As we kicked off at the Amex Stadium in Brighton there was only one change from Bath’s XI as predicted in the preview. That change was Christhian Mosquera starting in place of William Saliba who had turned over an ankle against Chelsea and was too sore to start. In the lineup for the 300th time in his career though was Bukayo Saka, who was captain in honour of that achievement. Still no Martin Ødegaard in the squad though and his continuing fitness issues must be a real concern. Max Dowman returned on the bench where he was joined by Kai Havertz.
Unbelievably, after last seasons encounter at the Emirates and the nonsense that went on there with Declan Rice, Kris Kavanagh was given the whistle. He had been briefed by Fabian Hurzeler via the press that Arsenal would try to waste too much time at throw ins and corners, and that rule changes, no less, were required to bring them under control. There is something intensely annoying about Hurzeler – take your pick from arrogance, hypocrisy, constant carping and cheap transparent attempts at mind games for which he doesn’t possess the requisite subtlety. However …..
First Half
A hugely important game very nearly started disastrously when David Raya, after just 2 minutes, misplaced an unnecessarily risky pass to Declan Rice straight to a Brighton attacker. The latter’s attempted lob easily cleared Raya but fortunately Gabriel back pedalled rapidly to clear with a back header. Raya is a brilliant keeper and has saved us many times. He has done a few strange things lately though – maybe the pressure is getting to him as well. I’m sure he is playing to instructions but sometimes just clearing the ball isn’t the worst idea.
After 5 minutes Saka easily beat his full back and crossed into the six yard box where, er, nobody was waiting for a tap in. Just 3 minutes later he beat his man again, cutting inside, and fired a low drive at goal which went in off the keeper’s foot.
Brighton 0 – 1 Arsenal
The rest of the half, and the match, was played in an atmosphere of attrition, stoked up by the Brighton manager who spent most of it in the fourth official’s ear complaining about everything Arsenal did. Mosquera was booked for bringing down Georginio Rutter although Kavanagh kept his cards in his pocket when Gomez felled Martinelli in almost identical fashion. Hurzeler even moaned to the referee that Gabriel was limping after he had his foot trodden on but our centre back pointed out that it Hurzelot!
A period of Brighton pressure petered out after Beleba tried to land a shot from 25 yards on the pier. Kavanagh was again proving himself to be a truly awful referee. He gave Brighton free kicks for their players falling over Gyokeres, laying down in the area in front of Saka and injuring Zubimendi, who was then booed furiously for coming back onto the pitch.
Shortly before half time, I found myself hoping for changes as Gyökeres, Eze and even Martinelli had failed to make any impression on the game. It’s odd how Gyökeres and Eze played so well against Tottenham but have since almost disappeared again. You can’t play against any team in this league without full commitment from every single player.
Arsenal left the field at half time to such a barrage of booing you would have thought Adolf Hitler, Attila the Hun and Fred West had all run on the pitch together. I get that home fans want to make life uncomfortable for the opposition and help their team to win but these reactions were plain stupid. I didn’t hear those fans singing or cheering their own team at all. It was purely about booing and jeering the Arsenal from start to finish, the complete opposite of the travelling Gooners who were brilliant as usual.
Half Time: Brighton 0 – 0 Arsenal
Hurzeler started the second half in the official’s ear as they emerged from the tunnel. Arsenal started the second half without any changes. Brighton subbed on Minteh to the left wing. It was a change that made them more dangerous. Christhian Mosquera had to be substituted to avoid the risk of a second yellow. He was struggling to contain Minteh and one challenge where he went to ground could have resulted in a second yellow and a penalty had the forward not stayed on his feet. Up to then Mosquera had done well as usual. He has been a terrific buy. Calafiori replaced him with Hinkapié switching to right centre back.
Just before the hour mark, Gyökeres and Martinelli were replaced by Havertz and Trossard. The changes did make us more lively and we wrestled some control back from Brighton. By the end it was all hands on deck again and a case of anywhere will do. The players are clearly and unsurprisingly extremely tired and even Zubimendi had to be replaced by Christian Nørgaard ten minutes before the end.
Brighton made, I think, five substitutions in total, which fortunately made them less threatening in the end. Seven minutes of added time came and went and even Kavanagh felt compelled to produce a couple of cards for Brighton’s increasingly crude attempts to grab an equaliser.
Full Time: Brighton 0 – 1 Arsenal
After the final whistle the Brighton fans booed. Again! The Arsenal fans danced, sang, jumped up and down, and hugged each other as the news filtered through that Man City had only drawn at home to Nottingham Forest. That leaves us 7 points and 5 goals better off than them with 8 games to go.
Fabian Hurzeler said in his post match interview that Brighton should have had a penalty, that referees need to sort out the “other stuff”, that Arsenal should have had a few more yellow cards for time wasting, that he didn’t want to use “too many words” and that as a manager he would never play football like Arsenal do, or be the kind of manager who tries to win in that way!
Mikel Arteta unsurprisingly played all questions with a straight bat and said that the desire of his players to win is incredible and we just keep doing what we have to do.
Okay, these games are not fun to watch. The players are out on their feet. Hopefully they can rest for a week now as it’s FA Cup weekend coming up.
Apparently a small pile of melted polyester was found on the touch line at the end of the evening where Hurzeler had spontaneously combusted in his own coat. Not even Arsene Wenger pulled that one off.
Cheers baff. And nice Trev-like punning 😉
Yep, no fun to watch, but as was said last weekend, there will be a few more like that. It’s fine. As for the Brighton manager, the less said, the better (well you said all there was to be said, I laughed at the last bit).
That’s cos it was me, Ollie ! 🙏🏻
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, cheers Trev! Now that makes sense 😀
Nice work, Trev. Spot on report with absolutely no need to go into detail in what was an excruciating 90-odd minutes. I thought Gabriel and Hincapiè stood out for us. Both were so strong and really like rocks on which the waves of Brighton attacks foundered. On the other hand, the front line was poor. Gyokeres couldn’t have trapped a bag of cement and he and Martinelli were replaced. As soon as Havertz in particular came on, we were able to hold the ball better up the pitch and, no doubt combined with some tiredness on the part of the other side, Brighton’s game began to fall apart. I would okay Gyokeres on Saturday and give Havertz more time to recover and play from the start next week in Leverkusen.
Great report Trev , well done . I hope Fabian Hurzelot this morning. He really is utterly insufferable , a total hypocrite and not a demonstrably excellent coach .
I’m getting jumpier and jumpier watching on TV . I can cope with watching live matches because I can share the anxiety with the rest of the crowd . But I have great faith in our marvellous defence . Gabriel is truly becoming a legend- A Brazilian Tony Adams but I also want to give flowers to Hincapie who has proved to be a really good acquisition. We have , apparently, to decide if we want to take up the option to buy him . I wouldn’t have thought, that was remotely in doubt and I loved the way he dismissed Hurzelot on the touchline with a smile .
Further forward , our midfield is knackered but so, so willing . As for forwards , last night Bukayo was on it but nobody else was until Havertz entered the fray . I think Gyokeres’ first touch is significantly improved but he hasn’t scored from open play against any team in the top ten . He still has Everton, Bournemouth and Fulham to play again . This doesn’t make him a liability because we will need someone to score against less accomplished teams with deep blocks but I think Havertz is a better bet in the elite level games .
Our away support was, as ever wonderful and must be such a source of inspiration to the team . C130y struggled again. They scraped their last two games and are heavily dependent on Semenyo .
My team for Saturday would be
Kepa
White ( Calafiori ) Mosquera Hincapie MLS ( Calafiori)
Norgaard Havertz ( MLS if White plays ) Odegaard
Dowman Gyokeres Martinelli
Great report Trev. And many good comments in the drinks above. Curiously, I felt nowhere near as tense last night as I did against Chelsea. I was lifted by the superb support in the away end of 3000 Gooners. True believers to a man. Fans, not spectators. Never stopped singing. We all were glancing occasional glances at our phones, assisted by the excellent Brighton wi-fi (why can’t it be like that at the Emirates?) to find out how City were doing.
This was not a great match. But it was a huge night. A heroic defensive performance meant that it stayed one nil to The Arsenal. It felt like a George Graham team performance. Hincapie and Gabriel were immense. Raya after his early mistake was immaculate. The second half subs were very good and steadied the side.
At the end as we saluted the team, the news broke that it had remained 2-2 at the Emptihad. We were seven points clear with eight games to go. It felt cathartic. Everybody went mad.
The Park and Ride system at Brighton is free and good but a little slow in loading the buses at the end of a game. It took an hour to get back to our car. It was then “let’s do roadworks night” leading to diversions and closed roads on the way home. We eventually got back home at almost 2am. Did we care? Not a bit.
Oh and the gobby Brighton manager made a fool of himself. Do one mate. We’ve seen off better than you.
As the song goes
We are the Arsenal and fuck all the rest!
Great piece by Jonathan Liew.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/05/arsenal-arne-slot-liverpool-var-set-pieces-referees-long-throws-fans-complaints?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Oh and by the way we have now scored 99 goals in all competitions this season.
Mike McDonald is great on the loathsome Hurzler
Thanks Trev for an excellent and typically well humored report. Thanks c100 for the link to the truly masterful commentary by Jonathan Liew who deconstructs not only modern football but also modern life to a T. Now to read Mike McDonald.
Your account of the game was more entertaining than the match itself, Trev. Last night was an endurance test for me and I have the uncomfortable feeling that I may find myself enduring more over the course of the next eight League games. Our defence was excellence and I’d add mine to the multiple plaudits that Gabriel and Hincapie have already received. Our midfield needs rest and rejuvenation – which may in turn help our attack to recover some of its mojo.
The only thing that matters is, of course, the reward of three points nestling in the bag.
Meanwhile, Brighton’s little twit Hurzeler has ascended above Man City’s little whiner Bernardo Silva on the list of the odious, famed only for their petulance in post match commentary.
Win the next eight. COYG. NLFE.
Thanks fellas !
The, or one, problem we have with our attacking football is that our attackers are generally not doing it.
Our midfielders look exhausted and they have been carrying the attack for most of the season. In the earlier part of the season they were trying to compensate for a lot of injuries to the forwards and Gyokeres who arrived unprepared with no pre-season.
They then had to work extra hard when our defenders went missing with injuries.
Now, even though they are mostly fit the forwards are just not holding the ball up, creating much, and certainly not scoring a lot – in the PL that is.
Martinelli, although I love his attitude, blows hot and cold. Similarly Trossard and Jesus. Apart from games against Tottenham, Gyokeres and sadly Eze have been ineffective.
I’m giving Saka a pass cos he can’t do it all by himself and he gets chopped down every time he gets near the ball.
Odegaard has been in and out with injury and Merino is now out for the season with a broken foot.
This leaves too great a burden on the midfield. That is why they are reduced to goofing the ball away in the later stages of matches – they just don’t have the energy to get forward and create.
It’s brilliant that under the circumstances we are still finding ways to get it done at all.
The summer is going to be vital to sort out the front section of the team.
In the meantime, where we are in 4 competitions is quite miraculous.
Well said, Simon Jordan. And I hope your boys win tonight.
I never thought I would write this, but well said Simon Jordan!
Excellent report, Trev, with barbs on target. You might be able to fool Ollie that you are Bath, but not the rest of us. Hurzelot! Dead giveaway.
C100@7&8: Thanks for the links to two good reads and the on-the-ground reportage @6. As I mentioned in the previous drinks, I, too, didn’t feel as nervous towards the end as I did in the Chelsea game. Brighton didn’t have the individual quality of Chelsea to really press our backs to the wall, and so being able to keep them 10 metres further away from our goal made seeing out the game relatively comfortable.
Flowers to Gabriel and Hincapié, beyond doubt, with an honourable mention to Raya. Interesting observation by Mike McDonald that it will be too expensive to exercise the option to turn Hincapié’s loan into a permanent move unless he is a starter.
I know Rice always looks knackered from the first minute, but he clearly needs more rest despite being his Energiser Bunny self. So does Zubimendi’s brain. He was making too many tired decisions too slowly. Same against Chelsea. Eze is an enigma. He does more in games than many give him credit for, especially in terms of keeping possession in midfield at critical moments, but he seems adrift from the rest of the team. Gyökeres left his first touch in N5. He was lucky not to be hooked at half-time.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cdjm7wn39m7o
Well, that didn’t take long…
Thanks for two fine articles C100. Liew is a wonderful journalist- purported to be a Dpud but able to appreciate the beauty of Iwobi’s goal last week because he loves the game
As for Edu it does not surprise me given the volatility of Marinakis and Forest’s collapse this year after Edu fell out with Nuno .
I’ve never been fully in step with the ‘ bloody Edu ‘ schtick but it must also be said that Edu oversaw the best transfer window in history acquiring Raya, Timber, Rice and Havertz . Four decent captures . Who knows why he left but the scuttlebutt was that he wanted a bigger role than Arsenal were prepared to offer him and that it was Arteta who chose the players in that transfer window . And Berta despite being a wonderful purchaser can’t sell players either !
I’m sure details will emerge shortly of the Forest debacle whilst Nuno chuckles behind his hand
Dpud is a Tottnumb fan if you hadn’t guessed !
Sam Dean has written an excellent piece in the Torygraph (£):
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/03/04/arsenal-dark-arts-time-wasting-feigning-injury-hurzeler-row1/
Come
On
Palace
Thanks for an enjoyable report Trev and thanks also to C100, Bath and CER
for the various links. I learned who Simon Jordan is, that
Jonathon Liew is still smart, so is Mike McDonald, and that
Edu will be looking for a new job soon.
Spuds gonna spud.
The camera keeps panning to a gloriously grumpy
looking spud in the stands as they are just shredded
by Palace and their dejected “support” heads home
before half-time
Did Vinki or Edu make the better career choice when they left The Arsenal?
Worse might be a better word than better for that choice 😂
This is karma for throwing their home game against C130y to prevent Arsenal winning the league. Down you go, tossers.
Thanks Trev, your match review is spot on. A game to forget – the next one is the focus ad infinitum until the season ends. Hopefully the boss will give a much needed rest for those players who seem to be running on fumes – some of us watching are in need of some recuperation as well.
Hopefully a more relaxing match for the upcoming FA cup tie.
In what seems to be a theme the Palace supporters were
apparently singing ‘Say hello to Millwall’ tonight
The GHF Predictathon leaderboard for Matchweek 29 has been posted. There are developments. You know where to find them…
Nice report @6 C100 and excellent piece from Jonathan Liew.
More good drinks from the usual suspects too.
Spurs found a way of spursing it up from a 1-0 lead. Utterly predictable. At least they’re consistent !
Agent Vinai has carried out his mission with a vengeance . The Spuds are in very deep trouble
I didn’t bother watching last night, but I did very much enjoy the happenings….
Tim Stillman nails it. This is what I felt on Wednesday night in Brighton
https://x.com/spursnocontext/status/2029691512980688898?s=61&t=cVFjCyGkt4y-Ne45LtfqkQ
C100 &34 – yep, spot on. I wasn’t there on Wednesday but the travelling support came across loud, proud and clear in TV. I really hope to get to experience the atmosphere live again this season. It could be very very special.
Strangely, in the context of the Stillman piece, the criticism of Arsenal in the media has become so absurd that some pundits / commentators / voices are actually beginning to speak up against it.
For example, Matterface and Agbonlahor were defending the team on radio at lunchtime today. Alan Pardew – yes sorry, I know – wants an asterisk put by our title, if we win it, because of our time wasting. Honestly, how f%^king stupid does this nonsense have to get ?
It’s your chance to vote in the quiz at the bottom of the BBC article, “Disillusionment and disbelief – thousands leave early with Spurs in freefall”
Possible choices (I couldn’t possibly reveal which one I selected 🤣):
Should Spurs keep faith with Igor Tudor?
Of course – three games isn’t enough to judge
26%
It doesn’t matter who is in charge – Spurs are going down
42%
Yes – he will keep them up
5%
No – a quick replacement could yet save Spurs
27%
Trev – to get a ticket try ticket exchange especially in the last 48 hours before a game. It’s a bit of a ball ache to have to keep refreshing but can pay dividends. Otherwise – if you are an ST holder and find you can’t go, remember Trev! Ticket transfer to him is easy!
Thought experiment. Which of the below is the greatest episode in British tv comedy history:
A. Basil Fawlty and “ The Rat”
B.Eric Sykes etc and “The Plank”
C. Hancock – “ The Blood Donor”
D. Dad’s Army – The Deadly Attachment” (don’t tell ‘I’m, Pike)
E. Minutes 35 until the end of the first half of Tottenham vs Palace, 5th March 2026?
CER. I dunno but will watch Spurs v Palace in its entirety thinking there may be good bits interspersed prior to Spurs ultimate collapse. 😀
https://www.givemesport.com/premier-league-goalkeepers-ranked-time-wasted-football-soccer/
The Athletic have measured time wasting by goalkeepers this season and guess what? The second worst offender in the Premiership is …..the Brighton keeper Verbruggen !
Raya is one of the quickest distributors!
So thanks very much Hurzeler you misinformed hypocrite
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>