Arsenal vs Brighton
Date: 05/05/2019
K/O: 16:30
Venue: Emirates Stadium
TV: Sky Sports Main Event
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Arsenal host Brighton in a battle of two sides whose form has completely deserted them at the most crucial stage of the season.
The Gunners go into the game on the back of three consecutive league defeats to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester, with those defeats meaning the top-four battle is hanging on a knife-edge, albeit a redeemable one, after Tottenham were beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth on Saturday.
Unai Emery’s side finishing in the top-four will have to be found with a combination of six points from six in their remaining fixtures and a possible slip-up from Chelsea when they host Watford on Monday night.
Brighton ended their longest run ever without a goal when Pascal Gross equalised against Newcastle last Saturday. That point coupled with a nil-nil draw away at Wolves has seen Brighton edge slowly to safety after two damaging defeats in four days to Bournemouth and Cardiff in a winless run of seven games.
The Seagulls have now had their safety assured after Neil Warnock and Cardiff were beaten 3-2 by Palace, confirming their relegation to the Championship and giving Brighton and Hughton some much-needed relief.
Given Arsenal’s struggles recently it would take a brave person to back them to put Brighton to the sword. Emery has struggled to settle on an attacking system in recent weeks with Aubameyang and Lacazette job sharing at times.
Both forwards started and scored in the midweek first leg Europa League win against Valencia with Lacazette scoring two. The Frenchman has emerged as the more important Arsenal striker and it would be no surprise to see him rested on Sunday for the second leg next week.
Arsenal will be without Aaron Ramsey who has now played his last game for the club after a hamstring injury ruled him out for the season. The Welshman has been a terrific servant for the club and his departure to Juventus on a free remains a baffling situation and a worrying indication of the mismanagement of the club off-field.
Arsenal are also without the injured Hector Bellerin, Danny Welbeck, Dennis Suarez and Rob Holding as well as the suspended Ashley Maitland Niles. Emery’s biggest decision will be who to rest and what balance to strike between League and European progress.
Brighton will miss Suttner, Schelotto and Kayal, and also lost Davy Propper to a hamstring injury last week. Solly March is the likely beneficiary given his sparkling cameo against Newcastle.
The Seagulls may also decide to sacrifice Glenn Murray’s superior finishing to play Locadia or Andone to bring life to a team that has been turgid in the extreme in recent weeks.
The game will be another test for Emery to reproduce his big game expertise, again on show in the 3-1 win against Valencia, in the more mundane fixtures – the failure to do so once more on Sunday could be the end of Arsenal’s top-four ambitions.
Predicted Starting XIs
Arsenal (4-3-3): Leno; Lichsteiner, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal; Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Ozil; Aubameyang.
Brighton (4-4-1-1): Ryan; Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Bernardo; Stephens, March, Gross, Knockaert, Locadia; Andone.
Prediction: Arsenal 2 Brighton 0
