We Take A Closer Look At FA Cup Opponents Brighton

With Arsenal coming up against Championship strugglers Brighton in the FA Cup we’ve decided to do a bit of a profile on our opponents, seeing as we thought that not many of you might would know too much about them. And whilst you may not know too many of the players, the manager is certainly familiar to fans of the EPL.

Team: Brighton & Hove Albion

Manager: Chris Hughton (Yes, the ex Newcastle and Norwich boss)

Form: WWWLW

Brighton have been playing pretty well recently after a poor start to life in the Championship and only on Wednesday they beat league high flyers Ipswich in a 3-2 victory. It will be a monumental effort for them to get anywhere near the playoffs but they are playing as though they should be up there with the Premier League wannabes in the Champions at the moment. Brighton will not think of Arsenal as playing too much beyond them, especially on their home ground.

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Strengths

Well according to WhoScored.com Brighton have a number of strengths, chiefly their ability at attacking set pieces and creating chances by using through balls to their attacking players. For a Championship side they are very good at using short passes to maximum effect, and they will not let Arsenal dominate possession as some lower league sides might try.

Defensively they will take some beating in regards to set pieces, whilst they will also put us under a lot pressure; they are very aggressive when the other team are in possession inside the Brighton half. Hector Bellerin, or whoever plays right back, will have a lot of work to do given Brighton’s preference of attacking down the left hand side of their team and the left side of their midfield’s ability to dribble both inside the defender and beating them on the outside.

Weaknesses

Whilst they create quite a few chances, their finishing is temperamental at best. Sam Baldock, once making a brief spell at West Ham, leads their lines and has only managed to score 2 goals so far this league campaign. Top scorer honours currently shared between left midfielder Teixeira and central defender Lewis Dunk, both on 4 goals for the season. Not really that many.

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We may also be able to exploit their reliance on pushing forward on the wings, as previous games show attacks down the wings against Brighton are extremely effective. Good run out time for Walcott maybe?

Key Men

WhoScored.com has rated centre-back Lewis Dunk as their best player on average, but it is left winger Teixeira that has picked up the highest number of Man of the Match awards for Brighton this year, with 5. Dunk will prove a thorn in our side for set pieces both aggressive and defensive, whilst Teixeria will be trying to prove himself against top class opposition with his neat dribbling skills and the ability to draw fouls out of almost any player will make him a tough player to ignore on Sunday.

My prediction, Arsenal will outplay Brighton but Brighton could be dangerous on the break and if we let them keep a foothold. 2-1 to the Gunners for a final score.

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