Nick Ames was at the Amex, and his report has landed. You know what to do. Click click clickity click! Thanks for reading this MBM.
Brighton were the better team, but lacked the cutting edge required to take all three points
Updated
Sat 2 Oct 2021 14.43 EDT
First published on Sat 2 Oct 2021 11.30 EDT
Live feed
Key events
Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale talks to Sky. He thinks his side can be happy with a point, given that the performance has to be better. He’s got a lot of time for Brighton’s pressing game, and accepts that Arsenal were stifled and underperformed.
Brighton’s Dan Burn has a word with Sky Sports. He thinks Brighton had some good positions, and could have scored, but a draw seems about right. He’s disappointed about the chance he missed, but the 6ft 7in defender jokes that he never scores headers. He’s also very pleased with the addition to the team of the superb Marc Cucurella.
The point is enough to lift Brighton into fifth place on 14 points, one ahead of champions Manchester City, who play their game in hand tomorrow at Liverpool. Arsenal move into ninth on ten points, one ahead of Brentford; the Bees play their extra game at West Ham tomorrow.
FULL TIME: Brighton and Hove Albion 0-0 Arsenal
A share of the spoils. Brighton had the best of it, but lacked a cutting edge up front. Same old story. An undercooked Arsenal will be pleased to get out of Dodge with a point.
90 min +3: Gabriel was lightly tugging Duffy’s arm, but while you could make a case either way, it wasn’t an obvious error.
90 min +2: MacAllister swings it in. The ball goes out for a goal kick. Duffy claims to have been hauled down by Gabriel, but VAR checks and there’s nothing doing.
90 min +1: Partey is booked for a clumsy clatter into Trossard. A free kick out on the left.
90 min: Cucurella, who has been outstanding this evening, whistles a low cross into the mixer from the left. White hacks clear. There will be three added minutes.
89 min: Saka is down injured. He holds the back of his leg. He’s good to get up and trudge off, but he’ll be replaced by Maitland-Niles.
88 min: Duffy wins a shoulder charge with Smith-Rowe as the pair chase a ball in the Brighton box. Arsenal want the penalty, but it’s never a foul, and both referee and VAR operative agrees.
87 min: ... Duffy heads inches wide left from close range. What a chance to win all three points!
86 min: A ball wedged into the Arsenal box from the left. March heads down for Maupay, who was waiting to tap home when Ramsdale intervenes. The parried ball is deflected out for a corner, from which ...
85 min: Lallana threads a pass down the right for Trossard, who sends a first-time flick further wide to March. The sub romps infield and reaches the edge of the Arsenal box, where he bangs a not-particularly-fierce shot straight at Ramsdale.
84 min: As September makes way for October, Gross makes way for March.
82 min: Like London buses ... now Cucurella forces Ramsdale into a save, driving low from a tight angle on the left, and Trossard’s attempt at returning the loose ball is blocked. Corner, from which Arsenal try to break, and Veltman is booked for a cynical foul on Lacazette.
81 min: Trossard belts a long-range effort straight at Ramsdale. For all Brighton’s pretty play, that’s their first effort on goal.
80 min: Dunk hooks the second corner clear. Arsenal are finally showing some gumption in attack.
79 min: Pepe looks offside as he picks up possession down the right, but the flag stays down and he wins a corner off Cucurella. That one leads to another, on the opposite side.
78 min: Moder makes way for Mac Allister.
76 min: Partey pings Smith-Rowe into acres of space down the inside-right channel. Smith-Rowe slaloms into the box and aims for the bottom right. Sanchez reacts well to kick out for a corner. Duffy heads the resulting set piece clear, albeit down onto his arm. VAR has a check, but his arm was right by the side of his body, and there’ll be no spot kick.
74 min: Maupay is booked for an overly excitable tackle on Gabriel.
73 min: A corner for Brighton on the right. Dunk and Burn cause all sorts of bedlam, but the flag eventually pops up for offside.
72 min 29 sec: Lightning does not strike twice.
72 min: Lacazette, who scored after 29 seconds as a sub here last season, comes on for Aubameyang.
70 min: Cucurella crosses again from the left. Burn tees up Trossard, who blasts a shot goalwards. It’s deflected onto poor Saka’s face. Brighton fans claim a penalty; the players do not.
68 min: Trossard barrels down the middle. He’s got the chance to slip Maupay clear, but doesn’t release the ball in time. Instead, after a fine run, he feeds Cucurella down the left. Cucurella crosses and Lallana cushions the ball down for Maupay, who sends a spectacular overhead kick high and wide.
66 min: The resulting corner is played back to Smith-Rowe, who swings into the Brighton mixer. Sanchez spills, and clatters into Dunk and Gabriel while doing so. Brighton clear, and after some treatment to Dunk, play resumes.
64 min: Pepe’s first act is to slip a pass down the left for Tierney, who wins a corner. The move had been started by Smith-Rowe, who slipped a ball down the middle for Aubameyang, who had the chance to shoot from 25 yards but hesitated in the carefree style.
63 min: Odegaard is hooked in favour of Pepe.
62 min: Tomiyasu is also well below par this evening, having been outmuscled and outjumped on several occasions by Cucurella. Here he allows himself to be bullied into touch by Trossard, running the ball out of play.
60 min: Brighton have enjoyed 58 percent possession so far. Arsenal are giving the ball away an awful lot, Odegaard a particularly notable culprit.
58 min: ... Smith-Rowe swings in from the right. Sanchez punches clear. Partey returns a shot, sending the ball miles over the bar. Better from Arsenal, though that’s not saying much.
57 min: ... so having said that, Saka wins Arsenal’s first corner of the evening, down the right. And from the set piece ...
56 min: Trossard clips a clever ball in from the left, between two defenders, to release Moder into a little space. Moder goes for the spectacular, sweeping a rising shot towards the top right. It’s always wide and high, but not by too much. Brighton are working their way back on top after a slow start to the half.
55 min: A free kick for Brighton out on the left. Gross wedges it to the far post, where it’s easily cleared by Arsenal.
54 min: Aubameyang is sprung clear by Partey! He reaches the box, rounds Sanchez on the left and with the net gaping ... allows Duffy to extend a leg and prod out for a corner! The flag goes up for offside, though Duffy wasn’t to know that; it was a superb intervention.
53 min: Lokonga has the chance to slip Tierney into space down the left. He opts instead to shift the ball inside, drop a shoulder, and larrup a shot high and wide from distance.
51 min: A chance for Trossard to shoot, just to the left of the D. He overthinks it and the opportunity is soon gone.
50 min: Gross spins Lakonga with ease down the right, then shifts the ball inside for Lallana, who shuttles it further infield to Moder. On the edge of the box, Moder tries the no-backlift curler into the top right. Just wide, but Ramsdale was rooted to the spot there.
48 min: Odegaard nearly releases Saka with a cute flick down the inside-right channel, but Burn, perhaps unsurprisingly, wins a physical battle, keeping his man at arm’s length before whipping clear.
47 min: A slow start to the second half, Moder having been down awhile upon being kicked accidentally by Partey. He’s up again and good to continue.
Brighton get the second half underway. No changes ... and that includes the weather, the wind and the rain continuing to swirl viciously about Falmer.
Half-time reading. Richard Jolly’s take on earlier events at Old Trafford has just landed. Here you go!
HALF TIME: Brighton and Hove Albion 0-0 Arsenal
The visitors will be much the happier with this scoreline. Brighton have played some lovely football, but it’s that familiar story: no cutting edge.
45 min: Arsenal have finally woken up, just in time for the half-time whistle. A couple of low crosses from the left cause a bit of trouble, Smith-Rowe nearly finding Aubameyang, six yards out, Tierney setting off a brief game of pinball. Brighton clear.
43 min: On the touchline, Graham Potter, sporting his Frankie Boyle meets Mike Love beard, frowns in frustration, arms folded. He’ll be wondering how his team aren’t in front. They’ve utterly dominated, but have no reward.
41 min: ... and yet, after all this, Arsenal could easily be in the lead. Some good work by Saka and Smith-Rowe down the right, and the ball is pulled back for Partey, whose low drive flies inches wide of the bottom right.
39 min: Veltman, Moder and Trossard paint some pretty triangles down the inside-right channel. Moder can’t quite spin into space on the edge of the six-yard box. Arsenal mop up, but only after being given the runaround for a while.
38 min: Cucurella has Tomiyasu on toast. He burns past him down the left, having won the right to do so by gaining the upper hand during an in-flight tussle. The resulting corner is hit long, Duffy billowing the side netting by sending the ball slapping off his thigh. Arsenal are shipping plenty of chances. A more clinical side would already be home and hosed.
36 min: Smith-Rowe is bundled over, 35 yards from goal, by Duffy. Partey lines up the free kick, and finds the top-right corner ... of the stand behind the goal. That’s wild and not particularly wonderful, and very much enjoyed by the majority of the crowd.
34 min: Cucurella, out on the left, heads into the path of the marauding Trossard, who lashes wildly over the bar from 25 yards.
33 min: The final ball is killing Brighton. Again and again they snaffle the ball off Arsenal; again and again there’s one flicked pass too many, one little over-elaboration too far.
31 min: The ball’s swung into the box from the right again. Maupay goes for the spectacular, and nearly sends a bicycle kick into the top left, but the ball sails wide. Arsenal are being overrun, though Brighton may start to worry that they’ve got nothing to show for all their swagger.
