Arsenal crashed to a 2-1 defeat away from home to Brighton this week.
The Gunners surrendered a 1-0 lead till 75th minute of the match, to hand the home side a massive boost in their fight for survival.
Brighton went into the game needing a good result and Graham Potter’s men will be delighted to have picked up the three points.
Arsenal suffered a blow in the match against Manchester City, as Xhaka and Pablo Mari picked injuries, and David Luiz picked marching orders and hence match-suspension.
Today was no different. Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leo suffered an injury, and he’d to be carried off the field with a stretcher. He screamed at Neal Maupay, the Brighton striker while being carried out off the field. He collided with the French forward moments back, and aggravated his knee.
Arsenal vs Brighton – Goals
Nicolas Pepe had given the Gunners a second half lead but Brighton fought back with two goals in their final 15 minutes from Neal Maupay and Lewis Dunk.
Maupay scored the winner deep into injury time and Arsenal will be devastated with the outcome.
Since the resumption of the Premier League, Arsenal have now lost twice. Manchester City thrashed them 3-0 and now the defeat against Brighton will put Mikel Arteta under a lot of pressure.
It will be interesting to see how the Gunners bounce back from this in their next few games.
Arsenal are very unlikely to play in the Champions League next season after their last two results. Chelsea were already ahead of them in fourth place and if the Blues win their next two, the lead could prove to be insurmountable.
Meanwhile, Brighton will now fancy their chances of beating the drop. The Seagulls are now 15th in the table, five points clear of the drop zone.
As for Arsenal, they are 9th with just 40 points from 30 league games.
Reactions
I believe that no player has the intention to hurt anybody and I believe in this case it’s exactly the same, it was unfortunate. Bernd’s injury doesn’t look good and we will have to assess him probably tomorrow, but it can happen on a football pitch. It’s a knee injury, I think he had a hyperextension of the knee and we have to assess the damage.
Mikel Arteta, on Neal Maupay’s challenge on Bernd Leno
We don’t know [the full extent]. He was in a lot of pain but we will have to wait until tomorrow to see how bad the damage is.
Mikel Arteta, on Bernd Leno’s injury
No, I don’t think that’s the case because a lot of things happened afterwards, we scored the goal and we had more than enough opportunities to put the game to bed so we can’t use it as an excuse.
Mikel Arteta, on if Leno’s injury impacted our players’ performance
Brighton – Starting Eleven
Ryan, Schelotto, Webster, Dunk, Burn, Pröpper, Bissouma, Mooy, Groß, Trossard, Maupay.
Arsenal – Starting Eleven
Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac, Pepe, Ceballos, Guendouzi, Saka, Aubameyang, Lacazette
