Arsenal Player Ratings Vs. Brighton: Vindication For Arteta In Unconvincing Cup Tie

Emirates Stadium, London—An unconvincing Arsenal precocious into nan Carabao Cup quarterfinals pinch a 2–0 triumph astatine location to Brighton & Hove Albion connected Wednesday evening.

If Mikel Arteta needed immoderate grounds to support his inherently cautious attack to astir Arsenal matches, a harum-scarum capacity provided a cleanable lawsuit study. On different night, this much-changed lineup could person been nan squad picking nan shot retired of their nett connected aggregate occasions.

In nan enactment of releasing nan handbrake—intentionally or, much likely, arsenic a consequence of nan sweeping unit changes—Arsenal had to trust upon an fantabulous capacity from goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Two well-crafted goals from Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka rewarded nan hosts’ much fluent attack successful possession, but this is improbable to beryllium a blueprint for much Arsenal performances going forward.

Max Dowman became Arsenal’s youngster ever starter connected Wednesday. / Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga—8.3: Superb throughout. Kept Arsenal successful nan necktie successful nan first 10 minutes pinch a brace of smothering saves and was required throughout.

RB: Ben White—7.4: Plenty of enthusiasm if not overmuch finesse to White’s galore guardant thrusts.

CB: Cristhian Mosquera—7.3: Thrived amid nan chaos arsenic Arsenal’s backline was fixed acold much to do than their normal brief.

CB: Piero Hincapié—7.3: On his afloat Arsenal debut, nan summertime indebtedness signing took a much reactive approach, sweeping down his centre backmost partner connected and disconnected nan ball.

LB: Myles Lewis-Skelly—8.0: An unthinkable embodiment of self-confidence: location is nary shot retired of Lewis-Skelly’s area of power successful nan teenager’s steely mind.

CM: Ethan Nwaneri—8.0: If anything, nan shoddy quality of Nwaneri’s first 45 minutes made his second-half show each nan much impressive. Many 18-year-olds would person stopped asking for nan shot pinch a Brighton subordinate draped crossed their back, yet Nwaneri kept connected coming, demanding possession which he yet made nan astir of.

CM: Christian Nørgaard—7.4: Anchoring Arsenal’s midfield successful Martín Zubimendi’s absence, nan erstwhile Brentford skipper’s crippled was a neat web of short, knitted passes that kept nan title ticking over.

CM: Mikel Merino—7.0: Wholeheartedly embraced his domiciled of skipper for nan night, charging astir nan transportation pinch an added consciousness of vigour.

RW: Max Dowman—7.2: The little for Arsenal’s youngest ever starter was simple: run. Every clip nan 15-year-old sewage nan shot he darted at, and invariably around, Maxim De Cuyper successful a capacity that was nan epitome of youthful exuberance.

ST: Andre Harriman-Annous—6.7: The 17-year-old debutant looked conscionable for illustration one. Lacking nan beingness heft of his cousin, England rugby skipper Maro Itoje, Harriman-Annous dutifully hassled and harried, almost getting his extremity earlier Saka pounced.

LW: Eberechi Eze—6.7: After being booed passim nan lucifer by Brighton’s travelling support, nan erstwhile Eagle must person had a wry grin arsenic nan distant fans were explicitly likened to an inferior type of Crystal Palace. There wasn’t overmuch to fulfill Eze based connected his individual performance.

Subs not used: David Raya (GK), Riccardo Calafiori, Martín Zubimendi, Viktor Gyökeres.

Brighton (3-4-2-1)

Starting XI: Jason Steele; Diego Coppola, Jan Paul van Hecke, Olivier Boscagli; Ferdi Kadioglu, Carlos Baleba, Diego Gómez, Maxim De Cuyper; Georginio Rutter, Charalampos Kostoulas; Stefanos Tzimas.

Subs used: Yasin Ayari, Mats Wieffer, Yankuba Minteh, Tom Watson, Danny Welbeck.

Player of nan Match: Kepa Arrizabalaga (Arsenal)

Arsenal 2–0 Brighton—How It Unfolded astatine nan Emirates

Andre Harriman-Annous made his master debut connected Wednesday. / Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

There was a fittingly childish power to Wednesday’s cup tie, which was lodged correct successful nan mediate a week-long schoolhouse vacation for English schoolchildren. Arteta named a brace of minors successful his starting XI which included 4 teenagers, Myles Lewis-Skelly a veritable seasoned astatine 19.

Eberechi Eze was nan only subsister from nan lineup against Crystal Palace 3 days earlier. The wholly new-look backline was not only younger but quickly proved to beryllium much porous. Brighton could rather easy person scored doubly wrong nan opening 10 minutes, pinch Georginio Rutter and Stefanos Tzimas some panicking erstwhile presented pinch one-on-ones astatine nan crisp extremity of 2 speedy counterattacks.

Brighton made respective changes of their own—half of nan outfielders who lost 4–2 to Manchester United connected Saturday were swapped out—while Fabian Hürzeler’s tactical tweak added to nan unreality of confusion. The Seagulls’ 3-4-2-1 not only ensured that astatine slightest 1 helping backmost was ever spare erstwhile pushing onto Arsenal’s backmost four, but nan wrong forwards of Rutter and Charalampos Kostoulas tucked successful to shape a container midfield which swamped nan hosts’ cardinal trio.

The visitors had overmuch nan amended of nan opening 45 minutes and started nan 2nd half conscionable arsenic brightly. Nwaneri’s crisp opener was conscionable Arsenal’s 2nd changeable connected target of nan match.

For a squad that has truthful consistently struggled to break unfastened matches from thing different than a group piece, it was a refreshingly fluid squad move which teased Brighton apart. Mikel Merino’s impish back-heel slipped Lewis-Skelly into nan punishment box, paving nan measurement for 1 teen to tee up nan different arsenic Nwaneri swept a deft layoff into nan bottommost corner.

The nervy moments astatine nan backmost would persist—Piero Hincapié had to make a hopeless artifact aft Cristhian Mosquera caught nan bug of inexpensive concessions of possession—before Saka nabbed a settling second. Debutant Andre Harriman-Annous truthful astir extended nan youthful database of scorers but, having been played done connected extremity by a defence-splitting changeable of nan shot by Jurriën Timber, couldn’t steer his effort past Jason Steele. Saka was connected manus to tuck successful nan rebound.

Brighton outshot Arsenal connected nan night, forcing Kepa into six saves. First-choice keeper David Raya has faced conscionable 5 shots since September. It wasn’t wholly convincing, but Arteta tin astatine slightest return solace from his side’s spot successful nan quarterfinals.

Arsenal vs. Brighton Full Time Stats

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