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Arsenal hosted Brighton at the Emirates for the 14th match week of the Premier League. The Gunners' caretaker manager, Freddie Ljungberg, was looking for a reply from his team after their 2-2 draw away to Norwich City.
Brighton, on the other hand, came into this game hoping for an upset as the Seagulls have played some good football under manager Graham Potter. The match started with great intensity and Arsenal created some chances but none of them ended up in the back of the net.
Brighton, then, came back into the game and started seeing more of the ball. The away side opened the scoring, thanks to Adam Webster, who bundled the ball into the back of the net after Arsenal failed to clear their lines from a corner.
The second half started with Nicolas Pepe coming on for Joseph Willock. And that change seemed to spur Arsenal on as they equalized, thanks to a lovely header from Alexandre Lacazette.
It seemed that the home side would go on to score the second in the game but Brighton held on and scored at the other end through Neal Maupay, whose header matched Lacazette's in terms of quality.
The Gunners failed to create an opportunity after that and Brighton got a deserved win. Here, we are going to take a look at the three key observations from the game:
#3 Brighton completely outplayed Arsenal
Brighton were good value for their money on Thursday. They came to London and thoroughly outclassed a good Arsenal side. Graham Potter has had them playing some lovely football and the Seagulls are never afraid to take the game to the opposition.
Besides the goals they scored, Brighton could have easily had more if their final pass and finishing improved. Nevertheless, they defeated Arsenal for the very first time at the Emirates and it was a win for which they had to work hard.
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#2 Arsenal's defensive set-up faltered again
Arsenal just do not seem to have a defensive shape when they do not have the ball. Brighton were reaching the final third by stringing four passes together, which is really worrying.
Without the ball, their midfield just seems non-existent and none of their attacking players even try to help out the defenders. One cross into the Arsenal box can cause trouble for the defence.
Both goals highlighted those deficiencies perfectly as the Gunners failed to deal with a simple corner in the first half. For the second goal, Aaron Mooy just delivered a simple cross from the left-hand side and Neal Maupay was unchallenged when he connected with his header.
Arsenal's players clearly lacked ideas without the ball and no matter how good they are going forward, if they do not tight up at the back, these inconsistent performances will continue. Telling his players to maintain a certain shape is Freddie Ljungberg's job and he needs to do it better.
#1 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil were anonymous throughout the game
In games like this, when your team doesn't play well, it's the job of the senior players to step up and be brave enough to get on the ball. But clearly, that didn't happen for Arsenal on Thursday as the likes of Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang disappeared for large parts of the game.
It should be mentioned that both Ozil and Aubameyang were played out of position, as the former started on the left-wing, while the latter operated from the right-wing. But that is simply no excuse.
Aubameyang has been a bit lacklustre in the last couple of games and despite scoring goals, his overall performance has left a lot to be desired. Ozil, on the other hand, hasn't been himself this season and his stock keeps on declining every week.
One expects the youngsters to be inconsistent but when the club is going through a rough patch, the onus is on the senior players to raise their games. The likes of David Luiz, Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil, etc, have been too unreliable for the Gunners' liking.
