By Bulldog Drummond
Following a brightening of the skies with a victory over Chelsea, we now play away to Brighton, a team who have a home record even worse than Arsenal’s this season…
| Home pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 12 | Arsenal | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 10 |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 13 | -4 | 10 |
| 14 | Manchester United | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 8 |
| 15 | Crystal Palace | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | -6 | 8 |
| 16 | Burnley | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 7 |
| 17 | Fulham | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 6 |
| 18 | West Bromwich Albion | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 15 | -10 | 5 |
| 19 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 4 |
| 20 | Sheffield United | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 1 |
While Arsenal’s away record is even worse than Brighton’s
| Away pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 12 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 9 |
| 13 | Leeds United | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 17 | -5 | 9 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 9 |
| 15 | Newcastle United | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 8 |
| 16 | Arsenal | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 7 |
| 17 | Burnley | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 13 | -9 | 6 |
| 18 | Fulham | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 5 |
| 19 | West Bromwich Albion | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 15 | -9 | 3 |
| 20 | Sheffield United | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 14 | -10 | 1 |
Brighton are placed 19th in the home league table while Arsenal are 16th in the away league table.
| Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
| 19 | Brighton and Hove Albion home | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 4 |
| 16 | Arsenal away | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 7 |
Overall in the league the clubs are next to each other with Arsenal 15th and Brighton 16th. The comparison chart does show Arsenal away have a better record than Brighton at home, but neither record is much to shout about.
Arsenal have won 12 out of the 21 games but it is quite shocking to see the last results against Brighton…
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Competition |
| 4 Mar 2018 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Dec 2018 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 5 May 2019 | Arsenal v Brighton and Hove Albion | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 5 Dec 2019 | Arsenal v Brighton and Hove Albion | L | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 20 Jun 2020 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
There were 16 games before these five and Brighton won two, both in 1982. So it certainly looks like our turn to win for a change.
Indeed Brighton have been on a downward spiral for some time
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Competition |
| 26 Sep 2020 | Brighton and Hove v Manchester United | L | 2-3 | Premier League |
| 30 Sep 2020 | Brighton and Hove v Manchester United | L | 0-3 | League Cup |
| 03 Oct 2020 | Everton v Brighton and Hove | L | 4-2 | Premier League |
| 18 Oct 2020 | Crystal Palace v Brighton and Hove | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Oct 2020 | Brighton and Hove v West Bromwich Albion | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 01 Nov 2020 | Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton and Hove | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 06 Nov 2020 | Brighton and Hove v Burnley | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 21 Nov 2020 | Aston Villa v Brighton and Hove | W | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 28 Nov 2020 | Brighton and Hove v Liverpool | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 07 Dec 2020 | Brighton and Hove v Southampton | L | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 13 Dec 2020 | Leicester City v Brighton and Hove | L | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 16 Dec 2020 | Fulham v Brighton and Hove | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 20 Dec 2020 | Brighton and Hove v Sheffield United | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 27 Dec 2020 | West Ham United v Brighton and Hove | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
But of course Arsenal haven’t been doing much better. Out of our last 14 games we have six wins, two draws and six defeats. I won’t run the whole list but here are the wins…
| 01 Nov 2020 | Manchester United v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 05 Nov 2020 | Arsenal v Molde | W | 4-1 | Europa League |
| 26 Nov 2020 | Molde v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | Europa League |
| 03 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Rapid Wien | W | 4-1 | Europa League |
| 10 Dec 2020 | Dundalk v Arsenal | W | 2-4 | Europa League |
| 26 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
This is a game we certainly ought to win especially with Brighton not winning at home this season. If we are going to build on the victory over Chelsea, a win is most certainly what it should be.
Last time Arsenal played Chelsea right after Christmas, we played at Emirates and won 3-1 after taking a 3-0 lead. I’m not talking about the Saturday game but the one played on 27th December 2010. One day short of a decade later, we almost repeated both a result and a performance. Hell, Song scored in 44th minute on that night and so did Xhaka on Saturday.
The problem is, our next game was away trip to Wigan. The game was played on 29th December 2010. The game ended 2-2.