{"id":9983,"date":"2024-08-30T21:27:39","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T20:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9983"},"modified":"2024-09-01T07:13:35","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T06:13:35","slug":"arsenal-seek-subjugation-severance-and-savagery-of-seagulls-in-early-season-table-topping-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9983","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal Seek Subjugation, Severance and Savagery of Seagulls in Early Season Table Topping Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In Arsenal\u2019s third match of the Premier League season the Gunners will be Saturday lunchtime hosts to the seabirds of Brighton and Hove Albion.  Both clubs took six points and a +4 goal difference from their first two matches, as did Liverpool, but all three clubs trail C115y whose goal difference is marginally better at +5. Tomorrow\u2019s match will be the Gunners\u2019 first outing against any opponent not from Birmingham or vicinity after they whitewashed Wolves and vanquished Villa.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game is likely to have a reasonably relaxed early season atmosphere, but it will be important to subdue Brighton to maintain the excellent momentum we built in those two clean sheet victories, and because it is Arsenal\u2019s last before the international break which covers the entire first half of next month until we resume with away games at Sp**s and C115y on 15 and 22 September, either side of Champions League match day one in midweek against one of eight possible opponents drawn on Thursday, and Bolton Wanderers at home in Carabao Cup third round action three or four days after we face C115y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Champions League draw saw Arsenal grouped with eight other clubs (Inter Milan, PSG, Atalanta, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb, Sporting Lisbon, Monaco and Girona) in the reformatted competition.  The order of those matches, dates and kick-off times will not be announced until Saturday but Arsenal will host PSG, Shakhtar, Zagreb and Monaco and travel to face the other four clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seagulls\u2019 new manager, Fabian H\u00fcrzeler, at 31 years and 6 months is the youngest permanent boss in Premier League history, and last season coached St. Pauli to promotion to the German Bundesliga before Brighton grabbed him.  H\u00fcrzeler\u2019s new charges include a flock of promising youngsters but veterans Dunk, Welbeck and Milner (and one or two others) all have an age (dis)advantage over their manager.  H\u00fcrzeler was appointed at St. Pauli only 20 months ago with the club in the lower reaches of the German second tier, and coached them to a fifth place finish in his first half-season before getting them promoted to the Bundesliga in May.  His moment in the sun with St. Pauli notwithstanding, H\u00fcrzeler\u2019s is in his first elite-level management job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton\u2019s performances under previous boss Roberto de Zerbi, who left to take charge at Marseille in June, were increasingly inconsistent as the 2023\/24 season progressed.  Their league form, after a strong start of five wins in their first six games, was decimated by injuries.  By December ten players were unavailable, including forwards Mitoma, Adingra, March, and Enciso; and defenders Estupi\u00f1an, Lamptey, Webster and Veltman.  De Zerbi was frustrated by the club\u2019s inactivity in the January window when the club failed to add any midfielders after the club signed midfielders Baleba and James Milner as stopgap replacements for Mac Allister and Caicedo who were sold to Chelsea for big money two summers ago. Brighton\u2019s attacking frailties last season saw them become the draw specialists of the Premier League with two more than any other team.  A significant part of their difficulties arose from an inability to score from set pieces: Only four clubs scored fewer than Brighton\u2019s eight goals via free kicks and corners last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first day of this season Brighton won 3-0 at Everton with goals from Mitoma, Welbeck and Adingra.  One match report said the most impressive feature of H\u00fcrzeler\u2019s new system was \u201cthe directness of his wingers, who by stretching the game created all three goals.\u201d  New signing Minteh crossed for Mitoma to score the opener, before Welbeck scored the second thanks to his wingers making distracting runs on either side.  In the second half Adingra, on for the injured Minteh, attacked from the right to score the Seagulls\u2019 third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton team news ahead of last Saturday\u2019s 2-1 home win against Manchester United featured the possible debut of their club-record signing22-year-old French forward Rutter.  Brighton were expected to be without March and Enciso, while Lamptey, Ferguson, and Estupi\u00f1\u00e1n had all returned to training and were assessed ahead of kickoff.  Brighton\u2019s starting team against United was: Steele, Hinshelwood, Dunk, van Hecke, Veltman, Gilmour, Milner, Mitoma, Jo\u00e3o Pedro, Minteh, and Welbeck.  After an even first half hour Brighton stroked it around the Manc area before Minteh on one side pinged it to Mitoma on the other, and he slipped it to the sliding Welbeck who tapped it home as the Manc defence stood idly by for a 1-0 Seagulls lead.  Welbeck and Milner were among Brighton\u2019s brightest lights for the opening hour as they lulled the young Mancs to sleep long enough to allow for some fresh legs to finish off the visitors.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was fairly standard stuff from the Seagulls rather than their cutting edge approach under De Zerbi, but it was enough to put them ahead.  Milner volleyed over the bar shortly after the second half resumed when more passivity in the passive United defence gave him a chance at the top of the area, and Milner nearly scored again after being put through by Joao Pedro.  Welbeck then headed a Minteh cross at the keeper as only the Seagulls were creating chances, but soon after United countered and scored the equalizer through a deflected right wing cross.  Enciso replaced Welbeck with 12 minutes left to play, as Joao Pedro moved into a more advanced position.  Alongside fellow substitutes Adingra and Ayari, record signing Rutter made his debut replacing Mitoma as added time loomed.  Enciso shot just over from distance on 93 minutes after Brighton\u2019s substitutes provided a fresh burst of attacking energy, before Adingra centered for Joao Pedro to head home for a 2-1 winner scored in the 95th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel Martinelli having been criticised after the Villa game for not creating chances out of nothing, which a couple of seasons ago he seemed to do habitually, we might expect Trossard, last week\u2019s goal scoring hero with his first touch in his first minute on the pitch, to start in the Brazilian\u2019s place on the left wing.  Other than that one possible change, I think it is unlikely that Arteta will tinker with the team he identified as the one he wanted to start the season with, and which has been effective in garnering all six points on offer to date.  If further changes were considered, Jorginho hasn\u2019t started yet this season and could come on for Thomas in midfield, as might Calafiori for Timber, but the team is still defining itself at this early stage of the season so the manager may see continuity as an important quality to preserve in team selection.  Thus, my predicted team is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White  Saliba  Gabriel  Timber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard  Partey  Rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka  Havertz  Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal bench is a bit lighter after the loan of Vieira back to Porto and the permanent transfer of Nketiah to Palace.  After the sale of ESR to Fulham a couple of weeks ago, the departure of Vieira provides an opportunity for the young Nwaneri to show what he can do in one or another of our attacking positions.  As I began to write this earlier in the week I thought our bench could also be tipping in a weightier direction with Calafiori having played the last 20 minutes at left back against Villa, and Mikel Merino on his way from Real Sociedad to provide additional strength in our left midfield area.  But on Friday Arteta announced that Merino hurt his shoulder in training and sustained a possible fracture, which makes it sound like our promising and combative new midfielder will begin his Arsenal career out injured for several weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the transfer window closed on Friday night, Arsenal had sold Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton, and reached a deal for the loan of goalkeeper Neto from Bournemouth after the Gunners hit an impasse in talks with Espanyol over the possible signing of Joan Garcia as backup to David Raya.  The Neto deal is a straight loan without either an option or obligation to buy and the player was set to undergo a medical in London on Friday.  As of 6pm BST on transfer deadline Friday there were rumors of a possible loan signing of Raheem Sterling from Chelsea, but when you read this you will know more about any last minute signings than I can tell you about, so please feel free to comment in the drinks about our last minute business, and its impact on the look of our squad going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a very busy week indeed between our Brighton preparations, the Champions League draw and transfer deadline business but now it\u2019s time to reset our focus on playing some lovely football and subduing the Seagulls, so\u2026\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on You Gunners!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

STOP PRESS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We won’t be facing little Billy Gilmour. He’s moved to Napoli in the last two hours of the window to create a Scottish ghetto alongside Scott McTominay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Arsenal\u2019s third match of the Premier League season the Gunners will be Saturday lunchtime hosts to the seabirds of Brighton and Hove Albion.  Both clubs took six points and a +4 goal difference from their first two matches, as did Liverpool, but all three clubs trail C115y whose goal difference is marginally better at +5. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9983"}],"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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9983"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9990,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9983\/revisions\/9990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}