Arsenal host Brighton at the Emirates in their penultimate Premier League game in 2025. The Gunners are looking to remain atop the Premier League table and hold off more than a bit of a charge from Manchester City. The Seagulls are winless in their last four Premier League matches (2 draws, 2 losses) and have […]
Arsenal host Brighton at the Emirates in their penultimate Premier League game in 2025. The Gunners are looking to remain atop the Premier League table and hold off more than a bit of a charge from Manchester City. The Seagulls are winless in their last four Premier League matches (2 draws, 2 losses) and have fallen into a tie for 9th in the table. Arsenal cannot afford to drop points at home in the PL, pretty much from here on in. It’s going to be a long, stressful second half of the campaign (and we aren’t actually halfway through quite yet).
Brighton have done well against Arsenal, particularly away. It’s their tied-second best winning percentage among away opponents in the club record books. Last season, they drew at the Emirates early in the season. You’ll remember that match as the one where Declan Rice got a second yellow card for delaying the restart — nudging away a ball that had been rolled into him by Joel Veltman. The clubs drew at the AmEx, too. William Saliba was whistled for a penalty on a clash of heads with Joao Pedro in the Arsenal box. Replays showed that Saliba got a touch to the ball before knocking heads with the attacker but apparently that only matters if you scythe someone down with a wild challenge on the ground, not in the air.
Arsenal owe Brighton one (a couple). The Gunners did down the Seagulls 2-0 in the Carabao Cup earlier this season on the strength of goals from Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwaneri, who has scored in both of his appearances against Brighton (once this season and once last season). The last eight goals Brighton have scored against Arsenal have all come in the second half, and the Gunners have seen five 90+ minute goals in their last seven Premier League games.
Mikel Arteta will be without the services of Gabriel and Cristhian Mosquera. The Brazilian is edging closer to making his return, with some reports suggesting the match on December 30th is in play, which would surprise me a bit at this point. The Ecuadorian is out for several more weeks with his ankle problem. Ben White is out but his hamstring injury isn’t as significant as initially feared, and he should return to the mix soon. Gabriel Martinelli, who picked up a knock against Crystal Palace, should be good to go. Piero Hincapie, who missed the Palace match presumably with the shoulder problem suffered in the opening minutes against Everton, is expected to be available for selection. Kai Havertz has returned to Arsenal training but is likely not ready to feature. Max Dowman will be out until February.
Brighton have a slew of positive injury news — Jan Paul van Hecke, Danny Welbeck, and Mats Wieffer are all ready to return to the squad. Lewis Dunk and Diego Gomez are both back from suspension. But Carlos Baleba, arguably their most important and best player, is away at AFCON.
Lineups will be posted when available.
WHO: Arsenal vs Brighton & Hove Albion
WHERE: The Emirates
WHEN: Saturday, December 27th, 7:00 am PT | 10:00 am ET | 3:00 pm GMT
HOW TO WATCH: Broadcast live on the USA network. Streaming on the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com
For all your international streaming needs, check LiveSoccerTV.com. Please do not share or discuss links to illegal streams here.
Category: General Sports
