Three points, and a little extra, up for grabs against Brighton

Morning all.

Arsenal are in Premier League action this afternoon, when Brighton come to visit. On paper a tricky enough game without anything extra-special to add to the occasion, but I think what happened against them last season has been festering away in the mind of Mikel Arteta.

We all remember the absurd red card issued to Declan Rice, and in his pre-game press conference the Arsenal boss said he was ‘pissed off’ at how we went down to 10 men and ultimately ended up drawing the game. For a man who is usually quite guarded and who chooses his words very carefully, this was a bit unusual and it tells you something about how he might be feeling about today. He could even take in the visit to Brighton last season too, when a penalty was awarded against William Saliba that nobody had ever seen before, or since. So, beyond the importance of the points for the title race, there’s something a little more at play here today, and we know how Arteta likes to use things like this as motivation for his team.

I think the line-up will see most of the players who began on the bench on Tuesday return to the starting XI, and while there’s not a lot to choose from at the back, it’s rumoured Gabriel is with the squad, which would obviously be a big boost. I wonder if the plan is to get some minutes under his belt at some point today, with a view to starting him against Villa next week. A fully rotated midfield with Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Martin Odegaard is my guess, with Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka in the wide positions. Then it’s a choice between Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus up front.

Does he go for the guy who scored in his last game but struggled to get involved in general play, or the guy who did help things mesh in the cup game but couldn’t find the back of the net (in part due to some good saves from the goalkeeper)? I think it will be Gyokeres, but if it was Jesus I don’t think I’d be that surprised either. And this is a scenario we’re going to have to get used to – as well as the players if they remain fit, and when Kai Havertz gets added to the mix too. Different selections depending on form etc, but also who the manager thinks is the best option for that specific opposition.

As for Brighton, we know what they’re about, with dangerous wingers, high pressing, and a record at our place that is frustratingly good. They haven’t been in great form of late, but it’s always a tough game, and we’re going to have to raise the levels considerably from our last home fixture in the league if we want to take all three points. This is a big week in the title race, City have two very winnable games on their schedule, and we have to ensure that we make the most of our two home games, starting today. There’s enough quality in that team and off the bench to cause anyone problems, so fingers crossed we can do that to Brighton (and also take a bit of revenge for last season too).

Right, I’ll leave it there. We did a bit of preview podcast yesterday, chatting a bit about this game, the EFL Cup win over Palace, Ethan Nwaneri and more, and it’s ‘free to air’ over on Patreon right now. As ever, we’ll have live blog coverage of the game, and all the usual stuff on Arseblog News afterwards too.

Come on you reds!