Arsenal: 5 key players against Brighton as streak begins again

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 02: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates his team's victory after the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on December 1, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 02: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates his team's victory after the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on December 1, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
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Arsenal are trying to start up another unbeaten streak as they take on Brighton on Boxing Day. Here are five players key to making it two in a row.

Arsenal, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Arsenal, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Arsenal‘s streak began again against Burnley. While it was a nervous effort at times, where once it seemed like such an easy stroll in the park early on, the 3-1 final was quite the convincing scoreline, and it sets the stage for another unbeaten run.

Which requires a second step – Brighton. Brighton are mired in mid-table obscurity, they haven’t won a match since the 4th of this month, and, all things considered, they are pretty “blah.” They aren’t like Southampton, who had just changed managers and are fighting out of the bottom, they aren’t like City or Liverpool.

Which means that they are probably primed, against all the odds, to put up one hell of a fight against the visiting Gunners. That’s how it always seems to work, right? And with Liverpool coming up at the weekend, I do wonder how many players Emery will expend to bully Brighton – which I hope they can do.

It’s not going to be as easy as it should be, and we are going to need some key guys to be reliable given what figures to be a rotating cast of characters. So let’s talk about those key guys, starting with No. 5.

5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

I don’t include Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on this list very often, and that’s because he literally just does the things he does and that’s that. You don’t ask him to do more, cause he probably won’t, but he’s also incredibly reliable for what he does produce.

We really need that production against Brighton. Which can be helped on by the presence of Alexandre Lacazette, assuming Unai Emery agrees with me and starts the two together.

Basically, we just need Aubameyang to be himself, to not have one of his rare, off-form matches where he can’t seem to catch a break. We just need a goal out of him, let’s start there. Let’s start with a goal and see where it goes from there.

Next up is No. 4.