something and we win at the Amex we can rest players at the weekend . I think Bath has called the game and the team well. 2-1 to the good guys .
Let’s just win. With hopefully all the goals from set pieces just to irritate the idiots out there. I’m sure Ned’s monks can add more to this but on Sunday we had 5 corners to Chelsea’s 10. Today Poo had 11 corners to go along with 10 over the weekend. This narrative that we play for set pieces is boring.
ecg@6: Let me repeat this from the previous drinks:
Only City has scored more goals from open play than us this season. Also, the Opta data shows that set-piece goals (from corners, throw-ins and free-kicks but excluding penalties) account for 27.5% of all PL goals this season, up from 20.6% last season and 19.8% the season before last. So people who live in glass houses, and all that…
OM@5: 🙂
Thank you Bath for a nerve-steadying, pragmatic and thoughtful preview! And thanks Matt for a highly enjoyable review of the somewhat-painful-yet-feelgood-at-the-end win against the west London mob.
I notice that the singularly unpleasant manager of our opponents today had preemptively complained about “Arsenal taking long time in corners” and other things about corners. The incessant obsession of so many in the English football about our corner routines is possibly the closest to collective paranoia I have ever seen in the context of football. (There are certain apt historical examples in cricket but this isn’t a cricket blog. :-))
It was a little more than a decade ago when Arsenal were playing some of the best and most positive minded football on the planet — on the strengths of technique, creativity and an admirable lack of cynicism — with young talents, only to be physically mauled and cynically beaten. The criticism used to be that “Arsenal are naive, can’t handle the physical side, doesn’t know how to defend set-piece …”. And now that we have married technique with tactical nous, creativity with physicality, brought in streetwise, strong, and singleminded winners, now the criticism is we aren’t pretty enough? 😂
I do like Danny a lot, and he absolutely deserves this Indian summer in his career. Let’s hope he will have an uncharacteristically bad day for once this season, but even if he doesn’t, our defensive duo should give him the sternest test he faced this season.
I think we should see Calafiori and Martinelli returning to the starting line-up. It’s very unlikely but Nørgaard is well-placed to start this match. Zubimendi has started to look tired and maybe it’s not a bad idea to give him a break and use the Dane’s calmness and experience for this match. Whenever he appeared for us, he had done his job flawlessly.
Raya
Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori
Havertz-Nørgaard-Rice
Saka-Gyökeres-Martinelli
Any win will do. The team just needs to rediscover their early season composure and the quality on the ball. The rest will take care of itself.
Come on Arsenal!
Ned @8 – great stats – didn’t see that in the last bar.
Every base touched remarkably effectively there, Bath. Very nice job. Pithy Hurzeler critique meriting 10/10.
The Rice dismissal and ludicrous Saliba penalty at Brighton cost Arsenal five points last season. Both were ahead on my ridicule rating of Saliba’s sending off at Bournemouth, 40 yards from goal, and Leo’s red card at the Emptied – another five points in all.
Versus Chel$ki our defence scored A+, Raya excelled; Saliba and Timber scored the goals and our back four formed, for the most part, an impenetrable wall. I wouldn’t change a thing for Brighton but wouldn’t get bent out of shape if either or both Mosquera or Calafiori were introduced at the start or later.
Our midfield merited B-. All three tried hard but Zubi’s passing game was off and he had a second brain fart. Eze’s touch and timing were poor and he was peripheral for the most part. Declan’s energiser bunny battery looked a little depleted (despite which he was still very good until inured). If our captain is unavailable I’d start Havertz at inside right. It would be good to see Norgaard for either Zubi or Declan if the state of plays merits a change.
Our attack was C-. Several of Che$ki’s better attacking moves started from one of Theo’s several passes to them. Victor couldn’t control the ball effectively nor beat his defender. Saka was OK but far from really influential against an inexperienced teenage fullback. Salah drove the Dippers to the title last year but has only six goals in the League this season. Bukayo has five – a late season upsurge from him would be a joy to behold. He’ll start tonight as will Victor. Theo doesn’t do well against Brighton and is diminished by their fans ‘antipathy’. Martinelli for me.
Just win, Arsenal.
Cheers, baff! I thought I was going to miss the match, but what I thought was tonight is tomorrow. Whether it means more stress or not, we shall see. Suspect a nervy 2-1 is indeed more likely than a 3-0 stroll. I’ll be fine with it, mind. Three points truly is all that matters.
JW used to evoke Jack Wilshere for me, but now it is : Just Win.
Trev@10: Those stats underscore how much hypocrisy there is around corner-taking. The Chavs’ corners on Sunday were carbon copies of ours. Dr. F makes a parallel point @9. ‘Arsenal are naive, can’t handle the physical side’ turns into ‘Arsenal are sucking the joy out of the game’ as soon as we have a team that plays with nous and physicality.
Indeed Ned. Arsenal play fancy / beautiful football but are weak / can be bullied / don’t like it up’em / never win anything was the cry for about 20 years. Now we are physical (but clean I hasten to add) / strong / can’t be bullied / play pragmatic football – and would have won loads against clubs run within the rules, we are ugly / boring / ruining the league and the game.
Other teams will not come out to play against us because they have learnt that they will be torn apart. Even elite teams in Europe have been learning that lesson this season while conceding three or four goals in the process. Premier League teams invariably put 10 men behind d the ball and invite us to try to find a way through the crowd. When we do attack and win a corner, why on earth would you not want to be as good at them as possible ? What better way of getting the ball into a danger area when there is literally no space to play through. So rather than criticise Arsenal for boring football, criticise the teams who are forcing it to happen.
The dislike of Arsenal – the highest scoring, cleanest, non corrupt club – amongst the media continues to bewilder, but good luck to them. I hope we win 5-0 at Brighton and score the whole lot through corners.
Come on you Rreeddsss !
Fine preview bath!
I always have concerns about MA’s insistence on using the preferred 11 for the majority
of games. We have an excellent squad of (mostly) experienced national team players, who should be used more often to ameliorate the obvious player fatigue.
Hope it doesn’t come back to bite us! We cannot afford injuries to key players.
Excellent preview Bath, and fine comments by the learned regulars. I agree with you Boff about the likely need to integrate Norgaard and other squad members but must assume that Mikel knows better than I so COYG and the big performance and more importantly, big result. Steady as she goes on the goals from corners and from every other source. Steady in the defence and midfield, and we should be alright.
Team news
Saliba is gone in the fetlock, but we couldn’t hope for a better replacement than Mosquera.
Would have liked to have seen one of Rice or Zubimendi rested. Hope one or both can put their feet up early.
Good to see Dowman return to the matchday squad.
Assuming they survive the warm-up, Saka will make his 300th first-team appearance and Raya his 100th Premier League appearance for us.
I am disappointed to hear of Saliba’s injury but Mosquera has proved an able replacement to date and will be well up for the fray. I agree that one of our two midfielders who have been running on fumes by the end of recent games could have been rested but with the cup tie next up, I expected both to start if fit. A 60 minute run out for at least one of them would seem optimal provided we have the game under control.
COYG
Thanks Bath for a mighty fine preview – all the salient points nicely covered. Also spot on for the team selection allowing for the injured Willy ( ooh err missus ). I expect a very tight match and I hope Chris “ I had no option “ Kavanagh doesn’t repeat his stupidity.
2-1 to the good guys seems the favoured call. Just win!!
COYRRR
It is burdening a sixteen year old with quite unreasonable expectations but I still expect Max Dowman to do spectacular things as the season moves towards its pointy end . Tonight is probably too early but I’m convinced he’s destined to be a legend.He should be starting on Saturday . I don’t often agree with Gary Neville but we should treat the FA Cup as our lowest priority
1-0 at half-time, and 1-0 to The Arsenal will do me just fine at the end.
Hurzeler excelling himself and would be nice to stick to the little turd.
I’m a bit worried for Mosquera as the ref has history.
Leo and Kai on, say hello with a goal please Leo
Not in our net though
Get fucking in!
Yes! Big three points and Murillo off the line to make Cheaty draw
Away support look very very happy on the tv, hope there’s
a holic or two in the crowd loving that
Defended noticeably higher towards the end when we could.
Things went our way with the goal but 7 points clear again.
Never in doubt! *puffs on a fat Havana*
Less nervy end than the Chelsea game. A hugely important three points in the context of the City result. The travelling faithful came through loud and proud on the broadcast towards the end, despite the commentator saying throughout the game how anxious our supporters looked.
We’ll probably get charged with bringing the pundits into disrepute for having half as many corners as Brighton, not scoring from any of them and winning the game from open play.
Bath@29: 👍
Not only did the Seagulls not crap on our parade, but they also didn’t even manage to nick a chip.
I am mystified. The BBC match report says, ‘Brighton were the superior side for long periods’ but, in the BBC player ratings, 15 Arsenal players get a higher score than the highest-ranked Brighton player and all the rest of their players get lower scores than our other player.
Is that the Brighton Broadcasting Co 😂
The relegation battle got a bit more fun tonight.
Fulham beat the Spuds at the weekend and then lost to Wham tonight,
the Arsenal B team hate the spuds too
Aidan and I were at the Amex tonight. What a result. What an away end. We never stopped singing.
Good man, c100. Is it true then that the Seagulls didn’t even get a chip? Not that it really matters, but seeing as one of our own was an eyewitness… 😎
In fairness they had one chip, but Gabriel fished it off the line.
Coat’s on…
It’s not pretty. It’s not fun. But we keep winning.
After Salah blasted Pool to last year’s title… this is how The Arsenal go about our business.
Arsene Wenger is my idol.
George Graham is my God.
UTA
Ned,
I think those ratings are determined by audience participation. Arsenal have a huge online following and Gooners will vote for our players so Arsenal votes overwhelmingly the rest .
Hurzeler is a highly unlikeable young man
OM@33: 🙂
CER@37: It’s the way you tell ’em, eh!
TTG@39: I will bow to your superior knowledge. That said, of the 11 players in the game with Opta-stat-based ratings of above 7, we have the six top-ranked, followed by four Brighton players, and then another Arsenal player.
@35 yeah, it looked like a great place to be C100,
an all singing, all dancing away end 👍
@36 they had the chip on Hurzeler’s shoulder bt8 😉
but it turned out it didn’t have any nutritional value.
The McDonalds of Managers…..
Saka speaking after the game, his 300th senior appearance for us: https://www.arsenal.com/news/saka-its-beautiful-day
Oops, I nearly forgot that chip, OM. 🫡😂
Speaking of chips, chips the ball over the on rushing seagull to…
Delicate chili in a different direction where lurks ….
Chili 🌶️ should have been chip, even if a hot one
The usually unflappable Mikel Arteta takes a wild lunge at the chip
and the ball bobbles off…
…to bounce between the keeper’s legs and into the net.
Fine finish Ned 👏
I can’t remember the last time MA had a dig at another
manager in an interview. I wonder if Hurzeler, who said
he wanted his players to be a little bit dirty in the duels,
will mention which team has the most yellow cards in the
PL this season. Surely FA charges will be forthcoming……
Well that turned out all right! I did not have a good feeling about this game and I thought City would light up Forest. 7 points ahead, eight games left and five at home. My barometer is swinging towards optimism!
Be great to give Declan & Martin Z a rest this weekend. Gabriel and Hincapie were immense tonight. Wish we could get more out of Gyok & Eze but there’s still a lot of important games to come and chances to shine. Maybe the handbrake will come off a little now that we have a slight cushion? These tight games are not for the faint-hearted!
Didn’t enjoy the game. At all.
Enjoyed the result(s). Very much.
C100 @ 35. My commentators were very much not clued up: at some point they said the Brighton supporters were still singing loud for their teams….when all I could hear was an Arsenal chant…. great work from you all!
(and well in Ned, not sure where you got that idea for the finish :-p)
>>>>>>>