Emery achieves something Wenger couldn’t

Brighton & Hove Albion 1 : 1 Arsenal

Arsenal took a league point at Brighton for the first time in 35 years despite having three more FA Cup wins in the Sussex town in the interim.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored for Arsenal before Jürgen Locadia equalised for Brighton in the first half.

Terry Neill was the Gunners’ manager when a John Hollins goal secured a victory in April 1981, which means Unai Emery can now claim an achievement denied to his predecessor Arsene Wenger, leaving Brighton with a league point.

The sides entered the fray with massively differing recent fortunes. Brighton & Hove Albion had lost their last three while Arsenal had only lost one of their last 16 in the League.

Lewis Dunk was suspended for the Seagulls but they welcomed back Shane Duffy from his three-match ban with the Irishman playing alongside Leon Balogun at centre-back for only the second time this season.

For Emery’s Gunners, Laurent Koscielny returned to the starting XI after being rested for the win over Burnley, but they were missing Henrikh Mkhitaryan who will be absent for six weeks after fracturing his metatarsal. Nacho Monreal and Shkodran Mustafi were also unavailable.

Aubameyang tested Gulls’ keeper Matthew Ryan with a 5th minute lob but the Australian international was equal to the task. It did not keep Arsenal at bay for long.

Less than two minutes later, Balogun was among the Brighton defenders who failed to clear and Alexandre Lacazette eventually found Aubameyang who easily netted.

Glenn Murray thought he had equalised after first miskicking and then forcing the ball out of Bernd Leno’s hands and over the Arsenal line. Referee Anthony Taylor however awarded a free kick to the visitors. Murray failed to find power a second time on the half hour and Leno saved easily to his right.

Ryan kept his side in the game thereafter when Aubameyang ran inside
Martín Montoya to latch onto Lucas Torreira’s clever through ball. The Ghanaian hit the strike cleanly enough but Ryan saved superbly. The
Spanish defender was more alert before half time to deny his dangerous foe a second bite at the cherry.

Route one football was Brighton’s saviour.

The ball broke clear from an Arsenal corner. From the left back position, Davy Propper hurtled up to half way and thumped a long range pass aimed for the onrushing Pascal Groß. The hopeful punt was heading for Leno in the Arsenal goal but Stephan Lichtsteiner headed it directly into the path of Locadia who finished coolly to level the scores.

Emery removed the ineffective Mesut Ozil at half time for Alex Iwobi in a story that will surely fill up a few column inches in the hours to come. Iwobi however did not make any more significant impact than the German.

Propper dragged a good chance wide as Brighton, despite a serious possession deficit, sensed an unlikely comeback win.

Emery made his third change before Brighton boss Chris Hughton had made any withdrawing Lacazette early for the second match running, and introducing Welshman Aaron Ramsey with a full half hour left to play on his 28th birthday.

Second half chances were rare. Duffy was very alert in intercepting Aubameyang with 15 minutes left and Brighton’s Solly March lofted over both the advancing Leno and the crossbar. Hughton showed an ambitious intent when he introduced the Romanian forward Florian Andone for the tiring Murray for the last ten minutes to no avail.

Arsenal face top and bottom next with a tough trip to Liverpool followed by Fulham at home. They will carry with them the hopes of almost half the league over the next week.

Brighton have Everton and West Ham next in two middle of the table clashes which will give them a chance to maintain that creditable ten point cushion between them and the relegation zone.

On this performance, they are a cut above several of those sides.

Brighton: Ryan, Montoya, Duffy, Balogun, Bernardo, Stephens, March, Propper, Gross, Locadia (Knockaert 86′), Murray (Andone 79′)
.
Arsenal: Leno, Lichsteiner, Sokratis, Koscielny (Maitland-Niles 70′), Kolašinac, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Torreira, Özil (Iwobi 45′), Lacazette (Ramsey 62′), Aubameyang.

Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Kevin Friend