Arsenal 1-1 Brighton: 10-Man Gunners Hold Out for Draw

There were a couple of half chances for Brighton with Raya diving well to make a save from Ayari, but Arsenal had two big chances that should have won the game for the home side. Havertz fashioned a great chance for himself, wrestling through Jan Paul van Hecke, but he didn’t compose himself enough, or was probably off balance when he fired his shot, but Verbruggen made a great stop. The best chance arrived when Havertz went to the byline and drilled a cut back for Saka but he didn’t connect well with the ball and the good chance went begging.

At the end of the ref’s whistle, a draw was a fair result in the grand scale of things, but Arteta and some of the players bemoaned the lack of consistency from the referee, which was actually a fair point, as there was a period in the match where Joao Pedro blasted the ball away in anger when it went out of the line, but there was no punishment. 

With Manchester City’s win over West Ham later on the night, Arsenal is back on the chasing pack. This wasn’t the result the players wanted but the lads still showed great character to hold out for a draw.