We shared points with Brighton.

Learning to live without Saka

This is the second time this season that Arsenal have lost their leader. In the autumn, the Gunners had to deal with an injury to Martin Odegaard. The Londoners spent a month and a half without their star midfielder. And if at first they somehow coped with the loss, then in October-November they collapsed. The team suffered defeats by Bournemouth and Newcastle and shared points with Liverpool. It was thanks to this segment that Arsenal allowed the Merseysiders to take the lead.

Now Bukayo Saka is in the infirmary. The Arsenal graduate has long become part of the backbone of the team: the attack of the “gunners” rests on him, his speed and dribbling. The winger has played 16 games so far nuclear submarinehe scored five goals and 10 assists. But in the 17th round against Crystal Palace, Bukayo was on the pitch for just 24 minutes. He had to be replaced due to injury: then it was discovered that the player had hamstring problems, and would only return to the field in the spring. All of which makes the Gunners’ return to the title race fantastic.

Arteta trusted the 17-year-old pupil

The coach still had to find an alternative for Saka to leave. Raheem Sterling is considered his replacement, but the 30-year-old footballer objectively does not reach the level of the “scorers”. Furthermore, he has remained out of the lineup in recent games. He was also reported to have been injured. And then the Spanish coach decided to use one of the Martinelli-Trossard duo. We played like this against Ipswich and Brentford and won both times.

Other than that, Kai Havertz is out. Mikel Arteta has revealed he fell ill before the trip. Around the same time, the coach decided to release seventeen-year-old Ethan Nwaneri from the first minutes. The student made his debut for the team in 2022, but then played only a couple of minutes. And this season, the junior is already fully accepted into the main team. The footballer has already played against Tottenham, Leicester, Bournemouth, Liverpool and others. Now Ethan has a chance to get started.

And symbolically Arsenal were left without a leader on the right flank, but it was through this area that they developed their scoring attack in the match against Brighton. And it was completed by Nwaneri, Bukayo’s temporary replacement. Therefore, Ethan surpassed the results of Fabregas’ club.

Injuries do not justify defensive actions

Arteta notes that Arsenal made a good impression in attack and says that the penalty against them is extremely doubtful:

I’m disappointed because we wanted to win. We started the match with good performances and a goal. We knew it would be a difficult match.

We lost the ball too often in the second half and were very disappointed with the penalty awarded. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life: Saliba touched the ball [перед контактом с соперником]. For me this is not a penalty, no.

But the game without the ball is worth mentioning. Brighton are a fast and agile team, so it is difficult to face them defensively. And such an opponent played perfectly on the weak points of the Londoners: the Seagulls quickly opened the opponent and created chances for themselves without any problems. The only downside was the implementation.

Already in the first half Brighton could have scored twice: in the 21st minute Gruda dangerously threw O’Reilly under the shot, in the 34th minute Adingra aimed into the top corner. So a draw can be considered a completely logical result. The Gunners hoped to limit themselves to a minimal victory, but the Seagulls played for the points.

For Brighton the draw is a success

Only at the start of the season did the Seagulls put on a show. After replacing the experienced progressive De Zerbi with the “trapped pig” Fabian Hurtzeler, the team was expected to place somewhere in the middle of the table, but beat Manchester Unitedtook a point from Arsenal, faced Tottenham and Newcastle. The choice was issued in November: after victories over Man City and Bournemouth, as well as a draw with Southampton, Brighton rose to the zone League of Champions (in fourth place).

Only initially it was clear that the team did not have enough experience and depth on the bench to maintain their position by the end of the season. As a result, last year’s scenario is repeated: after a bright segment, the “seagulls” crumble and lose altitude. The club has not won for eight rounds in a row. During this period they managed to lose to Fulham and Palace, falling from fourth to tenth place. It is clear that the draw with Arsenal only continues the series of failures. But first of all this is a match with a top club, and this result is also a leap forward.

The Gunners are having a difficult January

The Londoners missed another punch in the gut. They lost Saka, Sterling can’t replace Bukayo well, Havertz is down due to illness. And the team lost points once again. Before that, they were six points behind Liverpool – the league leader still had a game in hand. At the end of the 20th round the gap could increase to eight points.

It seems that Londoners have abandoned the race. The team has already made a mistake, even though all the evidence is still missing. We have to face Newcastle in the League Cup on Tuesday, then a home cup match Manchester United and league matches against Tottenham and Aston Villa. Now Nwaneri has started playing, Arteta is trying to more actively rotate the team and give the league leaders more rest, but it is worth admitting failure in the Premier League, fighting for the top three and moving on to the FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League. The success of a project is not measured only by the results obtained nuclear submarine.