match report – Player Rating – Arteta reaction – video
Let’s divide today’s blog into several sections. It seems like the best way to get through last night’s 1-1 draw with Brighton.
first half
I thought it was an overall solid first half performance from us. With Kai Havertz still unavailable and Martin Odegaard also out with an illness, Ethan Nwaneri kept his place on the right. And from there came our goal. Declan Rice and Mikel Merino combined well, the latter producing a fine ball over the top. I think Rice won the ball but Nwaneri took his place.
We know he can score goals and this finish, although not the most convincing finish he will produce, showed his desire and confidence. He could have played a simple pass for a tap-in with Rice steaming from the side, but he went for goal and was rewarded.
Brighton’s only chance of the game came when Jorginho won possession – an unfortunate feature of his performance last night – but an off-balance Simon Adingra deflected a shot that should have scored. Nwaneri was waiting for a corner and got a comical yellow card for wasting time and that was basically it.
second half
I thought Gabriel Martinelli’s introduction was related to Nwaneri’s yellow card, but it turned out to be because the 17-year-old was injured. “This is really bad news,” Mikel Arteta said. Brighton have also made some changes as they attempt a comeback.
We had a free-kick after Pervis Estupinan made a wild challenge that flattened Rice in the air. For those who think Nwaneri’s booking was justified, please explain how a few seconds from a corner can be added by the referee. Is a yellow card worth more than this yellow card? From the resulting free kick we had the chance to score, Merino sliced wide as Rice delivered a low ball into the box, but in relief it’s a tough task when you get through such leggy seas.
however…
punishment
I’ll admit I’ve come full circle on this. Watching it in real time, I thought, ‘How?!’ Then when they showed me the replay, I thought I couldn’t complain. If an Arsenal forward headed the ball in the box and a defender headed him in, would they want a penalty kick? 100%. How many times have you seen the defender get away with the ball but the forward gets a small touch and the defender kicks the guy instead of kicking the ball? It felt like one of those things.
However, the slow motion shows Saliba also heading the ball after Joao Pedro touches it, so punishing him feels really harsh. By the way, I am not criticizing the referee here. He couldn’t see it. This was a job for VAR, but from what we understand they saw and deleted it in seconds. They didn’t watch the slow motion footage. This is absurd because it can take five minutes to check for offside if you want. There’s no reliable door closing on this technology at the moment, but the least we can hope for is that they’ve made the most of it, but in this case, they’ve completely failed.
Arteta said:
I have never seen a decision like this in my career. I asked the boys if they had it and none of them had seen it before. The incident, the distance, the player, seeing Joao Pedro touch the ball and Saliba touch the ball. You will see your contact information there.
Pedro scores, making it 1-1. And you could put all those incidents on a long list of things that happen at Arsenal and never happen at any other club. This season too we had Rice and Trossard red cards when the rule to delay the restart only applied to us and it was costly in terms of points. And if the Pedro incident was a penalty, so was the tug to Gabriel in the first half. It’s disappointing to say the least.
late redux
Penalties aside, this was a very tiring second half performance in which we produced little of anything noteworthy. There was one shot on target, Rice’s effort was easily blocked, the party header would have been much better and that was it. Odegaard got out of his hospital bed and tried to make an impact, but it seemed like he needed to stay home with a glass of Lemsip and a hot water bottle and that was as much as we could offer.
There were two academy kids on the bench and a number of left-backs. So, while I completely understand why we are low on energy (we had a tough game on Wednesday and Brighton played two days ago and were more rested), this game is very similar to the one against Ipswich. Urgent reinforcement of the offensive line.
According to Arteta, the injury to the muscular Nwaneri further complicates our problems in that sense. Against Brentford we gained a player in the first half but, in typical fashion this season, lost him straight away. We don’t know yet how long he will be sidelined, but either way, this is a group of players who will really struggle throughout this month unless the club does something to help them.
For now we have Trossard (who was poor yesterday), Jesus and Martinelli and in the future Havertz will return, but was too ill to feature yesterday. He will not be in top form for the Cup semi-final on Tuesday. I’m not saying we can bring someone in before then, but we need to get something done as soon as possible. This isn’t just a case of wanting something new, it’s a case of outright necessity because your team desperately needs it.
This is the ninth time Arsenal have scored either one or zero goals in a Premier League game this season, with seven of those games having been without points.
#BHAARS
— Orbinho (@orbinho.bsky.social) January 4, 2025, 7:33 p.m.
I think we’ve been really, really unlucky at times this season, but the cold, hard truth is that we don’t have the firepower to overcome that bad luck. Some of the things that have happened are completely out of our control, but what we can control is how we put the squad together, and in that sense we found ourselves falling short. If football is a game that is so often decided by small margins, we have too often allowed ourselves to be on the wrong side of the game and we need to do something about it.
Even if Liverpool are almost impossible to qualify for the Premier League by the end of the day when they face Manchester United, we still have two cup competitions and a Champions League place to contend with. It is nothing, it is the duty of those who make the decisions that give us the best possible chance in such competitions.
We will prepare Arsecast Extra by tomorrow. Have a nice Sunday.
