Arsenal will face Brighton at the Emirates Stadium in 2025 in their penultimate Premier League game. The Gunners hope to retain top spot in the Premier League table and halt Manchester City’s attack. The Seagulls have not won their last four Premier League games (2 draws and 2 losses) and are ranked joint 9th. Arsenal cannot afford to drop points at home in the league, almost from now on. This is going to be a long and stressful second half (and we’re not actually halfway done yet).
Brighton performed well against Arsenal, especially away from home. That’s their joint-second-best winning percentage among away opponents in club records. Last season, they drew at the Emirates Stadium early in the season. You’ll remember that game when Declan Rice picked up a second yellow card for delaying the restart – he pushed away a ball passed to him by Joel Veltman. The club is also in the American Express draw. William Saliba was whistled for a penalty after a clash of heads with Joao Pedro in the Arsenal penalty area. Replays showed Saliba taking a touch before clashing heads with his attacker, but obviously that only makes sense when you’re on the ground (not in the air) cutting someone down with a crazy challenge.
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Arsenal owe Brighton a sum (several sums). The Gunners beat the Seagulls 2-0 in the Carabao Cup earlier this season with goals from Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwaneri, who has scored in both appearances against Brighton (once this season and once last season). Brighton’s eight recent goals against Arsenal have all come in the second half, with the Gunners scoring five goals over 90 minutes in their last seven Premier League games.
Mikel Arteta will lose the services of Gabriel Mosquera and Christian Mosquera. The Brazilian is getting closer to his return and there are reports that the December 30th game is in the works, which surprises me a bit. The Ecuadorian will be out for several weeks with an ankle problem. Ben White is out, but his hamstring injury is not as serious as initially feared and he should be back in action soon. Gabriel Martinelli suffered a heavy knock against Crystal Palace and should be available. Piero Hincapie is expected to be included in the selection list, having missed the Crystal Palace game possibly due to a shoulder injury sustained against Everton. Kai Havertz has returned to training with Arsenal but may not be ready to feature just yet. Max Dowman will be out until February.
There’s been a raft of positive injury news for Brighton – with Jan-Paul van Herk, Danny Welbeck and Mats Weaver all set to return to the squad. Lewis Dunk and Diego Gomez have both returned from suspension. But Carlos Baleba, arguably their most important and best player, is missing from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Lineups will be released as they become available.
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WHO: Arsenal vs Brighton
Where: Emirates Airlines
when: Saturday, December 27, 7:00 AM PT | 10:00 AM ET | 3:00 PM GMT
How to watch: Live online in the United States. Stream on the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com
For all your international streaming needs, visit LiveSoccerTV.com. Please do not share or discuss links to illegal streams here.
