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MOTD: Brighton & Hove Albion 2-3 Arsenal

By on January 25, 2015

How had Arsenal lost control of this match twice? Twice when they looked to have put the result to bed Brighton came back out of nowhere, and on a weekend of giant killings it seemed like more blood would be spilled. It’s hard to imagine a team more susceptible to such a result than Arsenal or a night when it was more likely to happen.

Yet despite recent history, Arsenal didn’t panic. Brighton made a battle of it late on yet never really looked like equalizing, with Arsenal coming closer to extending their lead multiple times on the break. With Alexis Sanchez’s speed, The Gunners reverted to a counter-attacking style in the latter stages of the match and were just as deadly then as when playing their more typical possession-oriented game. We saw a more extreme version of their Plan B against Manchester City last weekend; this was a more subtle rendition.

Arsenal’s new approach could be a solution to the team’s habit of surrendering late leads. It improves their ability to close games out, and indeed, it was only poor luck that denied them a fourth on the night. Sanchez hit the crossbar and forced Brighton goalkeeper David Stockdale into multiple fine saves late on.

For a Brighton who were set up to defend from the start, Arsenal took the wind out of their sails just ninety seconds in, and not until the second half did Brighton start to recover. By then, it proved too late for the Championship side to salvage anything. For not only did Arsenal’s Plan B work well, but so did Plan A. The visitors dominated possession and befuddled Brighton with their silky passing in the final third. If Tomas Rosicky leaned and looked one way, his pass could just as easily be going the other. That would leave one defender in the dust, and in one of those moments the return pass from Olivier Giroud was volleyed nonchalantly into the bottom corner for Arsenal’s third goal.

It had been coming for quite a while. In fact, after Arsenal’s first – Theo Walcott’s far post volley off Calum Chambers’ low cross – it was more a question of when rather than if the next goals would come. Twenty-four minutes in the second arrived, with Rosicky threading a jewel of a pass through the Brighton defense to Mesut Ozil, who curled a fifteen yard finish around Stockdale.

Brighton did show spirit in fighting back. Chirs Hughton’s men weren’t without chances here and there, especially in the second half, yet both of their goals came out of nowhere. Five minutes into the second half arrived a low-key first – Chris O’Grady turned on his marker before tucking a low effort into the bottom left corner. Though Arsenal were up by two again, Brighton fought back all the same. The second time it was Sam Baldock, who clipped a brilliant finish over Szczesny having been played in on goal.

Brighton began to push men forward, only to make themselves thinner at the back. Chuba Akpom forced Stockdale into a low kick save eighty minutes in, before Sanchez’s curling free-kick was acrobatically blocked by the 29-year-old goalkeeper. Two minutes into four of stoppage time, another Sanchez free-kick skimmed the crossbar after the slightest of deflections from the wall, and with the final kick of the game Aaron Ramsey scuffed a golden chance at the end of a Sanchez cross.
Man of the Match: Tomas Rosicky 

Homepage image credit: Flickr and Wonker

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.