Arsenal enjoyed a potentially massive evening in this season’s Premier League title race as they edged out Brighton by one goal to nil in a tense affair while title rivals Manchester City dropped two points at home to Nottingham Forest, to allow the Gunners to open up a 7 point lead at the top of the table….and breath Gooners.
Arsenal got the job done tonight in what was a relatively controlled performance, especially in the second half, where they ceded massive amounts of the ball and territory to Brighton while also limiting their opponents to relative scraps in terms of chances on our goal.
Arsenal took the lead through a deflected Bukayo Saka strike early in the match and I believe I speak for all Arsenal fans when I say at this point I really hoped Arsenal would get a second at some point in the coming minutes as I didn’t think I could take another one goal lead win.
Arsenal however, had other ideas and we all had to endure the nerviest of nervy games from that point onwards, knowing one slip would render it all pointless!! Thankfully for Arsenal, their defenders all really stood up today and managed to close out the game with a clean sheet in a truly enormous game and a hugely important win. Here’s how I rated the players.
David Raya – 7
Recovered from nightmare early moment where he had to be bailed out by Gabriel and one or two nervy moments here and there, but on the whole I thought he was pretty good. One nice save from Rutter, solid in possession, even if he had to go long quite a bit.
Jurrien Timber – 7
Much better from Timber tonight. Not a look from him going forward. Defensively though, I thought he was excellent. Did well to nullify the lively Yakuba Minteh, who terrifies me every time he gets the ball. Won countless headers and was generally just an absolute warrior back there.
Cristhian Mosquera – 7
I think the early booking is harsh and then from that moment on I was just terrified he would pick up another. If I went back and watched the game again, knowing that he didn’t get sent off, I think I would see a good performance. That wasn’t the case during the game and as a result everything he did felt really nervy to me personally, so I just gave him a 7!
Gabriel – 9 PLAYER OF THE MATCH
When you are missing one of your key defenders, like we were with William Saliba, you need someone to step up and Gabriel did that AND THEN SOME! Colossal performance. Was first to everything in the air, on the ground, competed well, organised his defence, lead the team with his example and it felt like he was doing it all on his own at times…and he seemed fine with it!! What a player, what a performance, what a man!
Piero Hincapie – 8
Another warrior out there. His recovery pace was really on show tonight, as a number of dangerous looking Brighton attacks petered out into nothing as he snuffed out the danger before it got anywhere near our goal. I’m tempted to give him an extra mark for the way he just laughed in Fabian Hurzeler’s face, but I’m stooping to the Brighton Manager’s level!! Hincapie = superb tonight.
Martin Zubimendi – 7
Not on the ball as much as I’d like and there was the odd moment here and there where I thought he was a bit sloppy. That said, this one just felt like a ‘win your battles’ sort of game and I think he did that well. Give this guy a rest now!!!
Declan Rice – 8
Superb. Back to his swashbuckling best for me. Was absolutely everywhere. One moment that summed up his performance was when he lost the ball and that bailed himself out with a perfectly timed tackle a few seconds later. He was immense, absolutely everywhere. Surprisingly, his set pieces were probably what let him down a bit today, as I don’t think they were at their usual standard. Thankfully…we didn’t need them tonight!!
Eberechi Eze – 6
Quiet game from Eze. He struggled to get a foothold in the game and find any sort of rhythm, A few attempted passes over the ball were overhit and it just didn’t quite come off for him tonight. One moment of quality was his flick through to Saka in the first few minutes, that he really should have done better with.
Bukayo Saka – 7
Aside from his goal, Saka saw very little of the ball and as a result was largely peripheral. Put in a real shift though and that goal was so important, he gets a default 7 just because of that!
Viktor Gyokeres – 6
If I wasn’t in such a fantastic mood, I think the rating might have been lower still. Really struggled to hold onto the ball and bring others into the game. His touch was heavy, his runs lacked their usual explosiveness and he just wasn’t at the races at all today. In the big Swede’s defence, this really wasn’t his game, as it was unbelievably frantic out there and he’s a guy who thrives on space and we couldn’t find him in any!
Gabriel Martinelli – 6
Maybe should have done more to get on the end of Saka’s cross early on, but went on to have a hardworking, in ultimately unproductive display out there on the left. Helped Hincapie out defensively time after time, as the Brazilian showed the other side to his game, that makes him an Arteta favourite in matches like this.
Subs:
Leandro Trossard – 6 – I think it was more of the introduction of Kai Havertz that really helped us get a bit of control in this game, but I do think he played his part as well. Won a few free kicks and throw-ins down on the left wing that helped slow the game down, which I think can’t be understated.
Kai Havertz – 8 – After an average cameo at the weekend against Chelsea, this was absolutely brilliant from the German. Gave us an outlet, something to aim for. Not every flick on went to one of our team, but he won enough of them to help us at least break up Brighton’s momentum and he was an absolutely pivotal to us closing out this game.
Riccardo Calafiori – 6 – Looked really smooth out there. Has this calm about him that makes me feel like everything is going to be alright…and he was right!!!
Christian Norgaard – 6 – Another who’s cameo tonight was massively improved from the weekend. Came on and did what you expect him to – head long balls, get in the way of stuff and kick the ball far whenever you can.
Final note – Oh my days, what a night. I think this season has been a tough watch for a lot of Arsenal fans this season but I think this one took the whole experience to a new level. I could barely watch during stoppage time and the relief at the final whistle was something else!! Enjoy this one Gooners, you deserve it!