Match report – Player Ratings – Arteta response – Video
Arsenal are through to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup after a 2-0 win over Brighton last night.
Mikel Arteta rang in the substitutions and made 10 in total from the team that defeated Crystal Palace on Sunday. Eberechi Eze was the only starter from that game to keep his place, but he was deployed on the left as Ethan Nwaneri played in midfield. There was a first start for summer signing Piero Hincapie, a first senior start for Max Dowman and a full debut for young forward Andre Harriman-Annous.
As you’d expect, we were a bit disjointed initially, and Brighton probably should have taken advantage of that. They had two glorious chances to score, one which Kepa Arrizabalaga stopped with a decent save (although I thought it was a poor effort too), and one from a break after an Arsenal corner which they put wide with only the keeper to beat. I think it’s also fair to say that the visitors had the better of the opening 45 minutes, with 10 shots to our 3, and what we had to offer from an attacking perspective wasn’t particularly threatening.
Dowman was probably our best player in the first half, running into their defense often and to good effect. He combined well with Ben White at times, and for 15-year-olds against grown men it was another demonstration of the talent and potential he has. Everyone knows that, but what was more interesting for me was seeing his defensive awareness and willingness to chase back, because we know that’s what the manager demands of his wingers.
It was also very pleasing to see the manager resist the temptation to go to his star-studded bench at the break and show confidence in the starting XI. I thought both Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri found the first 45 a bit of a stretch. The former had some physical battles where he came out on top, and the latter couldn’t really impose himself in the opposition half. Talk about a game of two halves for both, and for Arsenal too. We were much better after the break, Nwaneri started to get himself into positions where he could release his left foot, and Lewis-Skelly got to grips with the fight and started to influence things on the ball as well.
The opening goal came after some very nice, patient football from us in the build-up, with 16 or 17 passes to a Brighton defense that was in its own half with 11 men behind the ball. When faced with this type of defensive formation we have often used set pieces to break the game open, but this time it was an excellent back heel from Mikel Merino who saw Lewis-Skelly’s run off the back of Georginio Rutter. He played the ball through to Nwaneri, whose first-time finish beat the keeper to make it 1–0 with his first goal of the season. He now holds double figures for Arsenal’s goals scored, a small milestone but worth noting.
Open game, and also very nice open game? It doesn’t matter if we do. This team is not a one-trick pony. It’s a multi-trick… er… horse. Or something like that. Just a beautiful goal, and it was great to see the two grizzled veterans of Hale End pull it off together. It’s easy to forget that Nwaneri and MLS are only 18 and 19 years old respectively. There have been a lot of questions about their playing time this season, but they are still so young in the grand scheme of things, so let’s give them a chance to develop in a ‘normal’ way. Contributions like last night will really help.
I don’t really remember Brighton threatening an equalizer despite making changes to change the dynamics of the game. Arteta responded in kind, and as Jurrien Timber drove down the line into their half, a good pass found Harriman-Annous’ clever run. It would have been really romantic if he had scored, but the keeper saved. Don’t worry, Bukayo Saka was there to pick up the ball and shoot it home to make it 2-0.
And so it stayed. Fabian Hurzeler, perhaps weighed down by that woolly vest-hoodie thing he was wearing, could do nothing to change the score. He may have some regrets that his team didn’t make the most of their chances in the first half, but based on the second 45 I think we deserved to go through.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta was delighted that he could make so many changes and still get the result against very decent opposition, saying:
A very special evening, to be honest, very happy for several reasons. It is clear that we are in the quarter-finals, we won the match against a very difficult opponent. We made ten changes, we played players who had never played together before, and yet we had two big debuts for Max and Andre. That feeling of giving someone a chance and making a dream come true is unique. I am very happy that it turned out very positively and that we were able to win the match.
And about the depth of his team:
When we need them, they are there and ready. Again, we have a lot of injured players on the front line, so we could see that we have the depth. But today we already had trouble with some positions and it is October. We’ll need them. It was a great test for them and I learned a lot from it.
Let’s not forget that this was an Arsenal squad without William Saliba, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke, all of whom are injured. I don’t think we’ll ever have a completely clean bill of health, but the fact that some of these players are returning soon gives the manager so many different options and hopefully allows us to get the right results and performances.
A quick word for a few other players. With the exception of one mistake, I thought Cristhian Mosquera looked very good again, and it was important to get minutes from White and Hincapie, who have been on the fringes this season due to injuries. In the goal, Kepa showed the value of a good experienced number 2 goalkeeper, and while some sometimes questioned Merino, I thought last night was a good example of how his seniority, and somewhat underrated technical level, was a good glue for those around him.
The reward for beating Brighton is a quarter-final against Crystal Palace, which will take place on December 16 or 17, but there could be problems with that. Palace play Man City on Sunday, December 14 (on Sky Sports) and have a Europa Conference League match against Finnish side KuPS scheduled for Thursday, December 18. Where exactly this cup tie fits in, I have no idea, but that’s a problem for someone else to figure out.
For now we can put the EFL Cup aside and focus back on the Premier League and our trip to Burnley on Saturday. Okay, I’ll leave it at that for now. I’ll have an Arsecast for you sometime today, but I’m not entirely sure when it will be released. It may well be afternoon, but it will be later.
Have a good one.
#Arsenal #Brighton #Hale #Enders #rally