Arsenal vs Brighton Premier League preview: How to watch, lineups, top four hopes & prediction

Arsenal must overcome the biggest hurdle of the season so far as they host Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Here is the match preview.

The 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park on Monday went as disastrously as it could have. Arsenal were blown away in the opening exchanges by a superb Crystal Palace side, with their energy and decisiveness in all areas of the pitch a level above the Gunners.

Running out deserved winners, it was also an Arsenal performance that it was felt had been banished to the history books. Overrun in midfield, bullied in wide spaces and technically lacking across the whole pitch, the manner of defeat was a huge shock.

Losing games in the final run in was expected. It can be made up for. However, the injuries that occurred before and during the game were catastrophic for Arsenal. More so than the result.

Arsenal vs Brighton Premier League preview: How to watch, predicted lineups, top four hopes still alive & score prediction

Kieran Tierney is now confirmed to be out for the rest of the season as he requires surgery on his knee, with Nuno Tavares coming into the side in place of him and enduring another dreadful showing at left-back. It’s a serious issue that Mikel Arteta has to find a solution to if the side are to keep their top four hopes alive.

As if matters couldn’t get any worse, the injury late on to Thomas Partey – a thigh problem he’s suffered previously – will rule him out of the weekend at the least, and likely beyond that. And who could forget the issues troubling Takehiro Tomiyasu that will keep him sidelined for the next two matches at a minimum.

It truly was a case of everything that could go wrong going wrong.

Arteta has maintained the right focus and frame of mind throughout, with his biggest job now being that he must ensure his team see that defeat in isolation. It’s the first Premier League defeat of 2022 that didn’t come at the hands of a team called either Liverpool or Manchester City.

Saturday is an incredibly important game. It’s huge.

How to Watch on TV

When Is Kick Off? Saturday 9 April
What Time Is Kick Off? 15:00 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? Emirates Stadium
TV Channel/Live Stream? Not on UK TV (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? David Coote
Who is on VAR? Chris Kavanagh

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Arsenal Team News vs Brighton – Partey, Tierney & Tomiyasu

The situation is looking rather dire. Make no bones about it.

Tierney’s knee injury was worse than originally thought and him missing out on the final ten games of the season, as witnessed in the first of those ten, has the potential to derail the season.

However, if asked which one player Arsenal could least afford to lose, it would probably be Partey merely down to the specificity of the role he’s playing and the majestic level he had been operating at since the turn of the year.

He will be tested further in the build up to Saturday but looks certain to miss out, and could even be out for longer given he’s aggravated an issue suffered previously.

There will be no Tomiyasu either, who remains troubled by these worrying injury issues, and with Chelsea and Manchester United the two games to come when he’s supposedly back in full training, it could be a while yet before the right-back returns to the squad.

Nicolas Pepe was another absentee with illness on Monday, but he has recovered and will feature.

The big blow for the weekend’s visitors is that Jakub Moder has suffered an ACL tear and will miss the next seven months, possibly including Poland’s World Cup campaign. Graham Potter will be hoping to have two key players back, with Adam Webster (groin) and Adam Lallana (hamstring) aiming to recover in time.

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Arsenal Predicted Lineup to Face Brighton – Nuno and Sambi in?

Arsenal: Ramsdale; Cedric, White, Gabirel, Tavares; Odegaard, Sambi, Xhaka; Saka, Lacazette, Martinelli

Brighton: Sanchez; Veltman, Dunk, Webster; Lamptey, Bissouma, Lallana, Cucurella; Trossard, Maupay, Welbeck

Arsenal vs Brighton Score Prediction

In the trio of matches Arsenal faced after the international break – Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton – it would have been outstanding to claim nine points, but relatively acceptable to have taken seven.

None of those options remain. These two next games have to produce six points.

Potter’s side head to north London in dire form, winning none of that last seven and scoring just one (1) goal during that time. If there was ever a time to face Brighton it would be this weekend.

What should give supporters some reassurance is that in almost every occasion where the team has lost this season they’ve bounced back immediately with a win. Barring the opening two matches, the only time where a defeat wasn’t followed up with a win was against Manchester United when Goodison Park followed. After that, however, the Gunners went on a superb winning streak.

This is the perfect chance to prey on a side stuck in a rut. Arsenal need this win for more reasons than one and doing so in front of the home supporters will instill confidence back into the team and reaffirm that Monday’s game was just a blip.

Will the absences play a role? Of course they will. But Arsenal should still see this one through.

Score Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Brighton