Arsenal beat Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 to extend their lead over Manchester City in the Premier League table.
It was a much-needed three points for the Gunners, as Man City dropped points at home to Nottingham Forest. Now, they are seven points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side — who still have a game in hand.
However, Mikel Arteta’s men didn’t have their best night. They looked unconvincing yet again — perhaps for the fourth time in their last five matches (Brighton, Chelsea, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford). The exception was a dominant 4-1 over Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby.
Not even their set-pieces worked at the Amex, which goes to show that they didn’t gave much going for them. But a lucky deflection from an unpretentious Bukayo Saka long-range strike was enough to give them the win.
What were the tactical trends from Brighton 0-1 Arsenal?
Arsenal show their hand early
Arsenal might have played poorly, but they were consistent in their game plan. The idea was to be more direct from the start.
A total of 18.5% of their passes were long — by far their highest percentage in a Premier League game this season. The previous record was 16.7% on opening day against Manchester United.
They often targeted Viktor Gyokeres as a hub to get the team out of their own half. He held the ball well initially, but struggled throughout the rest of the match, winning none of his eight duels.
And despite getting lucky in Bukayo Saka’s goal, Arsenal’s intentions in the lead-up were the same. Denied space at the back, stole the ball in midfield and rushed forward as soon as they recovered possession.
What Brighton did to dominate Gunners
In terms of tactical notes, there’s more to talk about regarding Brighton than Arsenal. Fabian Hurzeler set them up in a 4-4-2 out of possession, pressing man to man. The key here was that they left a spare man in the attacking half to smother the visitors.
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That forced them to go long, which made the Seagulls quickly recover the ball. And also put them at risk of losing possession in case they tried passing it around too much at the back. Three minutes is all it took for that to happen, as David Raya misplaced a pass and left Carlos Baleba through on goal.
The Cameroonian chipped the Spanish shot-stopper but man of the match Gabriel cleared it off the line.
Brighton’s six recoveries in the final third were the most Arsenal have given away in a Premier League game this season.
In possession, they were solid as well. Lots of intricate passing sequences and central play in close proximity. Georginio Rutter was the catalyst for it all, offering support and playing one-two passes to send teammates through.
Brighton played through both sides quite a lot, but most of their dangerous moments came down the left. Kaoru Mitoma wasn’t bad, but Yankuba Minteh had a great performance replacing him at half time.
The Gambian started from the left but drifted inside and even appeared on the right a few times. It helped to create confusion among Arsenal defenders and their usual man-oriented marking.
How Mikel Arteta stabilised things in the second half
Coming back from half-time, it looked like Arsenal tried to take a few steps forward and press with more intensity. But Brighton kept going around them and accessing dangerous zones from that.
So Arteta reverted back to the mid-to-low block and defended more cautiously. Curiously, what made them safer in the game was actually a substitution upfront.
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Kai Havertz replaced Gyokeres in the 60th minute and acted as the falsest of nines, dropping really deep. At that time, the home side didn’t have the same energy from the first half to press with a spare man. Having Havertz near defenders and midfielders in build-up gave them numerical advantage.
This enabled the Gunners to keep possession a little more, pass the ball around and have more presence in the attacking half. So much so that they threatened Brighton from the 60th minute onwards than in the whole game until that point.
Arsenal are what they are, there’s no way to question their methods with ‘sustainability’ arguments. Another win, another clean sheet – closer and closer to the Premier League title.