Merry Christmas Gooners! Arsenal FC are top of the table in both the Premier League and the Champions League right now. So indeed Season’s Greetings to Arsenal and their supporters, as the 2025-26 campaign has been very good to them so far.
Will the holidays continue to be merry and bright when Arsenal hosts Brighton on Saturday?
Festive Fixtures FYIs
Arsenal vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Kickoff: Sat. Dec. 27th, 3pm, Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Arsenal Preview Material: Team News Starting Lineup Prediction
Google Result Probability: Arsenal win 69% Draw 19% Brighton win 12%
Premier League Standings, Form: Arsenal 1st, 39 pts, DWLWW Brighton 9th, 24 pts, WLDLD
Or will the Seagulls be a Grinch of sorts, and try to steal the Christmas spirit away from the North-London side and their fans?
Here is the best lineup that we think Arteta can select, with the ambitions of continuing to make this feel like “the most wonderful time of the year.”
And can we stop doing the Christmas puns already? We probably went a little too heavy on those.
Arsenal Predicted Starting XI vs Brighton & Hove Albion
David Raya; Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori, William Saliba, Jurrien Timber; Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard; Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.