Brighton 1 - Arsenal 1: another day, another call

01/04/2025 05:01 PM

Two more points dropped to Brighton.

Arsenal played to a frustrating 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion at the AmEx. It was far from the Gunners best performance but given how thin the Arsenal roster is right now that's to be expected. The result is also a frustrating one because, like at the Emirates earlier this season, it feels like Arsenal were en route to at least a 1-0 victory before a, shall we say, interesting referee decision changed the course of the match. More on that later.

The Gunners jumped out to a 16th minute lead with a lovely goal. Thomas Partey, who had one of his better performances at right back (which may not be saying much), started the move. Declan Rice, with boots on the right touchline, combined nicely with Mikel Merino in a tight space. The Spaniard picked out Ethan Nwaneri, who had made an intelligent, forward run, with a through ball. The 17-year old carried the ball about 35 yards, drove into the box, and picked out the bottom corner for the goal.

For about 45 minutes across the end of the first half and beginning of the second, not much notable happened aside from some set piece shenanigans. Declan Rice served a lovely ball on the ground behind the defensive line and in front of the keeper, but none of his teammates could find the decisive touch.

Gabriel Magalhaes was, extremely oddly, whistled by referee Anthony Taylor to not run over towards Nwaneri while he was taking a corner and forced to return to the box. A few seconds later, Taylor carded Nwaneri for taking too long over the corner kick. It was truly bizarre. I've never before seen a referee tell a player they cannot run towards a particular area of the pitch on a set piece. He may have thought he was preventing delay, but who is to say Gabriel wasn't moving towards his teammate to receive a short corner. Arsenal may have specifically been trying to take advantage of Brighton writing off and ignoring Gabriel's movement to gain an edge on a tendency-breaking corner kick routine.

That small moment doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it was really, really strange. A referee shouldn't ever be doing that.

And then, the moment that changed the match. You don't often see two players knocking heads given as a foul, even when one gets to the ball slightly ahead of the other. It's particularly surprising to see it called in the box. Even Sky Sports, who is rank-and-file behind the PGMOL, called it an "unusual" refereeing decision. The BBC described it as a "bizarre" foul call. A similar incident was not given as a penalty in Tottenham-Newcastle earlier today.

Said Mikel Arteta of the decision, "I've never seen a decision like this in my career. I asked the boys, and they have never seen anything like it." He also confirmed that he believes William Saliba got a slight touch on the ball before the clash of heads, a position that is supported by one of the replay angles. The ball comes off the top of Saliba's head before any contact between the two players. It was an aerial duel in which both players got a touch on the ball then heads collided.

And even if you concede that it was a foul (which I categorically do not), it was one of those penalty awards that gives a side an 80% scoring chance from a nothing play. The ball was bouncing around and heading away from goal. The attacker was surrounded. There was nothing doing.

And while we're on the subject of marginal "fouls" in the box, let's spare a thought for Gabriel getting grabbed and tripped after he'd faked his marker into slipping on a corner. If you think I'm tilting at windmills, check the replay. Gabriel drives towards the near post and stops to cut back to the middle. The defender, who has been beaten so badly that he's falling down, grabs at Gabriel up high and cuts his legs out from under him.

The penalty award and the goal sparked Brighton back to life. The home side may have had more of the ball in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, but they had nothing to show for it aside from a harmless shot, easily saved. We've seen this script plenty of times over the past two seasons. Arsenal have the best defense in the Premier League. They get ahead in matches, particularly away from home, and then even though they cede a bit of possession, don't allow chances.

After the goal, Brighton seemed the more energized side, undoubtedly helped by the two extra days rest and lack of illness tearing through the squad compared to Arsenal. The equalizing goal sparked life and belief into the home side, snapping them out of a malaise. Without that game-state change, do they snap out of it in the same way? Arsenal don't have to open themselves and the game up in the same way to chase a goal and the full points. The referee decision was the sliding doors moment in the match.

Even after equalizing, Brighton didn't force David Raya into stunning saves. The field was tilted, sure. They weren't turning that control into chance after chance. Their best opportunity came on that ball that flashed across the face of goal, at least two steps beyond any attacker's reach. In other words, it looked like more of a chance than it actually was. If you take the penalty out of it, the xG was more or less even for the match.

It wasn't a vintage Arsenal performance by any stretch of the imagination, but it was likely going to be good enough to hold onto full points. It's wild that a below-average performance from a tired, injured, and ill Arsenal roster was probably good enough to win away to Brighton. Without the penalty, I feel fairly confident saying that Arsenal would have won 1-0. There might have been a nervy moment here and there, but that's what this team does. They rely on their structure and defending to maintain leads.

I've seen plenty of that familiar, annoying refrain that is sung every time Arsenal draw a match — "Arsenal should create more chances and score more goals so that bad calls and negative variance don't cost them." In a vacuum, sure. If you score three goals a game, it doesn't matter that the opposing team get one of their own in a uniquely odd way.

But to expect the Arsenal attack to keep humming along regardless of what is thrown at it is folly. The Gunners kicked off today without their top scorer (Kai Havertz), second top scorer and most productive attacker (Bukayo Saka), tied second top scorer (Gabriel Martinelli), and primary creative attacker (Martin Ødegaard) not on the pitch. Martinelli and Ødegaard both came on in the second half but were dealing with a small injury issue and illness respectively.

It's not clear that either would have played had they not been pressed into action — Ethan Nwaneri had to come off at halftime with a muscle injury, which is concerning in it's own right. Mikel Arteta described it as "really bad news." Whee.

The Gunners were also forced into playing Thomas Partey, not a particularly good right back, at right back because Jurrien Timber picked up an extremely soft 5th yellow card of the season. Partey is the 4th choice right back. Both Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who are ahead of him on the depth chart, are injured.

Ødegaard's illness coupled with Timber's suspension meant that Jorginho drew into the Arsenal midfield out of necessity. The Italian, who has played sparingly this season, did not have a good match. Him receiving the ball heading towards the Arsenal goal was a clear pressing trigger for Brighton, and it was effective. The pressure on him put Arsenal in tricky spots and he turned the ball over a couple of times in dangerous areas.

With that firepower missing and that much lineup disruption, I don't have much of an issue with Arsenal trying to gut out a 1-0 win, especially after actually taking that lead in the first half. The strength of this side is defense, right now more than ever. It makes sense to rely on it to navigate through difficult periods. It certainly seems a better strategy than opening yourself up and selling out to score more goals with a cobbled together, second-choice attack.

In the end, regardless of how you choose to understand and explain what happened, it's more dropped points. It's another repeat page in the story of Arsenal's season. I'm beyond tired of it. If it can go wrong / against Arsenal, it will. And the Gunners will seemingly be maximally punished for every little mistake they make. There really isn't much to be done about it other than for the side to keep working, make do with what is available, and go next.