‘On New Year’s Eve, there will be an exhibition of seagull downing on the South Downs’ sounds like an announcement Kenneth Horne would have made in an episode of Round the Horne, a radio comedy programme that older ‘holics may fondly remember (YouTube it, young people). Yet skewering the blue and white striped variety is the serious task facing the Gunners when they venture into Brighton and Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium in Fulmer on the final Saturday of the year for the Premier League’s last game of 2022.
These particular Seagulls have proved more obdurate prey of late than they should have done. We have failed to win eight of the previous ten meetings, the most recent being the 3-1 defeat at the Emirates in the League Cup in November. A battle lost to win the war, asked 21st Century Gooner in his match report. Perhaps so. The extra few days of preparation afforded by not having to play a league cup tie immediately after the World Cup break were put to good use when the war resumed against West Ham on Boxing Day.
Sussex-by-the-Sea
There is little match history between the two clubs. However, in the 1930s, Herbert Chapman would take his teams to Brighton for golfing holidays-cum-training camps and played the occasional friendly at the old Goldstone Ground. The municipal authorities made some play of these visits in their publicity materials as evidence of the town’s attractiveness for tourists seeking a healthy and recreational holiday.
The tradition continued under Chapman’s successor, George Allison. The team trained at the Goldstone Ground before the 1936 Cup Final against Sheffield United. (Your bonus historical trivia: that was the first Cup Final for which the BBC broadcast live commentary.) The players returned to the South Coast after a drab 1-0 victory to recuperate with three league games and a London Challenge Cup final still to play — or perhaps to recover from draining the Cup after filling it with wine.
We had first met the Seagulls competitively in the previous season’s FA Cup, winning 2-0 there in the Third Round on our way to a quarter-finals exit at the hands of the other Sheffield side, Wednesday. Yet, our next encounter with the Seagulls would not be until 1979 in the old First Division, their first match in the top flight. We trounced them 4-0. The overall record now stands at P26 W14 D5 L7.
The opposition
Graham Potter, who lost only two of his six matches against us as Brighton manager, moved on to the Bus Stop in September, taking the mussy-haired and annoying Cucurella with him. Roberto De Zerbi replaced Potter, arriving after a war-truncated spell in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk. He has won four, drawn two and lost five of his eleven Brighton games so far, most recently brightly beating relegation-threatened Southampton 3-1 on Monday.
De Zerbi habitually played 4-2-3-1 at Shakhtar. It is his preferred formation at Brighton, having phased out Potter’s 3-4-2-1 after a month. However, in the only game he has coached against us — the League Cup tie — he used 4-4-2 with the promising Julio Enciso, an 18-year-old Paraguayan striker who arrived in the close season, playing alongside Danny Welbeck, formerly of this parish.
For Saturday’s league game, expect the Italian to continue with the 4-2-3-1 he reverted to for Monday’s win and the previous Thursday’s surprise league cup elimination on penalties by Charlton.
Brighton had more of its squad at the World Cup than one might have imagined: Leandro Trossard (Belgium), Robert Sanchez (Spain), Moisés Caicedo, Jeremy Sarmiento and Pervis Estupiñán, who arrived in the summer, assumedly in the expectation of Cucurella’s departure (all Ecuador), Tariq Lamptey (Ghana), Kaoru Mitoma (Japan) and Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina).
All played some part against Southampton on Boxing Day except for Mac Allister, who was celebrating in Argentina and won’t be back until January 3.
With Caicedo suspended for picking up five yellows, De Zerbi will be without his first-choice double pivot. Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour will likely understudy behind a midfield three of the underrated Solly March, Adam Lallana, and Mitoma, with Sarmiento coming off the bench if De Zerbi needs to change things around. Trossard will be the spearhead, with the injury-plagued Welbeck again off games.
In defence, Joel Veltman or Lamptey and Estupiñán will be either side of the seasoned Lewis Dunk and Levi Colwill, the 19-year-old centre-back bought from Chelsea in the summer who is filling in for the injured Adam Webster. Sanchez, who seems to play well against us, will be between the sticks.
De Zerbi has Brighton playing out from the back rather than humping long balls forward for the execrable Neal Maupay. This tactic would, in any case, be pointless as Maupay was offloaded onto Everton in the summer for a cut-price £10 million. De Zerbi also deploys a high press, so the game’s outcome could turn on which side is better at forcing turnovers.
The Arsenal
More of what was produced in the second half against West Ham would surely see off the Seagulls. Can the team provide it? Arteta repeatedly stresses the need for consistency in performance. Few Gooners can now doubt the team’s talent, determination or spirit. The question is whether the players can sustain all three, match in, match out, until May.
As we know, Gabriel Jesus and Reiss Nelson are ruled out by injury. Arteta says both Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu are getting closer to returns, the latter more so than the former. Both have been involved in some training sessions. A place on the bench for Tomi is conceivable.
It would seem invidious to drop anyone after the West Ham performance. Yet great managers ruthlessly question such assumptions. In this case, I suspect only the left-back berth is seriously in contention. Oleksandr Zinchenko will, I fancy, again start on the bench but get a few more minutes than his 17 against West Ham as he plays his way back to match fitness for January’s testing schedule.
Thus, I expect the same eleven as started against West Ham to start at Brighton:
Ramsdale
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney
Partey, Ødegaard, Xhaka
Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli
A visit to the Amex is always a test, but one we must pass to go into the New Year happy and prospering.
The ‘holic pound
The bookies have us as short-odds favourites. The value is to be found in a 3-1 away win at 16s and 3-0 at 20s. My hunch is that it will be a goal closer than that at 2-0.
Enjoy the game, ‘holics near and far.
Ned,
That’s a terrific preview of our last game in what has been a fascinating and hugely encouraging year . You set it up very well but given the disruption caused by the World Cup it may take some 5ime for teams to stabilise .
This is a big test for us but we played so well , especially in the second half on Monday that we could well win this . We were severely outplayed last year here but the season before we picked up after adding ESR and beat them 1-0 . Ironically my mate texted me from Dubai with a photo with a tall, fit footballer . It was Danny Welbeck ! He couldn’t have looked more match ready but as he so often is, he is injured .
I’m becoming more confident as the game approaches . Although a draw wouldn’t be a disaster , if we could win it would create even more momentum. A lot of the ‘pundits’ who do match predictions are dying to see us slip up . Several forecast disaster against WetSpam and do again tomorrow. Let’s confound their pessimism with a 2-0 victory
Ps- it’s worth noting that De Zerbi who was his manager suggests Mudryk could become good enough to win the Ballon D’Or. High praise indeed !
Just reading about Marc Overmars. Hope he recovers well.
A great history and information packed preview as ever, Ned !
My only prediction would be for us to win – especially as The Seagulls won last time round.
After all, we should surely take it in terns !
(That was TTG’s fault – always a bad influence on me 😏)
Thanks Ned for an excellent preview. Any win will do, as it so often will, but three points to finish off 2022 certainly would beat the other options by a big margin. Seeing as De Zerbi is Mudryk’s former manager it would be a feather in our cap if we could announce the Ukrainian’s signing prior to kickoff but knowing that is unlikely to happen, I revert to my prior point. ANY WIN WILL DO, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Magic Eddie extend his scoring streak to two consecutive games. COYG.
Trev,
It’s vital we don’t run out of petrel in this period but I don’t want us to be gullible in our preparations . I can’t remember if C100 is going but a happy Kormarant from the curry house would be fun . We need to keep up the pace and I hope to see Brighton Puffin before the half hour . I will be dead choughed if we win.
I’ve already got my coat by the way 😀
Thanks Ned, a fine preview. Let’s hope our recent record against the seagulls isn’t an albatross around our necks. A draw will feel like a booby prize as we really auk to win this one. 1-0 to The Arsenal.
Supremely enjoyable preview and informative as always Ned!
As you observed Brighton has been bit of a bogey team recently and especially at Amex they play really well. It’s important we get a good start and get an early control of the game. The awesome Arsenal away support will have a big role to play as well.
Agree with you team. Hopefully we will also see Tomiyasu on the bench and along with Zinchenko to get some minutes towards the end to build up match fitness.
Come on Arsenal!
Cheers Ned, thorough preview!
How did it get to be NYE again? But here we are. COYG!
Great preview, Ned, laced with your usual informative nuggets. I’m in the ‘any win will do club’ but another goal for Eddie would be welcome.
COYG
Thanks Ned,
I quite like Brighton – a good place for a day out.
Seagulls, however, are a pain – noisy, squawky, chip-stealing, indiscriminate-shitting little creatures.
They must be silenced and 2-0 will do nicely thank you. I fancy Ben White for one of them.
UTA.
TTG,
Apparently the manager has said “it will be a difficult game but as long as we do everything to try to win the game, we can come away with no egrets.”
My words, not his 😉
…… we will, of course, be relying heavily on Gannet Xhaka.
I always learn lots of things from one of your always interesting previews Ned and this keeps up that high standard. Brighton and Southampton seem to be the grounds where we under perform, so a bit nervous ahead of 5.30 and again, for me, any win will do.
Thanks, all, for the kind words. Indeed, any win will do.
Some top ornithological punning above, although not sure who gets the booby prize. Whomever it is, no doubt someone will demurre.
Congratulations to Pat Jennings (CBE), Leah Williamson (OBE), Beth Mead, Kim Little and Jen Beattie (all MBEs) on their New Year’s honours.
A clean sheet would be a pleasing thing to get today.
Would require an absence of seagull droppings of course.
Cheers Ned – magnificent preview.
Loved the Round the Horne reference! Was a must listen in our house on a Saturday evening back in the 60’s (we didn’t get a TV till 1971) and although I was maybe a bit too young to get all the nuance of what it delivered, will never forget the immortal –
And now a late Football Result for you
Lions 3
Christians 0
Again, plenty on the bench defensively but very little attacking wise
Three full backs on the bench looks excessive, especially Tierney!
Esso@18: Cheers. In retrospect, Round The Horne was groundbreaking. Plenty of episodes on YouTube for you to enjoy now you are old enough to understand them. 🙂
City and the Barcodes drop points. Must capitalise on that at the Amex.
The traveling Gooners should be in excellent voice having seen that our two top rivals both dropped points. COYG
Never in doubt, except during the nervous-making moments! VAR repaid some debts by chalking off what would have been Brighton’s third. Arteta will not be happy with the two goals conceded. But seven points clear at the top. 🙂
Happy New Year
Goonerholic meant a lot to my father so Goonerholics friends mean a lot to us as well
NOW
UP THE ARSENAL!
What about the Ode pass and Gabi finish!
Great start.
Big win.
A lot of big performances.
Brighton are a good team. I think few other teams will take all three points home from a visit to the Amex this season.
Happy new year on top of the table, ‘Holics. May the new year be even better than 2022 for us all. Salud!
FUCK BRIGHTON CUNTS
Wont play my tune for whatever reasons
Still wont fuck it
Something else to worry about is that Saliba and Saka are one yellow away from a one-match suspension for having five yellows in the first 19 Premier League matches. Pick up a yellow against Newcastle, and they would miss the NLD. Gabriel and Benny Blanco are on three yellows, by my count. I thought it was a harsh yellow that Taylor gave Saka today; it could have big consequences.
A big, big challenge but sadly not met. New Years Eve and home with the family and several good friends. Made it to 1.30 but 2.30 was a bottle too far😢
The Arsenal on the other hand did fantastically!
Still, I will have the New Years Day pleasure of watching us win!
Happy New Year to goonerholics near and far 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Wishing all ‘holics health, happiness and the Premier League title in 2023!
Quite impressive, the number of compliments and accolades about Martin Ødegaard’s play that Arsene Wenger was able to fit into one set of comments here: https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/arsenal-can-go-all-the-way-title-race-with-amazing-odegaard-wenger/blt2f77ec5ba0f0795f
Peter Dury on commentary. Lovely.
Happy New Year, ‘holics, near and far.
Happy New Year all. Tough to watch last night in the end, but it was a win and we’ve increased the gap at the top, what’s not to love?
Shame about 38. Hope you caught it while you could.
The neighbors doing their best to make it an even happier new year.
Happy New Year everyone!
(And congratulations to Unai on the win today.)
Once again, the old fella in red and white said, “Ho, ho, ho!”
>>>>>>>