Arsenal take on Brighton on Saturday as they aim to avoid any slip-ups in order to maintain their five point lead at the top of the Premier League.
The Gunners continued their remarkable start to the season on their return to top flight action on Boxing Day as they came from behind to defeat West Ham 3-1 and now have the chance to extend their winning streak in the Premier League to five games.
However, the Seagulls have already taken points off Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea this season and closed the gap on the top four to six points with an emphatic 3-1 victory over Southampton five days ago.
Brighton vs Arsenal will kick-off at 5:30pm on Saturday, December 31 at the Amex Stadium.
This is already the second meeting between the two sides this season, following on from Brighton’s 3-1 victory over the Gunners in a Carabao Cup third round tie in November.
Eddie Nketiah put the hosts ahead in the 20th minute before former Gunner Danny Welbeck drew Brighton level with a penalty shortly after. Second half strikes from Kaoru Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey then turned the tie on its head to send the Seagulls through to the next round.
Moving on to the offensive unit, Eddie Nketiah stepped up well against West Ham United in Jesus’s absence. And Arteta heaped praise on the young striker’s mentality coming in as a backup option for the Gunners.
Arteta said, “That’s what we need from the players – we had a big blow with Gabby. Not having him had a big impact in the team but we always said that Eddie had the qualities. He needed the opportunities to show that and he did it again on Boxing Day.”
Nketiah will spearhead the attack against Brighton & Hove Albion, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli being the wide attackers. Tierney, Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira and Albert Sambi Lokonga will be among the backup options on the bench for the visitors.
Brighton vs Arsenal Live
HD1
HD2
