Hello, everyone. A very quick preview of Brighton for you as we play our final game of 2022.
No major injury news, although Takehiro Tomiyasu is available according to Mikel Arteta. I don’t really expect much of a difference to the team that beat West Ham a few days ago, although if Kieran Tierney were to be replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko I wouldn’t be at all surprised. It’s not that he played badly last time, just that the manager likes the Ukrainian international in his team when he’s fit enough.
Other than that, it’s going to be the same. Eddie starts up top, flanked by Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, and hopefully all three forwards can deliver the way they did on Monday night. Brighton, as we know, is a tough team, says Arteta:
They are a very good team. They are playing at a very high level. It is a team that dominates almost all the phases of the game that are relevant to dominating a football match. They are very confident and play to their own personality. I know the manager very well, he is someone I have followed for a while and he is doing very well.
They’re seventh in the table for good reason, and while I’m not saying it’s a good time to play them, they do have a few players out tonight, which could make them a little less effective. Ireland’s Alexis Mac Allister is absent after his World Cup exploits, while midfielder Moises Caicedo is absent through suspension. Those two players have made more tackles than any other Brighton player in the league this season, so it’s possible their midfield is missing some of his usual bite. They also don’t have former gunner Danny Welbeck up front and Adam Webster.
As always, Arteta takes nothing for granted and chooses to answer a question about being at the top of the table with a call on his players to do better:
My feeling is tomorrow, playing well and performing at the level we are going to need to win the game against a really good team. That is the approach. We are very happy with where we are, but as I have always said, there are many things that we can still do better and improve, and we have to prove it in the next few games.
We know how difficult it can be in Brighton. They beat us at home last season and, in general, it’s been pretty close when we’ve gone to their house. By the time we play Man City will have demolished Everton so the lead at the top will be down to just 2 points. Before the break we had this scenario a couple of times and we responded well, so hopefully we can do the same tonight.
As always, we’ll have live blog coverage for you and all post-game material on Arseblog News.
—
Beyond that, I’d like to take a moment to wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. Thank you from all of us here at Arseblog for your continued support over the last 12 months, it means a lot to us, and here’s to good health and happiness to all in 2023.
See you on the other side.
❤️
