And just like that, Arsenal dropped another two points at home to mid-table Brighton with a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. Very frustrating afternoon considering the opportunity we had to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Everton last week, and we were at home, it was all set up for us to smack Brentford before Man City on Wednesday and it was not good enough, to say the least. 4/10 and 5/10 all over the pitch for Arsenal players, with all to play for is disappointing but we move to Wednesday against Man City.
THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST HALF: Arteta started with the same starting XI we have seen for most of this season and I think we are at a point where we need a change or two to spice things up. Arsenal saw a lot of possession to start the match as you would expect but Brighton unlike the earlier matchup between the two teams was well-organized and stood up to the Gooners at every turn. Martinelli, Eddie and Xhaka for me, were way below the standards we had set for ourselves heading into this match, never getting and coming into the match like we needed them to, made life easy for Brentford whenever they received the ball around the box. Just a lack of cutting edge from our standout players this season. If we are being honest, Brentford had the more clear-cut chances in the first half with well worked counters between Mbuemo and Ivan Toney up top where Arsenal didn’t cope with the pressure well at all. Rico Henry had a sitter where he incredibly hit it off target and Toney hit the crossbar with a wide open net as well. The chances for Arsenal were few and far between where there were spells of well-worked possession and intricate passing around the box but we were never able to open the low block/5 defender set that Brentford set themselves up with, leaving both teams going into the half tied 0-0.
THOUGHTS ON THE SECOND HALF: Arteta seemed to have gotten into the Arsenal players at the half as we came out of the blocks with may more intent and pressure than the first half. Arteta knew what was at stake and before the 60th minute mark, got Trossard ready to come in for Martinelli which was surprising, given the fact that Arteta usually waits on subs instead of being aggressive to make changes. Trossard who benefitted from the tired Brentford legs was lively from the start and was giving Roerslev the runaround a bit before Saka found space and time on the right to whip in a cross which was was well-finished and well-timed by Trossard:
It was a perfect moment. Arsenal had broken the deadlock and secured themselves 3 points to extend the lead before this debacle:
Just terrible, fucking terrible. Zinchenko getting pinned off, Saliba was dominated by Pinnock, Ramsdale all at sorts, and Toney had the easiest goal in his life.
BUT Lee Mason, that disgusting human being who was on VAR assignment for the game failed to take into account Christian Norgaard’s positioning for the goal. He did not draw the offside line for the Danish midfielder which then allowed for the goal to stand for Brentford. Just an abysmal performance from the Premier League, PGMOL, and Lee Mason for not doing the bare minimum for their job. Like the only reason VAR should exist is to get the objective parts of the game right, and they have failed in VAR’s tenure to do that consistently. It’s so basic, so frustrating.
At the end of the day, Arsenal weren’t good enough over the 90 minutes to get the 3 points, fair to say Arsenal are hitting their current low point of the season and needs to get their heads back yesterday before things unravel even worse, no better time to do it then against title challenger City on Wednesday.
MATCH RATINGS:
Ramsdale: 5/10: Made decent saves throughout but in the biggest moment of the game, came up short
Ben White: 5/10: Been pretty poor for the past few weeks
Saliba: 5/10: Outdueled by Toney for most of the game, lost out to Pinnock for the goal
Gabriel: 5/10: Struggled a bit as well
Zinchenko: 6/10: Tried hard
Xhaka: 4/10: useless in the final third
Saka: 7/10: Our only constant attacking threat
Ødegaard: 6/10: also tried hard
Nketiah: 5/10: May be back to his level?
Trossard: 7/10: did what he could for the team
Lee Mason: -10000000000000/10: F off