{"id":7179,"date":"2022-12-30T17:25:04","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T17:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7179"},"modified":"2023-01-01T20:50:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T20:50:37","slug":"happy-hunting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7179","title":{"rendered":"Happy Hunting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1244169920\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1244169920?et=GsKQ2bivTlpFdh9ig5kTxw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=zHmAZv2w3BWIuzlMA4MeKTzSQRDr5pnFnNwi73dRkw0=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8216;On New Year&#8217;s Eve, there will be an exhibition of seagull downing on the South Downs&#8217; sounds like an announcement Kenneth Horne would have made in an episode of&nbsp;<em>Round the Horne<\/em>, a radio comedy programme that older &#8216;holics may fondly remember (YouTube it, young people). Yet skewering the blue and white striped variety is the serious task facing the Gunners when they venture into Brighton and Hove Albion\u2019s Amex Stadium in Fulmer on the final Saturday of the year for the Premier League&#8217;s last game of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These particular Seagulls have proved more obdurate prey of late than they should have done. We have failed to win eight of the previous ten meetings, the most recent being the 3-1 defeat at the Emirates in the League Cup in November. A battle lost to win the war, asked 21st Century Gooner in his match report. Perhaps so. The extra few days of preparation afforded by not having to play a league cup tie immediately after the World Cup break were put to good use when the war resumed against West Ham on Boxing Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sussex-by-the-Sea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is little match history between the two clubs. However, in the 1930s, Herbert Chapman would take his teams to Brighton for golfing holidays-cum-training camps and played the occasional friendly at the old Goldstone Ground. The municipal authorities made some play of these visits in their publicity materials as evidence of the town&#8217;s attractiveness for tourists seeking a healthy and recreational holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tradition continued under Chapman&#8217;s successor, George Allison. The team trained at the Goldstone Ground before the 1936 Cup Final against Sheffield United. (Your bonus historical trivia: that was the first Cup Final for which the BBC broadcast live commentary.) The players returned to the South Coast after a drab 1-0 victory to recuperate with three league games and a London Challenge Cup final still to play &#8212; or perhaps to recover from draining the Cup after filling it with wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had first met the Seagulls competitively in the previous season&#8217;s FA Cup, winning 2-0 there in the Third Round on our way to a quarter-finals exit at the hands of the other Sheffield side, Wednesday. Yet, our next encounter with the Seagulls would not be until 1979 in the old First Division, their first match in the top flight. We trounced them 4-0. The overall record now stands at P26 W14 D5 L7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Graham Potter, who lost only two of his six matches against us as Brighton manager, moved on to the Bus Stop in September, taking the mussy-haired and annoying Cucurella with him. Roberto De Zerbi replaced Potter, arriving after a war-truncated spell in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk. He has won four, drawn two and lost five of his eleven Brighton games so far, most recently brightly beating relegation-threatened Southampton 3-1 on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Zerbi habitually played 4-2-3-1 at Shakhtar. It is his preferred formation at Brighton, having phased out Potter&#8217;s 3-4-2-1 after a month. However, in the only game he has coached against us \u2014 the League Cup tie \u2014 he used 4-4-2 with the promising Julio Enciso, an 18-year-old Paraguayan striker who arrived in the close season, playing alongside Danny Welbeck, formerly of this parish.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Saturday&#8217;s league game, expect the Italian to continue with the 4-2-3-1 he reverted to for Monday&#8217;s win and the previous Thursday&#8217;s surprise league cup elimination on penalties by Charlton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brighton had more of its squad at the World Cup than one might have imagined: Leandro Trossard (Belgium), Robert Sanchez (Spain), Mois\u00e9s Caicedo, Jeremy Sarmiento and Pervis Estupi\u00f1\u00e1n, who arrived in the summer, assumedly in the expectation of Cucurella&#8217;s departure (all Ecuador), Tariq Lamptey (Ghana), Kaoru Mitoma (Japan) and Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All played some part against Southampton on Boxing Day except for Mac Allister, who was celebrating in Argentina and won&#8217;t be back until January 3.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Caicedo suspended for picking up five yellows, De Zerbi will be without his first-choice double pivot. Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour will likely understudy behind a midfield three of the underrated Solly March, Adam Lallana, and Mitoma, with Sarmiento coming off the bench if De Zerbi needs to change things around. Trossard will be the spearhead, with the injury-plagued Welbeck again off games.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In defence, Joel Veltman or Lamptey and Estupi\u00f1\u00e1n will be either side of the seasoned Lewis Dunk and Levi Colwill, the 19-year-old centre-back bought from Chelsea in the summer who is filling in for the injured Adam Webster. Sanchez, who seems to play well against us, will be between the sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Zerbi has Brighton playing out from the back rather than humping long balls forward for the execrable Neal Maupay. This tactic would, in any case, be pointless as Maupay was offloaded onto Everton in the summer for a cut-price \u00a310 million. De Zerbi also deploys a high press, so the game&#8217;s outcome could turn on which side is better at forcing turnovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More of what was produced in the second half against West Ham would surely see off the Seagulls. Can the team provide it? Arteta repeatedly stresses the need for consistency in performance. Few Gooners can now doubt the team&#8217;s talent, determination or spirit. The question is whether the players can sustain all three, match in, match out, until May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we know, Gabriel Jesus and Reiss Nelson are ruled out by injury. Arteta says both Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu are getting closer to returns, the latter more so than the former. Both have been involved in some training sessions. A place on the bench for Tomi is conceivable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would seem invidious to drop anyone after the West Ham performance. Yet great managers ruthlessly question such assumptions. In this case, I suspect only the left-back berth is seriously in contention. Oleksandr Zinchenko will, I fancy, again start on the bench but get a few more minutes than his 17 against West Ham as he plays his way back to match fitness for January&#8217;s testing schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, I expect the same eleven as started against West Ham to start at Brighton:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey, \u00d8degaard, Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A visit to the Amex is always a test, but one we must pass to go into the New Year happy and prospering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The &#8216;holic pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bookies have us as short-odds favourites. The value is to be found in a 3-1 away win at 16s and 3-0 at 20s. My hunch is that it will be a goal closer than that at 2-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the game, &#8216;holics near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images &#8216;On New Year&#8217;s Eve, there will be an exhibition of seagull downing on the South Downs&#8217; sounds like an announcement Kenneth Horne would have made in an episode of&nbsp;Round the Horne, a radio comedy programme that older &#8216;holics may fondly remember (YouTube it, young people). Yet skewering the blue and white [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7179"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7199,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7179\/revisions\/7199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}