Further strides were made by Arsenal’s great new hope, but ground was lost on the Premier League’s runaway leader. Too much? It looks that way.
Five points short of Liverpool and with two games fewer to play, it would be awfully hard to find anyone outside north London who believes Mikel Arteta can close the gap before the music stops. Those who journeyed to Brighton might be even more pessimistic.
We should be clear that this performance was hardly a disaster, but nor was it remotely close to the calibre of a serious contender. It was flat, stale and uninventive, the product of tired legs, squad lurgies and a penalty decision that left Mikel Arteta perplexed and attempting to stifle his anger.
The latter came one hour in, when Arsenal were leading 1-0 and riding the feel-good vibes of their homegrown teenager, Ethan Nwaneri.
That mood turned sharply on the award of a penalty against William Saliba for an accidental clash of heads with Brighton’s Joao Pedro. No doubt there was contact, but under a bouncing ball, in the midst of a frenzy and with Pedro on a course away from goal, it felt marginal. A replay also suggested Saliba brushed the ball before Pedro’s head, for whatever that is worth.
Arteta’s post-match incredulity, saying he had ‘never seen a decision like this in my career’, pointed towards a deeper shade of injustice, with the consequence underlined when Pedro nailed the kick.
Arsenal lost more ground to Liverpool in the Premier League title race as they drew with Brighton at the Amex
Ethan Nwaneri scored his second Premier League goal to put Arsenal 1-0 up after 14 minutes
They had led until Joao Pedro scored from the penalty spot after being clattered into by William Saliba
With it, Arsenal’s run of three straight league wins ended and most likely their title prospects, too.
For Arteta, the short-term mitigation is that he was forced to start Martin Odegaard on the bench with illness and lost Kai Havertz from his squad altogether for the same reason. But seven draws through 20 games points to a broader issue, and the suspicion remains that this squad is at least one top-drawer striker short of being competitive with Liverpool.
For now, their reliance on set-pieces is a little alarming. On an evening such as this one, even that weapon folded in on itself, encapsulated by a first-half corner when his three of Arteta’s men conspired to floor one another in the hunt for a Declan Rice delivery.
If there was a positive, it Nwaneri’s first key contribution to the match, with the opening goal. He was assisted by poor goalkeeping, but it was a fine moment for the 17-year-old, who has a difficult task in replacing Bukayo Saka but is handling it brilliantly. On the back of such a strong showing against Brentford, the strike was further proof of his talent.
Alas, he was also booked for delaying too long prior to taking a corner and hooked at half-time with what Arteta reported as a muscular issue. Even the good was accompanied by bad.
As for Brighton, this was an eighth game without a win, but of their six draws in that stretch this one will taste better. The curiosity surrounds their variance – the performance in the second half was streets ahead of what played out in the first and the failure to achieve some level of consistency is clearly irking Fabian Herzeler.
In truth, this evening carried a whiff of possibility for Brighton from the off. The team sheets showed that Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli would be on the bench, and for all the benefits of Rice returning to the starting XI, a midfield unit placing him alongside Jorginho and Merino was light on pace and creativity. Or so went the thinking.
Instead, Brighton trailed after 16 minutes. Along with Nwaneri, Rice was also a key element, using a quick shuffle on the touchline to suck in and wipeout both Igor Julio and Pervis Estupinan. From there, he freed Merino who had space to chip forward for Nwaneri to go on his surge.
Pedro’s goal came after a penalty decision that left Mikel Arteta perplexed and attempting to stifle his anger
The Gunners started the game without captain Martin Odegaard, who was ill and on the bench
Thomas Tuchel watched on, with the new England manager attending his second game of the day in the top flight
Arsenal are now five points behind Liverpool, who also have two games in hand on them
The finish, hit low and hard across goal, ought to have been saved by Bart Verbruggen, but take nothing from the academy lad – there was no trace of inhibition from the moment he took possession 40 yards from his target. Nor was there any deference to Gabriel Jesus and Rice, who were calling for the pass. There’s an assassin in Nwaneri’s make-up.
While that was Arsenal’s clearest highlight of the half, there were times they lived dangerously.
Two of them involved Jorginho, who first bungled a clearance into the path of Simon Adingra – the shot was mishit – and then he coughed up possession in midfield, only for the same player to duff another strike. Minor wobbles that went unpunished.
The greater concern were the chances they failed to create. Playing through Brighton’s high, aggressive press worked up to a point, but too often the next ball lacked precision. Same went for those set-pieces.
Interestingly, Brighton followed the example set by Monaco of leaving three men near halfway, forcing Arteta to forego a swamping of the area. Deterrent or not, Arsenal found no way through – Nwaneri hit the near post direct from one delivery, was booked for dallying too long on his next, and in between a Rice corner triggered a three-way collision between Jesus, Merino and Thomas Partey. They’ve had better days.
For the second half, Arteta swapped Nwaneri for Martinelli, while Hurzeler brought on Georginio Rutter and Yankuba Minteh for Matt O’Riley and Brajan Gruda. With the extra impetus, they were the better side long before the penalty that changed the score.
It was Brighton who then came closest to winning, with Minteh getting away from Riccardo Calafiori and blazing inwards on the precise path to goal taken by Nwaneri. Picking the same spot, he was a fraction wide of landing the heist. Moments later, Yasin Ayari skidded a free-kick a touch outside the opposite post, before Arsenal had two last spins in the game of set-piece roulette.
Both were taken from the same spot, right of the area, 45 yards out. Both were whipped by Rice to the penalty spot. Both drew free headers, for Partey and Calafiori, and both efforts flew over the bar. The title challenge might well have followed them into the night.
