Arsenal vs Brighton: Team to win, Players to watch, and Arteta's strongest line-up

By Danong

Arsenal and Brighton open this weekend's PL action in the early kickoff on Saturday. The Seagulls, like the North Londoners, still have a perfect record this new PL campaign, so when the two sides clash, something has to give.

 

 Under new tactician Fabian Hurzeler, Brighton have beaten Everton 3-0 and thrashed Manchester United 2-1. They will be hoping to outmanoeuvre Arsenal, who have already defeated Wolves and Aston Villa with identical 2-0 victories in their first 2 games of the season.

 

According to some prediction sites, Arsenal, who've won the last two meetings (against Brighton) 3-0 and 2-0, are the favourites going into that clash. However, this fixture has consistently been tight, with most wins occurring in the second half. Of the 14 goals scored when the two clashed in the league, 11 came in the second half.

 

Speaking of goals, Arsenal, ever since the start of last season, have only failed to score twice at home (versus West Ham and Aston Villa). Therefore, you can confidently predict that the Gunners will score; in fact, many believe that star player Kai Havertz, who strangely failed to score or assist last weekend, will resume his goal-scoring ways.

In his last 9 PL games of last season, the German scored 8 goals and 7 assists; he then assisted and scored in this season's match day 1, hinting he'd carried that form to this season.

Bukayo Saka, along with Havertz, is an exciting player to watch in the game. The Englishman with a goal and two assists already this season has been off to a stellar start; he's looked sharp despite the Euros disappointments, losing to Spain with England in the European Championship Finals.

On the other hand, Brighton's Danny Welbeck and Joao Pedro are players to watch out for. Welbeck, who's scored two in two games, could just be finding his stride and may get his first league goal against his former employer, Arsenal. 

Joao Pedro, aiming to enhance his impressive performance of scoring 20 goals across all categories last season, anticipates posing a threat to the Arsenal defence in the free role he has taken this new season.

 

Arsenal will need to be defensively solid and sustain their form against Brighton, who haven't been able to score past them in the last 2 games.

 

I anticipate that Mikel Arteta will field his strongest team, which couldn't be stronger than

 

Raya

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber

Partey, Rice, Odegaard

Saka, Havertz, Trossard

 

Why those 11? Since he's still acclimatising to the team, Riccardo Calafiori is unlikely to start, but he could be a bench option. Trossard replaces Gabriel Martinelli, who needs the perfect reminder to step up his game.

That said, what would you change in Arsenal's predicted lineup above for the clash with Brighton?

Imposing Hale End star, the ultimate Thomas Partey heir, looks set to save Arteta millions

By Danong

Could Mikel Arteta have already found the ideal Thomas Partey heir? And are we fortunate that he has given us the pleasure of watching him in the past few weeks?

The Gunners have spent the last three weeks on a pre-season tour in the United States, where they have had the opportunity to play pre-season friendly matches against Premier League opponents Bournemouth, Manchester United, and Liverpool.

Aside from the 2-1 loss against the Reds, our Gunners won all of the other friendly games.

The preseason allows players to remind managers of their abilities and persuade them to incorporate them into their plans for the upcoming season.

Mikel Arteta handed academy star Myles Lewis Skelly a chance in preseason (he appeared in every game in the United States), and he took advantage of it.

For the past few months, academy coaches have been training Lewis Skelly, a midfielder, to play inverted left-back.

Watching the 17-year-old play fullback and outperform Oleksander Zinchenko, as he did in his cameo against Liverpool, brings back memories of the Bukayo Saka left-back period, when the Arsenal right-winger initially emerged.

Anyway, why is Lewis Skelly playing out of position? Coaches can experiment with players in various roles early in their development to produce exceptionally adaptable and high-IQ football players.

Given the "lack of room" in the Arsenal midfield, it's likely that Arteta, who has other plans for Lewis Skelly, is simply acclimatising the youngster to the first team as a left back, similar to Saka's introduction as a fullback, before moving to the right wing.

You're probably wondering how Lewis Skelly, playing as an inverted fullback, transforms him into the perfect 6, the Thomas Partey heir.

Playing left-back teaches the Hale End star how to dominate the tempo in possession and strike the right balance between progressive and slow play.

While out of possession, he will improve as a 1v1 defender when isolated against wingers, as well as learn to be a 1v1 dominator, for which he possesses many of the necessary traits.

Lewis Skelly's experience at left back could lead to him becoming a more well-rounded 6 as a Partey replacement, while also being able to play inverted left-back and even LCM if needed.

Ethan Nwaneri has received a lot of hype ahead of next season, but Lewis Skelly could also have a breakout season as well.