A couple of seasons ago, there was no media round-up after a 2-0 defeat for Albion away to Arsenal for the simple reason that the visitors were hardly mentioned in any of the reports.
There was an identical score on Sunday, but this time the writers in the Emirates Stadium saw plenty to admire in a dogged performance from Roberto De Zerbi’s men.
Albion “posed all sorts of complicated questions for Mikel Arteta’s side” according to Sam Dean of The Daily Telegraph.
“Brighton were the last visiting team to win at the Emirates, back in May, and they had arrived here with a plan to befuddle Arsenal. No other side in the division takes such a bold approach to defending against the biggest clubs, with De Zerbi instructing his players to man-mark their opponents all over the pitch. It made for a fascinating game, in which the usual rules of positional football did not seem to apply.”
In The i paper, Oliver Young-Myles wrote that “Brighton were unusually un-Brighton like; when Roberto De Zerbi’s side is at its tigerish best, their opponents barely have room to breathe. Injuries have bruised Brighton but fortunately their centre-backs were near faultless. Jan Paul van Hecke was superb. Dunk summed up their dogged determination, blocking a ferocious Martin Odegaard strike where it hurts.”
Sami Mokbel of The Daily Mail had heard that Arsenal play Abba songs in their dressing room, and squeezed as many references to the Swedish group as he could think of into his report.
“Arsenal have a dream,” he wrote. “It was anxious at times - but that’s often the name of the game. Indeed, this wasn’t a 90 minutes that saw Brighton resort to sending out an SOS. Yes, they were outplayed for the vast majority of this battle. But by the end, Arsenal endured some frightful moments that threatened their Christmas cheer.
“But, like super troopers, they held for a massive victory, and one that will exorcise a few lingering demons. It was here at the Emirates on May 14 that their Premier League challenge died a harrowing death with a 3-0 defeat which had Brighton’s Italian head coach Roberto De Zerbi crying ‘Mamma mia’ in delight.
“Brighton didn’t fold. On another day they could easily have scored an equaliser. Substitute Jack Hinshelwood should have done much better with a free header deep inside Arsenal’s box before Pascal Gross fired narrowly wide from close range in the 83rd minute. That was the chance for Brighton. De Zerbi knew it, too.”
Barney Ronay of The Guardian noted that “This is a relatively novel fixture, to the extent Arteta has been on the touchline for more than a third of all Arsenal versus Brighton games ever. Even in that limited time Brighton have still been able to attain mild bogey-team status, although here they always looked to be feeling the burn from their Europa League win over Marseille on Thursday.
“Brighton did have their chances. Pascal Gross might have equalised 10 minutes before the end but poked his shot wide from four yards out.”
Neil McLeman agreed in The Daily Mirror, “Back in balmy May, Brighton ended Arsenal’s title hopes with a brilliant 3-0 victory over Mikel Arteta's side... seven months and a transfer window later, the Gunners served up their revenge in the cold over the Europa League hopefuls.
“Since early summer, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz have arrived at Arsenal while Brighton have lost Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Levi Colwill.
“Sub Jack Hinshelwood registered Brighton’s first effort on goals four minutes later. After the outstanding Lewis Dunk blocked an Odegaard shot and cleared a White header off the line, the visitors should have equalised. Pedro released Mitoma but his cross was steered wide by Gross.”
On the BBC website, Jonathan Jurejko wrote that “Brighton are facing a different challenge this season as they juggle domestic and European campaigns with a squad stretched by injury.
“Three days after they clinched a place in the Europa League last 16, the Seagulls faced a tight turnaround for one of the toughest trips in the Premier League. Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi said they had only one training session to prepare for the game, but refused to look for excuses.
“Nevertheless, the game would have had a completely different complexion had Gross equalised. The German perhaps should have slid in with his right leg instead of his left and the miss contributed to Brighton not scoring for the first time in 33 Premier League games.”