Did Arsenal’s ‘villains’ become Premier League winners on this night?
armoury. They have now been firmly projected as the villains of the Premier League title race – but on this crazy night brighton Maybe that’s what ultimately makes them the winners.
The Gunners, in all likelihood, will end up as unpopular, unloved champions as their heavy-handed approach comes under increasingly ineffective scrutiny, especially given the criticism they face for their aggressive tactics and the way they have handled key matches this season.
And there was more to come his way after Bukayo Saka’s early goal settled a controversial period of play, extending Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to seven points and creating a potentially decisive advantage.
Will Arsenal and manager Mikel Arteta care whether the means justify the end of a 22-year wait to win the Premier League? Unlikely.
Arteta’s side have been criticised for what outside observers consider to be the employment of the dark arts and an over-reliance on set-piece expertise to maintain their position at the top of the table.
The 1-0 victory at the Amex was truly unimpressive. In fact, calling it “ugly” is an insult to ugliness.
When the half-time whistle came, their xG was only 0.01 and there was hardly any improvement in the second half, as it took until the 88th minute for Kai Havertz to register his second effort on target. The end result was that they won by one goal for the 10th time this season.
This certainly did not look good for Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler, who spent almost the entire game angry at Arsenal’s tactics and what happened in front of them.
Gunners fans reacted jubilantly at the final whistle to their win and Manchester City’s failure to beat Nottingham Forest, making this beast of a triumph potentially a beauty.
As Arsenal celebrated and City slipped away, it looked like it could be a decisive night in this tense battle for the Premier League finishing line.
This is not a popularity contest. This is a title competition, which Arsenal is currently winning.
Herzeler, who clearly flagged Arsenal’s wasting of time before the game, saw no change in his opinion.
“I think there was only one team that tried to play football today,” Herzeler said, “and so I’m proud of how they did that.”
Herzeler said, “I will never be the kind of manager who tries to win that way. I want to perform well. I want my players to keep improving, to keep playing football on the pitch.”
“In the end, of course, every team will manage and waste time, but I think there should be a limit, and the limit has to be set by the Premier League. The limit has to be set by the referee; at the moment they do what they want.”
The Brighton boss added, “If I ask everyone in the room now if he’s really enjoyed this football game, I’m sure probably someone will raise their hand because he’s a huge Arsenal fan but other than that, there’s no chance.”
Arteta defended his corner, welcoming Herzeler’s criticism, saying, “What a surprise,” before saying, “You just go back to previous games and you always find a lot of comments like that.”
“I love my players. That’s the main thing. I love our players; we love our players and I love the way we compete.”
And on external criticism, Arteta responded, “I think they love our players. I mean, every time they talk about our players, I think they are loved the most in the country.”
“We take care of our garden,” he added.
