Arsenal were held to a disappointing draw in Brighton on Boxing Day, despite taking an early lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Aubameyang could’ve had three goals in the first half, forcing a couple of great saves from Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan as well as the effort he did score. However, Arsenal’s opponents came back into the match thanks to a long-ball and an individual error, and then Unai Emery’s early substitutions backfired on him.
Emery took off Mesut Özil at half-time to change formation, but Brighton made just as many chances after the break, whilst Arsenal had just one shot to their six in the opening period. That one shot came from Alexandre Lacazette, and after he went off too the team didn’t have any chances at all.
The only positive is that Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira came through without yellow cards, and neither of them will be suspended for the match against Liverpool at Anfield.
Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings.
2Midfield
Lucas Torreira 7
Torreira had a solid enough game, winning possession back well as usual, and he did a particularly good job of picking up free-kicks. He also created two chances, more than any of his teammates bar Granit Xhaka, who made two as well.
Granit Xhaka 6
As mentioned, Xhaka jointly led the team in chances created. His passing was more accurate than anybody else’s on the team, even though he spent more time in possession than anyone on the pitch. Nonetheless, he did make one particularly stupid pass in the first half that tainted his performance on the ball somewhat.
The main problem for Xhaka was that he progressed the play forward to Matteo Guendouzi, then Guendouzi struggled to find someone in front of him, particularly when Mesut Özil wasn’t around. The problem got even worse when Xhaka moved into defence, as he did again at the end of this game.
Matteo Guendouzi 4
Along with Lichtsteiner, Guendouzi should’ve been one of the players to come off, instead of Özil or Lacazette. Other than one impressive over the top through ball to Aubameyang, he couldn’t make things happen in the final third. Though the Brighton goal wasn’t entirely his fault, he did lose his man as he tracked back from the corner.
In a game like this, someone like Aaron Ramsey or even Ainsley Maitland-Niles would’ve made more sense in midfield.
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