Arsenal vs Brighton player ratings: That’s how you finish midtable

Arsenal looked to rebound against Brighton with some pretty notable changes, but it failed. Here are the player ratings from the match.

Arsenal looked paltry and emasculated against Manchester City and Mikel Arteta took it as a sign to make changes against Brighton. Rather than stick with the same side, he rotated Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe into the attack in favor of Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka kept his spot in the team, but was moved into a midfield role.

Go figure, he did quite well with it.

While I don’t think either Nketiah or Willock should see this as a demotion, the changes took place right away. The Gunners just looked better from the start. Pepe and Lacazette were involved in the attack combining well with the resources they always rely on.

Arsenal needed to answer back, but instead, they gave in

It was all red and white early. The Gunners attack thrived, with Saka putting in the most dangerous threat, smashing the crossbar in the 8th minute with a tremendous curled effort.

Of course, things went sour before long. Not necessarily in the scoreline, but in the health department. Bernd Leno suffered what looked to be a season-ending injury thanks to some dirty play by Maupay. The German keeper, and our player of the season, was stretchered off, taking time to scold Maupay on his way off.

The score went into half level at nils. It didn’t stay that way. While the Gunners attack started to flatline deeper into the second half, in the 68th minute Nicolas Pepe stepped up and did his usual thing—individual inspiration. A beautifully curled effort gave the Gunners a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay long, as Brighton answered back in the 75th minute. And just when you thought we’d only get one point from this match, we went and got zero.

Here are those player ratings:

Goalkeeper