Boxing Day shootout at Brighton
Thirteenth place Brighton, losers of their last three straight Premier League games, host Arsenal on Boxing Day.
The Gunners are fifth, but only due to goal difference. A win at the AMEX Stadium could lift Arsenal into the top four. Unai Emery’s Arsenal are coming off of a clinical 3-1 win against Burnley away. The win followed a shock 3-2 loss to Southampton. The defeat ended Arsenal’s fantastic 15-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Arsenal are second in the league in goals scored with 40. The team’s biggest downside has been the number of goals it has allowed this term. Arsenal have conceded 24 times and five of their last six matches have seen over 2.5 goals scored. Just one clean sheet has been kept in that six-game span. It came against Huddersfield in a 1-0 win at the Emirates.
Chris Hughton’s Brighton have suddenly gone into a tailspin. The Seagulls had been chugging along only to lose three straight matches by a combined scoreline of 5-1. Brighton are not the strongest Premier League team in front of goal as they have scored 20 goals this term. The Seagulls have allowed 26 goals, just two more than Arsenal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leads the Premier League in goals with 12 strikes. He struck twice against Burnley at the weekend to end a four-match scoreless run in all competitions. While the attack is thriving and won’t be a problem on Boxing Day, Emery will have defensive injury issues to worry about. Reports going into the midweek clash is that five defenders are expected to miss the game. Nacho Monreal went down with an injury at the weekend. He joins the list of injured defensive players including Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Konstantinos Mavropanos, and Shkodran Mustafi. Due to the makeshift backline Emery must patch together, expect Brighton to score goals at home.
Recent fixtures between the two clubs have been shootouts. Brighton and Arsenal have met in four games in recent times dating back to 2013. All four have seen over 2.0 goals, while three of the four have had more than 2.5 goals scored. When the two teams met in 2013 and 2015 in the FA Cup, the fixtures both ended 3-2 in favour of Arsenal.
History shows these teams will play a barnburner of a game. It should be outstanding for neutrals to watch as over 2.5 goals will be scored and both teams will find the back of the net. Arsenal will prevail as they just edge out Brighton in a goals-fest.
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