Arsenal 1 - 3 Brighton

On a dark evening for the Gunners there was still some positives to look at and some obvious negatives. Arsenal started the game poorly managing 0 shots in around the first 15-20 minutes. Brighton controlled the game having around 3 shots and a corner what nearly went in from a header. During this spell Elneny picked up a yellow card which would end up being a warning of his tough night to come. Despite this early spell from Brighton, Tierney was able to pickup the ball and pass it to Reiss Nelson, he danced through the midfield taking on many players at once and lets the ball go down the left hand side. Nketiah shoots first time and with a lovely finish, Arsenal are 1-0 up. We start to get alot more of the ball now, Saliba with a couple nice fakes manages to fool some opposing players. During what looked to be a comfortable spell for us though Brighton put a ball into a box and Hein slips on his way to cut it out. Despite his recovery he was not able to get their in time and brings down Welbeck for a penalty. Boos ring around the Emirates as Welbeck steps up to take the penalty (directly opposite to the cheers heard 15 mins before kick off for Welbeck). He slots it to the right and it is now 1-1. Arsenal manage to make a couple chances with Fabio Vieira flying it over the bar but nothing really settles.

There was no changes at Half-Time but the Gunners stepped out with confidence, we controlled the game for the opening minutes of the second half forcing some good saves from Steele and Marquinhos getting much more of the ball. This would not last for long as Brighton would soon score their second goal and Saliba was taken off and this is where the night started to turn the wrong way for us. Brighton get a third and the game looks to be done. Arsenal bring on Zinchenko, Martinelli, Jesus and Xhaka but it wouldn’t do much.