Arsenal succumbed to their second defeat in as many games since the restart as Brighton defeated them 2-1 at the AMEX Stadium.
Nicolas Pepe gave the away side a lead to hold on, but Lewis Dunk and Neal Maupay scored in the last 15 minutes to win the game for the Seagulls.
The first half of the game saw Arsenal creating good chances, but there was no end product. Bukayo Saka was unlucky to hit the bar with his effort, while Alexandre Lacazette’s finish was weak.
Five minutes before halftime, Maupay leant into a jumping Bernd Leno. The German fell awkwardly and twisted his knee. He had to be stretchered off. This made the game feisty with players exchanging words.
Midway through the second half, Pepe took on Dan Burn on the edge of the box before flying in a curling effort into the back of the net.
However, the Gunners couldn’t hold on to that lead, Dunk scored from the second phase of the corner. Then, with almost the last kick of the game, Maupay played a lovely one-two with Aaron Connolly before smashing his shot into the net.
All in all, a disappointing defeat for Arsenal, who despite all their problems had the lead to hold on to but they couldn’t. What’s more, they went onto lose the game!
Here’s how we rated their players:
Bernd Leno - 6
Leno had a largely untroubled game up until the time he was challenged late by Maupay and he twisted his knee to be stretchered off. The injury looked serious and it may be bad news for Arsenal fans.
Hector Bellerin - 4
The right-back looked out of position most times and struggled defensively. He didn’t contribute much going forward either.
Rob Holding - 4
There was a reason why Holding wasn’t even in the squad in the previous game.
The Englishman looked slow at the back and his inability to read the danger was palpable.
Shkodran Mustafi- 5
Mustafi did well at times, but he always has moments of sloppiness at the back. For that reason, he is not top-level quality.
Sead Kolasinac - 6
Defended his area well but couldn’t get forward enough to provide the impetus down that left-hand side.
Dani Ceballos - 3
With no Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka in the team, Ceballos had to take the responsibility of making things happen in midfield.
However, he was too slow on the ball and didn’t do much off it either.
Matteo Guendouzi -3
Guendouzi had more impact after the final whistle when he shoved Maupay.
In the game, he was poor on the ball and not dynamic enough to cover the ground.
Nicolas Pepe - 7
Pepe had little end product throughout the game but he produced the moment of quality by curling one into the top corner. Unfortunately, that goal didn’t get his team any points.
Bukayo Saka - 7
Playing left midfield, Saka had a good game showing some good skills on the ball, including thundering the bar in the first half. He did well off the ball too.
Subbed off later on.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 6
Aubameyang played in a slightly central position and had more contributions in the final third. He got three decent chances but couldn’t convert any of them.
Alexandre Lacazette - 4
Lacazette, once again, had an off day in the office. His finishing was weak and couldn’t do much in terms of holding the ball up in the final third. Subbed off later on.
(SUB) Emiliano Martinez - 6
Martinez came on a substitute in the first half and had a good game in goal. He made some decent saves.
(SUB) Eddie Nketiah - 5
Came on with 12 minutes to go and didn’t have much time to impact the game.
(SUB) Kieran Tierney - 5
Came on in the 87th minute and had a good short cameo.
(SUB) Reiss Nelson - N/A
Nelson came on very late on to have any impact on the game.