3 positives & negatives from Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Brighton

Happy New Year, Gooners!

Arsenal will ride into 2023 with a seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League. That is definitely not something that many of us saw coming on the eve of this season.

Arsenal capitalised on dropped points by Newcastle and Manchester City with a great win against a team that tends to cause a lot of trouble for the Gunners, especially away from home.

3 positives & negatives from Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Brighton

This was yet another fine performance where Arsenal flexed their offensive firepower with four goals, but it wasn’t perfect. Let’s get into it.

Positive #1: Martin Ødegaard: real hooper hours

That’s now two Man of the Match displays in as many matches for Martin Ødegaard, who has been on another level the entire season but is now on a serious charge since the league’s return.

He grabbed Arsenal’s second goal of the match with a Mesut Ozil-Esque finish at the end of the first half, but his assist to Gabriel Martinelli for Arsenal’s fourth goal was his standout moment.

The skipper has always been the fulcrum of Arsenal’s attack since joining nearly two years ago but he has managed to add the final product to an already incredible skillset.

Negative #1: Control

The Amex is always a tough place to visit and that was shown by the game state. Arsenal had only 32% possession but made the best of what they had. Scoring early obviously played a role in that but Brighton managed to stay in the match until the end.

Credit to the Seagulls for making the match interesting, but Arsenal were in cruise control – much to their own detriment at times.

Continued on the next slide…