6 January 2025

However, ArsenalA title display may be performed. Mikel ArtetaTheir men are unbeaten in their last ten league games, but there has been a lot of sloppy upsets (and not a lot of creativity).

Arsenal went into half-time against Brighton leading 1-0 in an incredible goal Ethan Nwaniri Who, despite being 17, has the world at his feet with two Premier League Goals already this season.

However, the Seagulls fought back and earned a 1-1 draw after Joao Pedro's controversial penalty.

Nwaniri-Rice-Merino-Arsenal

It was weird, truth be told. William Saliba and Pedro challenged for the ball, scratched their heads, and after a period of deliberation Anthony Taylor eventually pointed to the penalty spot.

Arteta and his team may regret that moment, but they did not do enough in the final third themselves. The obvious statistic was the fact that Arsenal only had one shot on target in the second half.

With the arrival of Tottenham Hotspur next week, there will be a huge derby in north London. They do, at least, have Nwaniri at their disposal, but they can't rely on a teenager to keep them in the title race.

More players need to be intensified..

Arsenal's best players against Brighton

With Martin Odegaard on the bench due to illness and Kai Havertz missing from the team entirely for the same reason, Arteta needed to find a creative spark or score goals from somewhere.

Gabriel Jesus has been the man of choice in recent months, scoring twice against Crystal Palace in the league and then netting another against Brentford just a few days ago.

Nwaniri has been another surprise over the last two games and he has delivered.

Ethan-Nwaneri-Arsenal-Brighton

When it was confirmed that Bukayo Saka's hamstring injury was long, there were a lot of question marks surrounding that area of ​​the pitch.

Gabriel Martinelli was tried on the right flank against Ipswich but that did not make much of an impact, so Nwaneri came in to start on the right flank against Brentford.

Arsenal immediately looked more fluid in attacking areas as the lively teenager was able to maneuver 360 degrees with remarkable comfort and ease.

Well, Nwaniri had his biggest impact of all against Brighton on Saturday By scoring his second goal in the Premier League.

He raced to the ball down the right side, moved away from the defence, into the penalty area and then buried a chance behind Seagulls keeper Bart Verbruggen. It was a fantastic goal and a moment that told the rest of the Premier League players that this boy is special.

Truth be told, it was not the most complete performance from the youngster as he took a series of poor corner kicks and wasted the ball in tight spaces. However, they needed a difference-maker and without Odegaard or Saka on the pitch, he was the difference-maker.

Nwaneri vs Brighton

Minutes played

45

Touches

22

Accurate passes

8/8

Key passes

0

Screenshots

1

The crosses are completed

0/4

The quirks are complete

1/3

Duels won

3/7

He treats

1

Statistics via SofaScore.

So, where did it go wrong and who were the worst performers in the away side?

FFC performance in numbers

Performance in numbers

Do you want data and statistics? Football FanCast's Performance By Numbers series brings you the latest match analysis from across Europe.

Arsenal's worst performance against Brighton

It's fair to say that this was not Arsenal's day for a number of reasons.

Not only did Brighton's equalizer come as a result of some strange refereeing, but they failed to create much in the second half as well.

It is difficult to know if the turning point was bringing on Martinelli for Nuaneri at the break, but they lacked much fluidity after that moment with the likes of Jesus and former Brighton man Leandro Trossard isolated. As a result, they didn't see much of the ball at all.

Gabriel-Jesus-Arsenal-Brighton

However, it was in the deepest midfield slots where the Gunners struggled the most.

With only Odegaard on the bench and Joren Temper suspended, it meant Declan Rice was needed up front and Thomas Partey at right-back. As such, it was up to Jorginho To organize the midfield in front of the back line.

Unfortunately, he did not do enough and was often outclassed in midfield by Carlos Paleba who looked like he had Jorginho's number.

Baleba-Rice-Arsenal-Brighton

The Italian is often a dependable character, someone who evades the press well and interrupts play before passing the ball to more creative figures.

And on this occasion, he wasn't great at it. Jorginho was dribbled over twice and failed to intercept the ball once that night. Unsurprisingly, he didn't do much in the final third either, failing to shoot and making only one pass.

Jorginho vs Brighton

Minutes played

64

Touches

46

Accurate passes

30/35 (86%)

Key passes

1

Crosses

0

Long balls

0

Screenshots

0

Quirks

0

Lost possession

7x

Approvals

1

Objections

0

He treats

2

The elusive past

2

Statistics via SofaScore.

That part of his game didn't matter too much given the role he was in, but the fact that Arteta opted to take him off after just 64 minutes after having had fewer touches than goalkeeper David Raya (58) said a lot.

The match was rated 5/10 by Tom Canton of Football.LondonHe wrote of the former Chelsea midfielder's display that there were “a couple of errors in the first half which almost proved very costly”.

That about sums it up for Arsenal who are left to rue what may be the final nail in their title coffin this season.

Jorginho-Arsenal-Brighton

They are now five points behind Liverpool, who play tomorrow, but could extend the gap to eight points with a game in hand.

Arsenal have been plagued by injuries this season, and have had bad luck with penalty decisions and red cards, but the biggest problem of all is that they simply have not been good enough to produce a promising run of wins.

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