Brighton 0-3 Arsenal: Havertz impresses as Gunners showcase their varying qualities

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

Arsenal went back to the top of the Premier League yesterday evening with an impressive 3-0 win at Brighton.

Mikel Arteta made changes, bringing in Declan Rice, Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka back into the team, and we should have been ahead inside two minutes. A Martin Odegaard free kick found the head of Gabriel, usually so reliable in these situations, but he planted his header wide.

Brighton produced a lovely flowing move which saw Enciso shoot over from just outside the box, a warning about what Roberto de Zerbi’s team are capable of, but we responded. Saka, who had been quiet in the opening minutes, burst into life when sent behind by Ben White, and having cut back onto his left foot you’d have backed him to score but he curled wide. Saka then set up Jesus, whose first time effort was well saved, and the Brazilian headed wide after good work from Kai Havertz.

It wasn’t quite end to end stuff, but both sides had nearly moments in terms of chance creation, and in the 31st minute, we had a penalty. Jesus got the ball on the left, drove into the box, and although Lamptey got a tiny touch on the underside of the ball, he got all of the man too, and for me that’s definitely a penalty. I wouldn’t have any complaints if it was given up the other end. Even de Zerbi, a man who will openly talk about his disdain for the majority of the Premier League officials, said it was a ‘clear’ penalty.

Saka stepped up, and despite their goalkeeper doing his best to put him off, tucked it perfectly into a place he’d never have got it even if he went the right way. Brighton’s threat was always there, and just before the break, David Raya had to make a superb save to deny an Enciso curler that was certainly going in otherwise.

I remember thinking that at the break, Mikel Arteta might to ponder what to do about midfield, because Brighton were finding space in there that few other teams do. But ultimately this was a consequence of playing the way we did against them. By being brave, and pressing high to disrupt their build up, you play a risk/reward game, and you have to trust the defensive qualities in your team. That’s a lot easier to do when you have someone like Declan Rice in the side, who was everywhere – and even when there were times Brighton ran beyond him, others got back. There was a second half moment when Baleba charged past him and drove towards our box, but it was substitute Gabriel Martinelli who provided the defensive cavalry and stemmed the tide. Superb commitment and organisation.

Here’s an example of how Arsenal committed men to the press when Brighton had the ball at the back:

And here’s the space Brighton found on the odd occasion they found a way to play through it in central areas – when is the last time you’ve seen the Arsenal midfield so open and that much space between the front and back of the team?

Another man whose defensive performance on the night will probably get overlooked – because he got a goal and an assist – is Kai Havertz, but that contribution was so important. I thought this was easily his best game for the club, and when you compare the player we see now from the man who first arrived, it’s night and day. He’s a reminder that some players just take a bit of time to settle in and to find their groove. He has 5 goals and 4 assists from his last 7 Premier League appearances, and his position as the de facto centre-forward is, at this point of the season, perhaps a bit unexpected.

Arteta was asked about that afterwards and said:

A lot of the time players decide where they have to play, and we can have certain ideas, but then you see certain relationships and some things flow. And when it flows, you have to let it go, and I think Kai at the moment is flowing and he’s feeling really comfortable there, the rest of the team is comfortable with him there and things happen naturally.

I was so impressed with his performance last night, his defensive work was outstanding, his selfless running to stretch Brighton was a great example of what Luton’s captain Tom Lockyer spoke about after our game in midweek, and his movement for the second goal was excellent. Those spaces in midfield did have me wondering whether or not we might think about bringing on someone else for Jorginho, but when Odegaard’s superb pass found the Italian international in the space you expect either Saka or Ben White to be, he used all his experience to provide the assist for Havertz. That was 2-0. On Sky afterwards, de Zerbi said once the second goal went in, the game was ‘finished’.

It was fascinating to see the way this Arsenal team then felt so comfortable to sit deeper, to protect the lead and allow Brighton possession. After Havertz made it 2-0, Brighton had 82% possession. Such is the defensive quality in this team, such are the levels of organisation and understanding about how to snuff out the opposition, they did nothing much with it. Remarkably, in that period when they dominated the ball and the territory, Brighton had just a single attempt on goal while Arsenal had 6!

One of those was the third goal, Leandro Trossard made a tackle in midfeld, the ball fell for Havertz who sent him through with just the keeper to beat, and against his former club the Belgian produced a wonderfully calm finish to make it 3-0 and to ice what was a very impressive cake anyway. That was the first time Brighton had been beaten at home since August, and even if they had some players missing, they’re still a very tough opponent. The stats bear it out, 3.4 was the most xG Brighton have conceded since de Zerbi took over, but the most important of all was the three goals Arsenal scored to go back to the top.

I suppose you do have to mention the clean sheet too, not least because of the way the Arsenal players celebrated Gabriel blocking a shot in our box. You can understand the player making the block being pleased with himself, but that instant reaction from the likes of Trossard and Saliba who were nearby tells you plenty about the mindset of this team. They begrudge the opposition even a consolation, and that’s so great to see.

Afterwards, Arteta said:

I’m really happy, really proud of the boys. They put in a big performance to beat this great Brighton side. They haven’t lost here since August and that tells you the difficulty of it, of the task, but we were really good today.

In the end, it’s about performances. You have to earn the right to win the games in this league and the teams, they ask you a lot of questions and there are a lot of things you have to control in a Premier League match to win away from home. The team seems to be controlling those moments much better and being comfortable in different stages of games, when the teams are demanding all this stuff. That’s the biggest step as a team.

So, another one down. Another good result in 2024. Another boost to confidence and belief, because this was a tricky one, and no mistake. We’ve been on the wrong end of a couple of painful results against Brighton, so that must have been in the back of their minds, but they keep ticking off these boxes of mild revenge. Every game is a must-win right now, and we did this after City won against Palace. Whether it will put any pressure on Liverpool later I don’t know. I doubt it. I suspect they are going to destroy Man Utd later, but we can only do our job, and the way we did it yesterday was hugely impressive.

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Ok, let’s leave it there for now. We are recording an Arsecast Extra for you later today, so keep an eye out for the call for questions on Twitter @gunnerblog and @arseblog on Twitter with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

Podcast should be out in the evening (we have some time zone stuff to deal with today!). Until then, enjoy your Sunday.

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