Photo credit: Sports Vision
The two teams started the game with a fierce battle on the sidelines, with a lot of transition between offense and defense, but Arsenal had a little bit of luck to take the lead. Despite Brighton's impressive performance, they struggled to take control of the game after the first goal.
(starting lineup)
Arsenal broke the deadlock just two minutes into the game when Zinchenko broke into the middle of the field, broke up a Brighton counter-attack and played a pinpoint pass to Martinelli on the left, who fired a shot from the left side of the box that was refracted twice and miraculously bounced off the foot of Saka, who was able to get on the end of a Brighton counter-attack and easily slotted home in the middle of the net in front of the Brighton defense, which was down to three men. He was able to get the ball into the net after a counter attack by Brighton, who were down to three defenders.
Photo credit: Sports Vision
Arsenal's confidence increased after taking the lead, but Brighton showed strong counter-attacking momentum. The left side of the ball was quickly broken through Arsenal's right side, while the right side of the ball was attacked by Lamptey and March behind Zinchenko, creating a large amount of space for many times. However, Brighton's attackers in the middle of the field were already being guarded by Arsenal.
Arsenal's two backs were carefully positioned in the middle of the pitch to stop Brighton's counter-attacks, Lalana and Gilmour struggled to break through, resulting in striker Trossard being sandwiched by the central defenders.Xhaka and Thomas Partey were unable to cover the flanks as Brighton attacked on both flanks, with Arsenal's right hand side Ben White basically able to hold on to Sanjun Kaoru but the left hand side of Zinchenko was struggling.
Brighton started poorly, and in order to avoid Arsenal controlling the tempo, they attacked with full force, with both wing backs pressing forward frequently. Arsenal also attacked Brighton's sides with the sharp Martinelli and Saka, but the difference between the two teams was in the midfield. Arsenal's Ødegaard was in heroic form, passing accurately and almost always finishing first time, constantly creating chances for Martinelli, which was one of the reasons for Brighton's defeat. 39 minutes in, Ødegaard's corner kick was cleared, and then he fired a shot from outside the box to extend the score to 2-0.
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Just two minutes into the second half, as Brighton rushed to counter-attack, Arsenal struck again, with Thomas Partey's cross from the middle of the field being blocked by Martinelli's shot from the left nine-yard line, which Nketiah added to increase the lead to 3-0.
Brighton's eagerness to counter-attack resulted in the wings often being left with fewer defenders at the back. Arsenal's counter-attacks were extremely fast, with Martinelli, Nketiah & Saka often able to sprint upfield at a moment's notice, making it difficult for Brighton to create a numerical advantage in stopping Arsenal's attacks.
On 61 minutes, both coaches made substitutions at the same time, Arsenal replaced their tired wing backs with Tierney and Kenyo Tomiyasu, while Brighton replaced Lallana and Trossard with Sarmiento and Ferguson. judging from the results, Brighton's substitutions were more successful, with the middle of the field going from distributing the ball to a tougher insertion, and also supporting the sides.
Shortly afterwards, on 65 minutes, Brighton clawed back a goal when Gilmour played the ball to Groß, who in turn passed to Kenyo Tomoyasu, and Kaoru Mitaka scored unmarked from 12 yards to make it easy for the visitors.
Photo credit: Sports Vision
Brighton's morale was boosted and they tried to continue attacking, but the backfield was quite tired. As a result, Arsenal launched a counter-attack in the 71st minute, Ødegaard received the ball in a quick movement, and without stopping the ball, he directly sent a long pass to the left side of the field, where Martinelli started to receive the ball and then rushed forward at high speed, and Lamptey couldn't catch up with it even with all his efforts, and Martinelli rushed to the penalty box to easily shoot the ball and score a goal.
The game was thought to be coming to an end but on 75 minutes Brighton saw a gap behind the Arsenal defenders and the center back played a long pass straight to Ferguson who accelerated near the half way line and chased straight after Saliba who miscued a clearance and Ferguson sprinted into the box to shoot past the keepers crotch, the devastation of Brighton's backheeling was phenomenal.
There was also a nice shot on goal by Kobayashi Kaoru in the 88th minute, but there was a slight offside that was blown off, and Arsenal ended up with a 4-2 win away to Brighton.
Brighton played a destructive game but Arsenal couldn't quite stop their side attacks. Just the lack of power in the middle of the insertion, and Arsenal in the opening of the lead, but also put Brighton into a non-attacking situation, giving Arsenal a lot of counter-attacking opportunities. Otherwise, this game may be more stalemate between the two teams.
After this game, Arsenal is 7 points ahead of Manchester City, which is a pretty good advantage. The season is about to be half over and now everyone is looking forward to see if Arsenal can go on a winning streak.
