Arsenal players in their last performance gave the fans another spectacle with a heart attack, but fortunately with a good ending. They reached the semi-finals of the League Cup in a penalty shootout. All in all, there is no shortage of drama in the Gunners' last games. Let's hope that our charges Mikel Arteta's have learned. On the other hand, if Arsenal keep winning, there's not much to blame them for in the long run. The most important thing is always to bring the game to a winning end. At the end of the season, no one will be asking whether the wins were convincing or lucky; in the final tally they will be worth the same, three points. As long as Arsenal keep winning, we'll all be happy. The Gunners will have a chance to gain another three points tomorrow when they welcome a struggling Brighton to their stadium. Let's move on together to the most important things to know ahead of Saturday's clash at Emirates Stadium.
Form
How does Arsenal and Brighton's form look ahead of their league game? So that's exactly what I'm going to focus on now. There's not that much new to come from Arsenal, so I'll focus on analysing the Racks form.
Arsenal
A bounty of Arsenal games = a bounty of blogs. You can probably guess where I'm going with this. We discuss Arsenal's current form together practically every three days, so there's no point going into depth. We all know the essentials almost by heart, so we'll recap the last competitive game and then just look at the current form through the lens of the last five games.
The Gunners were last on the field Tuesday night's EFL Cup quarter-final at Emirates Stadium against Crystal Palace. As I hinted at in the introduction, there was more drama in north London. As if there hasn't been enough of that lately. But let's start at the beginning. Mikel Arteta has sent out a much-changed line-up completely dominated the first half of the game. The game was still scoreless. The score did not change during the second half, and Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard took the field in turn. Arsenal's goal finally came. After a corner from Saka, defender Maxence Lacroix accidentally knocked the ball into his own net. With all signs pointing to Arsenal snatching a narrow victory, the shock equaliser in the 95th minute, by Marc Guéhi. Arsenal finally made it to the semi-finals in the eighth round of the penalty shootout. Overall, the Gunners' performance was solid, but they were once again betrayed by their efficiency in converting chances.
What is Arsenal's record in the last five competitive games? In chronological order: one defeat, three wins and one win after penalty kicks. Emirates Stadium's current form is decent.
Brighton
In Brighton's case, there's no point beating around the bush. Seagulls struggle in December. The record of the last five competitive matches is not ideal, on the contrary. One single win, two draws and two defeats. Moreover, the win at Nottingham Forest came at the end of November, so Brighton are currently on an unflattering four-game winless streak. The team that is Brighton certainly has more to offer. On the other hand, there's probably no need to make a big deal out of it. A few bad results are no tragedy for the Amex Stadium footballers. At least for now. Let's see how Brighton will deal with this negative streak in the next matches.
Brighton don't look bad at all in terms of table position. Solid ninth place, which may not last long for Fabian Hurzeler's charges. A few good results could catapult the Ducks into the cup positions. Otherwise, Brighton may drop down the table to somewhere above the relegation zone, but they have a very comfortable lead at the moment. The table is extremely even this season, especially somewhere between sixth and fifteenth place. Apart from the league competition, Brighton have also featured this year in the EFL Cup, in which they reached the eighth round, where they lost to Arsenal.
Overall, Brighton's performances this season have been average by their standards, but current form is poor, there is no other way to describe it.
Team and expected line-up
Back to the old ways? If we're talking about the starting lineup, I think the answer to that question is yes. Despite the fact that a number of players who don't come on that often did more than respectable in the cup game against Crystal Palace, so I expect Mikel Arteta to go for the same starting eleven as before the last league game against Everton. Let's take a closer look at the expected line-up.
In the EFL Cup quarter-final match, the very solid performances especially Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christian Nørgaard, Gabriel Martinelli or Gabriel Jesus. For me personally, the biggest surprise (in a positive sense) was the performance of the Danish midfielder. Nørgaard dominated the midfield and looked like he had been playing at Arsenal for years. Huge overview, reading of the game, strong in personal duels, calm on the ball. However, unfortunately not only for him, but also for the aforementioned, the competition in the Arsenal squad this year is huge, so it's not very likely that they will keep their places in the starting lineup. At least for now. Spanish manager bets on what he sees as the strongest possible line-up. The fact that he spared a number of his mainstays in the cup match is also a big help.
Due to injury for Saturday's game defensive players will not intervene Gabriel, Cristhian Mosquera and Ben White. For the same reason the young man should also be out of the game Max Dowman. The question mark hangs over Kai Havertz, who joined his teammates in training earlier in the week. The return of the German striker is certainly great news for Mikel Arteta. Although Havertz is fully available, it is not very likely that he will fit into the squad for the game against Brighton, but maybe I am wrong. Either way, we'll see the footballer with the 29 on his back on the pitch very soon.
About the opponent
Also this time I will not write the section about the opponent in detail. The reason is the same as in the last blog. Brighton came to the Emirates Stadium less than two months ago, coincidentally in the EFL Cup, and so all necessary details regarding the team can be found in a blog dedicated to the EFL Cup semi-final match.
Given the ongoing African Championship, I will at least add one absence in Brighton's squad, which is due to national duties. Although Fabian Hurzeler has only lost one player to the national team, he is one of the most important players. Not only will he be unavailable for the Arsenal game Pillar of the central midfield, Carlos Baleba. And while I'm on the subject of absentees, I'll add the players who will be missing for health reasons. He is out for a long time with a knee injury Solly March. The same problem is plaguing the couple Stefanos Tzimas and Adam Webster. There are further uncertainties surrounding the midfielder's health Mats Wieffer at the attacker Danny Welbeck.
Match
For the expected course of the match the same song repeats over and over again. Well, it should. Especially in home games against weaker opponents, where Brighton, despite their many qualities, fall. Simply put, if Mikel Arteta's charges want to think about finally sitting on an imaginary throne at the end of the season, must manage such matches without any discussion for three points. Personally, I am convinced that they will succeed, but let's break everything down chronologically.
The picture of the game, given the current form, home environment, quality, width and experience of the squad, should be directed by north London footballers. What does this mean in practice? Dominance in ball possession, territorial superiority, more standard situations, more finishes, more chances. I dare say we'll see all that on Saturday. Let's hope there will be goals. Arsenal's biggest problem in recent games is efficiency. If we recap how Mikel Arteta's charges (mis)scored goals in the last three competitive matches, we can only hope that they have finally found the right shooting powder. In the match against Wolverhampton (2-1 win) the opponent scored two own goals, in the match against Everton (1-0 win) Viktor Gyökeres scored from a penalty kick and in the cup match against Crystal Palace (1-1 draw after regulation time) the opponent scored an own goal again. That's not the best calling card for the Gunners' offense.
So, to sum it all up, Arsenal should outplay their opponents from the south of England and despite their recent woes in converting chances and beating them. I believe Mikel Arteta's charges will wake up shooting and go for three points after a convincing performance. I predict Arsenal to win 2:0.
Next match
We won't have to wait long for the next Arsenal game, we'll have time before the end of the year. Arsenal say goodbye to the 2025 calendar year with a game against Aston Villa, scheduled for Tuesday 30 December 2025 at 21:15 (CET) at the Emirates Stadium. I have already touched on this last time, today I am reminding you and next time we will discuss everything in detail. Mikel Arteta's charges have a lot to give back to Villans after their first game together, so we are undoubtedly in for a very interesting battle. But I won't get ahead of myself.
See you next time, I'll look forward to it!
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Editor, administrator and editor of the True Gunner Diary website, but above all a devoted Arsenal fan. I started with sports articles at the Tipsport bookmaker, where I have published more than 100 blogs. If you want to know more about me, check out the section of the same name here on the site.