Arsenal drop points away to Brighton to dent title hopes- 5 talking points
The Gunners were missing several key players at the Amex, including Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz. Their absence was evident, as the team struggled for quality and had to settle for a frustrating draw.
Arsenal stumbled in the title race after being held to a 1-1 draw against Brighton on Saturday night, offering Liverpool the opportunity to extend their lead to eight points tomorrow.
Missing several key players, Mikel Arteta's side lacked sharpness against the Seagulls. While they made a promising start with Ethan Nwaneri's first-half goal, Joao Pedro's penalty leveled the score, leaving the Gunners frustrated.
Arsenal's performance was far from their best, and there is plenty to address with challenging fixtures against Newcastle, Manchester United, and Tottenham on the horizon.
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Nwaneri repays show of faith
Big things are expected of Ethan Nwaneri and after notching his second Premier League goal aged 17 you can see why.
With Arsenal lacking attacking options and hit by a string of absences, the teenager stepped up to fire home the opener for the Gunners.
Nwaneri picked up the ball on the right flank and raced into the area before calmly slotting into the corner.
Just as Luke Littler reminded us that a new star had been born by winning the World Darts Championship before his 18th birthday on Friday night, Nwaneri sent out a message that he is another teenager ready to take the Premier League by storm 24 hours later.
It was a shame for the youngster that Arteta decided to hook him at half time after the player picked up a yellow card - but there's no rush for him to make a further impact. He has plenty of years ahead of him.
Arsenal struggle without Odegaard and Havertz
Arsenal fans may have been worried when the team news first came out and they saw that both captain Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz were both out of the starting XI - with the latter left out of the matchday squad entirely.
The Gunners have been struggling with a bug going around the squad and Odegaard was not in a good enough condition to start. While boss Arteta revealed Havertz was likely to make the Brighton game, it was a surprise to see him missing from the teamsheet.
Without him, Arsenal struggled for creativity early on as Arteta deployed a midfield of primarily defensive-minded players in Declan Rice, Jorginho and Mikel Merino.
In a scrappy game, Arsenal needed more moments of quality and losing Odegaard and Havertz definitely deprived them of that, though they still managed to create four clear cut chances without both players.
Odegaard was subbed on in the 64th minute, but unfortunately for Arsenal he looked far from his best and couldn't inspire them to victory.
Jesus' honeymoon period is over
Over Christmas all the talk was about how Gabriel Jesus was rising up again as Arsenal's saviour after an incredible run that saw him net four goals in his last six games.
The Brazilian had previously been frozen out by Arteta but his re-introduction came at a time when Arsenal desperately needed goals after news that Bukayo Saka was set to miss two months of action.
But despite netting against Brentford last time out, he fired a blank against Brighton and looked a little off the pace after missing a handful of decent opportunities to extend Arsenal's lead.
Arteta will have been aware of Arsenal's struggles in front of goal even before Jesus came to the forefront again and he'll be pleased to see Jesus back in better form anyway - it can only benefit his squad.
But after Jesus failed to score here, he may see that his momentum could slow down as Arsenal prepare for two big cup games against Newcastle and Manchester United, in which Arteta is expected to switch up his team.
After that, the Gunners have two tough games against Tottenham and Aston Villa, so it will be much tougher for Jesus to impress for the next few weeks.
Is Pedro what Arsenal need?
Arsenal's lack of a reliable No 9 was highlighted against Brighton as Nwaneri took on the goalscoring burden - and the team struggled after he was taken off at half time.
But one man who showed what Arsenal could be missing was scoring at the opposite end after the break as Joao Pedro netted the coolest penalty you're likely to see.
The Brazilian looked lively during the game as he scored the second goal in as many games against Arsenal this season - after netting an equaliser to draw the reverse game 1-1 at the Emirates last year.
Arsenal have been linked with a January move for Joao Pedro and they could do worse than having someone of the 23-year-old's quality in their ranks.
This season, Pedro has shown he can get the goals but also turn provider. He laid on two assists in the team's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa in the previous game, taking his tally to five goals and five assists for the season.
Not much to see for Tuchel
New England boss Thomas Tuchel raced over to the Amex from Tottenham vs Newcastle, which is a pretty long journey from London to Brighton.
There was plenty to enjoy for the German in that game as English stars both Dominic Solanke and Anthony Gordon both hit the back of the net.
But he might have been disappointed after travelling all the way to the south coast only to be disappointed by a lack of English stars impressing.
There were no realistic England stars in the Brighton team - with only Adam Webster coming off the bench.
Declan Rice didn't have the best day at the office, while there was no chance for young Myles Lewis-Skelly to come on and dazzle Tuchel. At least he was able to see Nwaneri shining after getting on the scoresheet - though it will likely be a while before the youngster becomes a key part of his Three Lions squad.
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