Arsenal make a short trip to the south coast to take on Brighton & Hove Albion in a match that will potentially be more difficult than it might first appear on paper. The 13th place Seagulls have been very formidable at home this season and they beat the Gunners 2-1 last March. The Gunners, so far, have been what we thought they would be in the summer- high scoring but also conceding plenty of goals.
They have yet to keep a clean sheet on the road this season and it is hard to conceive of that changing on Boxing Day. Let’s take a look at who Gunners boss Unai Emery could select for his first team in this one. Also, Merry Christmas everybody!
Emery will have one eye on this match, and another eye on the weekend fixture versus Liverpool in making his team selections. The Gunners need to take all three points from this one as they are squarely in the top four race now. Currently, they are level on points with fourth place Chelsea, but behind in goal differential.
The Bank Arsenal Predicted line-up (4-3-3) at Brighton & Hove Albion
Attack: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette,
Midfield: Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka
Defense: Sead Kolasinac, Laurent Koscielny, Sokraitis, Stephen Lichtsteiner
Goalkeeper: Bernd Leno
Arsenal FC at Brighton & Hove Albion FYIs
Kick-off: 5:15pm (BST), 12:15 pm (EST) Wednesday December 26, Falmer Stadium
Google Result Probability: Arsenal win 56%, Draw 26%, Brighton win-18%
Odds via Bet365: Arsenal win 8/11, draw 14/5, Brighton 9/2
Injury Report for both teams: go to this link
Prediction: Arsenal FC 2, Brighton 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.