Brighton v Arsenal: the games gone by and the team today

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Bulldog Drummond

Arsenal have played Brighton just 16 times across the centuries, so for once I can give the complete run down.

Date Match Result Score Competition
12 Jan 1935 Brighton and Hove v Arsenal W 0-2 FA Cup
18 Aug 1979 Brighton and Hove v Arsenal W 0-4 Division One
30 Oct 1979 Brighton and Hove v Arsenal D 0-0 League Cup
03 Nov 1979 Arsenal v Brighton and Hove W 3-0 Division One
13 Nov 1979 Arsenal v Brighton and Hove W 4-0 League Cup
26 Jan 1980 Arsenal v Brighton and Hove W 2-0 FA Cup
01 Nov 1980 Arsenal v Brighton and Hove W 2-0 League Division One
04 Apr 1981 Brighton and Hove  v Arsenal W 0-1 League Division One
26 Jan 1982 Arsenal v Brighton and Hove D 0-0 League Division One
10 Apr 1982 Brighton and Hove v Arsenal L 2-1 League Division One
07 Sep 1982 Brighton and Hove  v Arsenal L 1-0 League Division One
05 Feb 1983 Arsenal v Brighton and Hove W 3-1 League Division One
30 Jan 1988 Brighton and Hove v Arsenal W 1-2 FA Cup
26 Jan 2013 Brighton and Hove v Arsenal W 2-3 FA Cup
25 Jan 2015 Brighton and Hove v Arsenal W 2-3 FA Cup
01 Oct 2017 Arsenal v Brighton and Hove W 2-0 Premier League

Our two defeats and a draw all came in 1982 in one little sequence – otherwise has has been mostly plain sailing.

In the Premier League away table Arsenal remain ninth…

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 14 11 2 1 32 10 22 35
2 Liverpool 14 8 3 3 34 22 12 27
3 Chelsea 14 7 3 4 26 15 11 24
4 Tottenham Hotspur 14 7 3 4 24 15 9 24
5 Manchester United 14 7 3 4 22 14 8 24
6 Burnley 14 4 6 4 12 14 -2 18
7 Watford 14 4 2 8 17 21 -4 14
8 Leicester City 14 3 5 6 20 25 -5 14
9 Arsenal 14 3 4 7 15 22 -7 13

Still just the three wins all season and just 15 goals scored.  Not the most encouraging prospect.

In terms of home form Brighton are also ninth…

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 14 13 1 0 50 10 40 40
2 Manchester United 14 11 2 1 31 6 25 35
3 Arsenal 14 10 2 2 36 17 19 32
4 Tottenham Hotspur 14 9 4 1 29 9 20 31
5 Liverpool 14 8 6 0 31 10 21 30
6 Chelsea 14 9 2 3 24 10 14 29
7 Everton 14 8 2 4 23 18 5 26
8 Leicester City 14 6 4 4 20 16 4 22
9 Brighton and Hove 14 5 6 3 19 20 -1 21

They have won more at home than Arsenal away and have scored four more goals.  So on the home and away tables it looks as if Brighton should just edge the game.

Since a 4-0 defeat to Chelsea, Brighton have been on a good run, through the last six games…

Date Game Res Score Competition
27 Jan 2018 Middlesbrough v Brighton W 0-1 FA Cup
31 Jan 2018 Southampton v Brighton D 1-1 League
03 Feb 2018 Brighton v West Ham U W 3-1 League
10 Feb 2018 Stoke City v Brighton D 1-1 League
17 Feb 2018 Brighton v Coventry City W 3-1 FA Cup
24 Feb 2018 Brighton v Swansea City W 4-1 League

Those four wins and two draws do make for encouragement of the players even though a case can be made to the effect that none of the teams are clubs that Brighton might be particularly frightened of.  14 goals scored, five conceded.

Our last six does not make such good reading

Date Game Res Score Competition
03 Feb 2018 Arsenal v Everton W 5-1 Premier League
10 Feb 2018 Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal L 1-0 Premier League
15 Feb 2018 Östersunds FK v Arsenal W 0-3 UEFA Europa League
22 Feb 2018 Arsenal v Östersunds FK L 1-2 UEFA Europa League
25 Feb 2018 Arsenal v Manchester City L 0-3 League Cup
01 Mar 2018 Arsenal v Manchester City L 0-3 Premier League

Two wins and four defeats – a long time since we have seen that in the last six.  10 goals against and nine goals for.

So the statistics all round give it as a Brighton win.  But  one thing we might want to hold on to is that all runs come to an end sometime and the game at the top of the list was a rather jolly affair, just one month ago.  The other is that Paul Merson reckons Brighton will win, so that should mean Arsenal will do well.

Here’s a possible lineup…

Cech

Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Kolasinac

Elneny Xhaka

Ozil

 Iwobi    Aubameyang   Mkhitaryan

The two obvious missing people are Chambers and Ramsey – either could play while keeping the basic lineup the same.  Wilshere is listed as having a late fitness test, and that makes me suspect he will not be risked.

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61 Replies to “Brighton v Arsenal: the games gone by and the team today”

  1. Anyone read Henry talk about pep and dig at wenger? Ungrateful bastard says it now arsenal lost he just gets more pathetic…

  2. So he said that Guardiola is more demanding than Wenger but he also said that :-“”Yes in a way I am upset because Arsenal didn’t perform “”

    Sometimes the truth hurts.

  3. Come on gunners! Europa cup win it is too! Time to regroup and start a run on Wins

  4. @Porter

    “I learned how to play football again at 30 years old,”

    Wenger dig again straight off. In directly as Spanish football is more about passing rather than english break leg.

    “After what I had achieved at club level, Arsenal, Monaco, Juve – even if it was only for a short period – but also at international level, I suddenly saw the game in a different way – understanding space, understanding staying in your position, understanding you have to give 100 per cent at everything.

    well Henry you were pretty much up your own arse in 2007 and undermining your team mates in your final year of course you had to rectify your attitude you were not longer the star at Barcelona.
    “It’s like if I said to you, ‘Meet me in London’ and I don’t give you the address, just meet me in London. If you are clever, you might find me. But Pep gives you the GPS, the address, the car and everything.”

    So he is saying Wenger doesn’t spoon feed you, you cannot compare football to finding an address you need to express as an art so you score all those goals as your clever not because of the manager. Henry played so well for Barcelona.

    Truth doesn’t hurt, we played with a team on form City were lucky in the cup foul and offside goal not fully fit Rmasey, aubermayang not integrated in team. League game city were on a high and we were a deflated team because of loss and critsism non stop under the microsope boos by ignorant fans saying manager needs to be sacked etc.

    City played well we let them play well also first half as we were so tight and nervous not to let them score then we lost the plot simples. They fell over with every attempt at our counter. They fouled Welbeck to death aquero was an elite diver along with Silva and Sane.

    How do we play football when we breath on a city player and they either looked shot or stabbed in the stomach? It was a game of 2 halves. We can only get better. So no I don’t agree truth hurts when you pay 400 million for a team still play dirty and on are on of the best sides in Europe. You win you lose. If penalty went in and Otamendi went off city score line would have been very different it wasn’t as one sided as poodit said.

  5. Cech
    Koscielny
    Mustafi
    Chambers
    Iwobi
    Wilshere
    Xhaka
    Kolasniac
    Mkhitaryan
    Aubaneyang
    Ozil

  7. For all those hating on ex players questioning the current drilling/training, Ray Parlour recently saw the same drills and training from 2004, by the current staff/coach.

    Ultimately Wenger makes all the decisions, therefore the fault falls on his shoulders.

  14. The ref’s shocking so far but Brighton are worthy of the lead. Desperate to find a positive in the first 30 minutes except Ozil seems to be up for the game.

  16. Va Cong – Henry played under the 2 managers so he is somewhat more able to give an opinion of what it’s like as a player …

  19. That’s enough for me folks. A joke. One Albion player in the box and he scores? This is not exactly Busby’s babes. Too many giveaways, no ideas going forward and why is Xhaka ‘bossing’ the game? More touches than Ozil or Wilshere and he passes to the other side as often as his own. I won’t watch this shite.

  21. This should sort the chaff from the wheat.
    I do hope people stick to their word..

  22. This is what not supporting your team yields… too much pressure on the team they cant handle it.
    Finally the media got what it wants….

  23. Just what we need before we play Milan, a football lesson from Brighton. That was almost number 3!

  27. I think we were told that Kevin Friend will be the centre referee for this our Brighton match. But it is another referee that is referring the match and Arsenal are 2-0 down in the game at 26 minutes into the game despite Le Boss starting all his regular playing big Gunners for the match but Monreal and Bellerin. What has caused the Gunners defending to cave in under the incessant Seagulls barrage of attacks. I think if the Gunners were themselves attacking intensely in the match unabated pining the Seagulls to their area and box, they would have been the ones likely to have scored the 2 goals that Brighton scored. At any rate, I believe the Gunners will come back into the game very strongly in the 2nd half of the match. And with good defending by them to negate any Seagulls counters and with goals scoring luck on Arsenal side, the Gunners will out score Brighton in the game to win the match. Yes! They will.

  28. Quite an important 45mins. For our season and indeed our future.
    How could anyone not watch?

  29. Our defense lack confidence and look nervous, how the second Brighton goal got in is beyond me. Two Arsenal players against one Brighton player and he scored.

    Come on we can play better than this.

  30. this ref is a disgrace….what are those dicisions he is taking, cant hit one right?

  31. Our defense has been suspect for a number of years but this season we seem to have sunk to new depths. I’d be looking to get rid of Bould rather than Wenger right now. He’s supposed to be our defensive coach and to be quite Frank we have gone backwards defensively since Pat Rice retired.

  32. The ref’s terrible but to be honest we’re lucky to still have all 11 men on the pitch.

  34. Cannot believe the number of Brighton players trying to get Sead sent off.

  35. Full credit to the ref. He stood his ground and wasn’t influenced by the crowd or players.

  37. The way we played in the second half, while losing only ny one goal, is not acceptable..who are these people? No passion nothing, except Kosienly.

  38. Thinking about Milan with Wellbeck the only first-team striker available. How’d we get into such a mess?

  40. If ever there’s a case for wage capping our current squad must be it. Best part of a million quid has been paid in wages in the last 11 days and for what?

  42. Have to say if we keep this up we’ll not even be in Europe next season. No invention in our play whatsoever.

  44. We simply have too many poor players in too many different positions. Mustafi, Xhaka, Iwobi, Welbeck, Kolasinac, Koscielny and Cech; I genuinely don’t understand what the solution is when you have so many sub-par players. The least we can do is continue to support the team no matter what, but there is some serious, serious work to be done in the summer.

  46. Interestingly, the commentators during the game said we should have got a penalty when Chambers was fouled in the box early in the game.

    Then after that, it wasn’t mentioned again during the game or in the highlights. They didn’t show a replay in real time either so couldn’t confirm if it was or not.

    The team played horrible in the first half, compound that with some missed calls, it was going to be a long day.

    Unfortunately, the pressure from some of our fickle fans seems to be getting to the team. Team needs our support more than ever to get out of this funk.

  47. We really need Kroenke to loosen the purse strings as 2 or 3 new players will simply not be enough to make even the top four!

  48. If our highly paid squad can’t handle pressure when playing against Brighton then we have a team of Prima-Donnas. Don’t blame the fans.

  49. Does anyone know why Kevin Friend wasn’t the ref today as stated in yesterdays post..
    I was looking forwards to a good display because of his previous record with us?

  50. Giroud on the bench for Chelsea again, he could have stayed and been on our bench..

  52. Yes, the fans pressure has got into our players a long time ago….but againat brighton today, no fight, not acceptable… Today they have no excuses for them.

  53. Team need to concentrate on defending to get confidence back, we can’t keep conceding two goals or more each game.

  54. @Jammy.

    That’s short term thinking in regards to the 7 players you mentioned that are poor. In my opinion, only 2 of those players should be possibly replaced in the summer.

    1) Mustafi- only 25, about to hit his prime. He has 20 caps for the defending World Cup German national team
    2) Kolasinac – only 24, was chosen as the 2016-17 Bundesliga Team of the Season

    3) Xhaka- Only 25 years old, Swiss International (57 caps)
    Former Basel coach Thorsten Fink: “Xherdan Shaqiri is the best talent in Switzerland…after Granit Xhaka.”
    Swiss National Football Coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld- dubbed him the ‘young Schweinsteiger’.
    Also on 2014/15 Bundesliga Team of the Season
    2017 Swiss player of the Year

    4) Iwobi- Only 21 years old, already has 14 caps for Nigeria.
    2016 CAF Young Player of the Year
    2016 CAF Team of the Year

    5) Welbeck- I actually agree with you about. He has unfortunately been unable to recover form after such a long time out with injury. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sold in the summer with only 1 year left on contract and Reiss Nelson (18) waiting in the wings

    6) Koscielny- still first choice for France also, but getting up there in age so retiring from national team after the World Cup. Desperately need one of our young CBs (Holding, Chambers, Mavropanus) to step up to pair with Mustafi

    7) Cech- yes, I agree he is past his prime. It is time to give Martinez/Ospina a chance or find a replacement.

  55. @knobby

    Kevin Friend was the appointed 4th official for the Spurs game against Huddersfield yesterday. However, the referee who was due to take the game picked up a calf injury in the warm up. So Friend took his place as referee. Hence a different referee for today’s Brighton v Arsenal game.

  56. Jerry – Sorry, I should clarify, it’s not that those players are poor, but rather, they are not good enough to be challenging for the highest honers in football. All of them, bar none, give the ball away game in game out in extremely dangerous postilions. Even teams like Brighton are easily able to repeatedly cut through our team like it is nothing.

    I had such high hopes for all of these players (Koscienly is different, he used to be one of the best defenders in the PL, but has unfortunately lost it) but none of them are able to put in consistently high quality performances. I have no idea what is causing this, as they are all have the potential to be such brilliant players.

    Concerning stuff either way, but this is still no excuse for people to turn on our team/players/manager, as that will only cause things to get even worse.

  57. I do hope that I’m wrong about some of these people, but I just can’t help but think that they will never fulfil the potential that we know they have (at least not on a consistent basis).

  58. @Jammy,

    Thanks for the clarification. I agree consistency has been issue. I honestly believe the continuous pressure from the media and people turning on the club is getting to our players. The players can’t play free like they need to and are unfortunately overthinking things.

    Somehow, they need to overcome this and use an “Us against the world” mentality, blocking out everyone, including some of our fans.

  59. People talk about our defence having no confidence it’s been like this since the first game of the season and has’nt got any better , just stateing a fact not being disrespectful to Arsenal

  60. Steve I have to agree, we talk about the players like they’re 8 years old and can’t handle criticism. Let’s be honest they jump ship for other clubs and instantly the past never happened. The day I’m paid 100K a week and can’t do my job because someone called me rubbish will be a great day indeed and yes call me rubbish as much as you like!

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