The trip to Brighton on New Year’s Eve marks the start of a tricky run that will see Mikel Arteta’s men take on four sides in the Premier League top eight over the next month.
We’ve ridden the crest of a wave to top the league table so far this season, with our superb form and results powered by a sublime cocktail of desire, energy and tactical flexibility.
There has also been a healthy dose of surprise about how we’ve approached our work this campaign and that has allowed us to take advantage of teams who have been largely unprepared or who have underestimated our capabilities.
Now, with plenty of time to have assessed what we do, that element of surprise is likely to have been diminished and the job of staying at the top of the table will be a deal harder than getting there in the first place.
That won’t daunt Arteta, of course, but it will require more patience and more resilience in the face of adversity. We showed tremendous mental strength to overcome West Ham having fallen a goal behind and I suspect we might have to dig deeper still over the second half of this campaign.
This next month will reveal much about how prepared we are for the fight and it starts with a trip to the south coast.
Brighton no longer have Graham Potter at the helm but, thus far, new manager Roberto De Zerbi has been every bit as wily and effective. For a club of Brighton’s size to have worked its way into seventh place is no mean feat and, if they can stay the course, a place in European competition awaits and, with it, the next stage in their development.
Like Arsenal, they have taken a lot of sides by surprise this season and play a very fluid, adaptable style of football that makes them an unpredictable opponent. Taking points at the AMEX is tough.
They have beaten Manchester United and Chelsea already in this campaign and taken points off Liverpool and Newcastle in the Premier League. We don’t have to cast our minds too far back to our own 3-1 defeat to the Seagulls in November, albeit in the early rounds of the EFL Cup, and they also claimed victory over us at the Emirates back in April, a defeat that really derailed our push for a top four spot last season.
In fact, over the course of the last 10 games in all competitions, Brighton have lost just twice to Arsenal, claiming five wins and three draws in that run. They have become something of a bogey side in recent times.
It is vital that we snap that run.
Even though we will head into the new year top of the table no matter the outcome, a truly testing run awaits us and putting three points on the board ahead of that would be a huge boost.
Thankfully, we seem to be in good shape from a squad perspective with no significant new injuries to contend with (pending some late revelation from the manager). Keeping our key players fit for the majority of this campaign is going to be essential and, with our best XI on the field, we are better than most and a match for the best.
Our options off the bench will also become an increasingly important part of the season and welcoming back the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Reiss Nelson will give us so much-needed depth and the ability to respond when things go against us.
I confess, I’m expecting an incredibly difficult afternoon at Brighton tomorrow and three points is by no means certain. However, while I may worry about the outcome, what I don’t have to worry about under Mikel Arteta is the preparedness, motivation and desire of this young side. They will be hungry.
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