GOING NOWHERE
Arteta admits Arsenal ‘deserve slaps’ as Brighton deal another blow to Champions League hopes
IF ARSENAL ultimately fail in their bid to return to the Champions League they might end up looking back on this week as the one when they blew it.
All of a sudden the initiative in the race for the top four has seemingly swung from the red half of north London to the white. The worst destination of all for Arsenal.
Six days to forget have seen to all that. Two bad and ill-timed defeats along with two major injuries have seen to that. From a position of such promise where the coveted prize seemed theirs to lose, Arsenal have hit the self-destruct button, a flaw they cannot seem to eradicate.
‘What happens now is that we criticise ourselves a lot and get slaps again — and we deserve that because we were really poor again in the first half — and lift ourselves up,’ said boss Mikel Arteta.
‘We know that this road is taking us nowhere. Especially where we want to be. We still have everything to play for in the last eight games. We have to have a level of energy and visualise the beautiful challenge ahead and don’t sit back and let’s see what happens.’
For the second successive game, after Monday’s humiliation at Crystal Palace, the decisive moments befitting top-level teams came from their opponents. In particular the winner from Enock Mwepu, the standout performer among a raft of them from Brighton. Leandro Trossard’s opener was not bad either. Those strikes rendered Arsenal’s late rally and Martin Odegaard’s consolation irrelevant.
Arsenal have improved under Arteta (right) though not to the extent that you can be 100 per cent certain how they will respond to a setback. Against Brighton it appeared they had not recovered from the three they suffered ahead of the Seagulls’ visit. On top of their 3-0 going over at Palace, the destabilising loss of two key players to injury, Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey, rubbed further salt in their wounds.
Arteta dealt with the enforced reshuffle by changing shape to a
4-3-3, moving midfielder Granit Xhaka to left back, another kick in the teeth for Nuno Tavares, who was Tierney’s replacement at Palace but was hooked at half-time. Albert Sambi Lokonga came in for Partey, who has a thigh injury.
Brighton’s work-rate to disrupt their hosts was clear. But Arsenal were not helping themselves. They were careless in possession and too often went sideways and backwards.
Just when Arsenal started to show signs of life, they fell behind. Lewis Dunk played a ball down the right and Mwepu was all alone with Xhaka on the halfway line. It was not the first time the position was left vacant, with Xhaka seemingly under orders to move forward and give Arsenal an extra body in midfield, though they were continually overpowered.
While Arsenal’s remaining defenders retreated towards their goal, Trossard made a clever run and was found by Mwepu’s cutback which he dispatched past Aaron Ramsdale. Arsenal thought they had scored just before halftime only for Martinelli’s header to be ruled out for offside after a four-minute VAR check.
And midway through the second half the visitors doubled their lead when Mwepu rounded off a slick Brighton move that began on the left by firing a first-time half volley into the bottom corner.
That sapped the life of Arsenal until they roused themselves for a finale in which Odegaard and Eddie Nketiah hit the bar, before the Norwegian found a way past Robert Sanchez with the help of a deflection off Danny Welbeck.
ARSENAL (4 3-3): Ramsdale 6; Cedric 6, White 7, Gabriel 6, Xhaka 6.5; Odegaard 6.5, Sambi Lokonga 6, Smith Rowe 6 (Nketiah 62min, 6); Saka 6.5, Lacazette 5, Martinelli 6 (Pepe 74). Booked: Odegaard, Saka, Lokonga. Subs (not used): Leno, Holding, Tavares, Elneny, Ogungbo, Swanson, Hutchinson.
BRIGHTON (3-5-2): Sanchez 8; Veltman 7, Dunk 8, Cucurella 7; Mwepu 8.5 (Lamptey 77), Gross 6, Caicedo 8, Bissouma 7.5 (Lallana 74), Mac Allister 7; Trossard 8 (Webster 85), Welbeck 6.5. Booked: Bissouma, Gross, Caicedo, Sanchez. Subs (not used): Steele, Maupay, Alzate, March, Offiah, Sarmiento.
Referee: D Coote (Nottinghamshire) 5.