It would be churlish to complain after the Gunners snapped their Brighton hoodoo with victory at last over the south coast side at the Emirates.
After all, three points are three points – no matter how you come by them,
And, look, the performance on the day was actually excellent. In terms of ambition, incision, control and intensity – the Gunners were excellent for the majority of the match.
Where they have fallen down this season, however, is their finishing. In tight matches against difficult opposition, Mikel Arteta’s men have so often struggled to make the most of their half-chances. In all truth, they’ve struggled to capitalise on their full chances too.
And while a good defence will give you the platform to build your foundation, it’s goals that will ultimately decide matches and Arsenal have struggled at times this season. Sunday afternoon’s outing against Brighton was no exception.
Despite a clutch of good chances, the Gunners were wasteful and took far too long to make their dominance pay. And while we got away with it at home against an out-of-sorts Brighton side, you only have to cast your mind back a week to find a match in which we didn’t.
If we’re going to stay in this league title challenge until the bitter end, we going to need to acquire a killer up front, or hope our front five can find enough accuracy between them to get us over the line. The deeper we go into the season, I lean towards the former being the smarter option.
That’s not to say that relying on one person for your match-winning goals is a smart tactic, rather it seems wiser to have someone capable of turning scraps into goals than relying on three or four players creating enough chances to finally find the net. Better yet, let’s have a combination of the two.
When Manchester City signed Erling Haaland, they found their killer and it brought them the treble in short order. Now, with City flailing, Arsenal need to find theirs.
That issue aside, I have to hand full credit to the Gunners for what was ultimately an impressive performance against a side that have caused them all manner of problems in recent times. Brighton have the highest average possession of any side in the Premier League so to dominate them quite as thoroughly as we did is not to be lightly cast aside.
Just as we did against Villa, we kept our opponents well and truly at arms length so the focus could be on the other end of the pitch and it’s at the business end that games are won.
Though he doesn’t need my praise, Declan Rice was once again sensational. I genuinely do wonder if he may be the best centre midfielder in world football at the moment, such is his ability both in and out of possession. The more I see of him, the more I am convinced that he must be protected at all costs if we are to go all the way in this campaign. His absence will simply be too great.
A word also for another in-form (relatively) new boy: Kai Havertz. There was so much hand-wringing done in the early part of the season as the German struggled to affect games but, since the last international break, it seems a switch was flicked and he is at last becoming the player Arteta suspected he might. Another goal is just rewards for a Granit Xhaka-esque performance in midfield.
All said and done, we secured all three points and moved top of the league – none of us can be unhappy with that. Make no mistake, however, we must find a way to score goals in a more ruthless fashion and we must find it quick.
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