At the Emirates Stadium on Saturday
afternoon, Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion will compete for the top place in the Premier League table, putting their perfect records on the line.
Last Saturday, the Gunners defeated
Manchester United 2-0 in the West
Midlands, ending their hoodoo against Aston Villa, while the Seagulls upset
Manchester United by winning two goals to one.
Unai Emery, the manager of Aston Villa, has a history of getting back at Arsenal since he was fired in 2019. This includes eliminating the Gunners from the 2020-21 Europa League semifinals with Villarreal and winning both of the Premier League titles last season.
Due to important interventions at both ends on the field, Arsenal remain one of the four teams to seven harvest six points out of six in the offer for the 2024-25 English Premiership season alongside Brighton &
Hove Albion, Liverpool and Manchester City that they will be facing consecutively.
The last eight top-flight matches that the Gunners have played have all been won and should Arteta help guide Arsenal to another victory on Saturday, they will have matched a nine-game Premier League winning streak set by the 'Invincibles' team in the 2003/2004 season.
Some of Arteta's achievements in his early days into the management has been described in worthwhile laud, but his counterpart this weekend is the former 18 year old Fabian Hurzeler who is already marking his nascent credentials on the South Coast.
Brighton continued their domestic campaign from a 3-0 victory over a makeshift Everton team to slice through wet and windy South Coast weather to dump Erik ten Hag's Man United out at the Amex, only Welbeck and Joao Pedro made differed Amad Diallo's consolation goal.
The Seagulls were still made to sweat in the closing stage as offside Joshua Zirkzee touchline helped Aleiandro Garnacho's effort over the line, but Saturday's visitors were fully deserving of the second competitive victory on the trot under Hurzeler, who also led the team to a 4-0 mauling of Crawley Town in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
Having boasted a perfect record in their last match against Oxford United under
Hurzeler, the 31-year-old is now the man in charge of writing a new success story for the Brighton, to break a capital jinx that haunted the Seagulls last season, as they struggled to find a way to log any victory over seven top-flight games on their travels to the London clubs in the following 2023-24 season.
However, the last thumping the Gunners managed to accomplish at the capital was a
3-0 Emirates rout in May 2023; still,
Arteta's squad managed to give as good as they received against the Seagulls last season, including a 3-0 away romp.
But the Spaniard's desire to exact revenge for his dismissal vanished last Saturday, as Leandro Trossard's clinical finish and Thomas Party's typical 20-yard goal (although with one or two assists from Emiliano Martinez) helped the Gunners to a victory that lifted spirits.
Although Trossard and Party's goals were significant, David Raya's stop of Ollie Watkins' close-range header inside the Arsenal area was maybe the game-changing moment. It will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest in Premier League history.
Gabriel Jesus was absent from the Villa
Park matchday squad and is anticipated to miss Saturday's match as well, despite pregame claims that he had a groin injury during training. It is not thought to be a major injury, though.
However, Jesus is added to Arsenal's list of injured players for the Seagulls match.
Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran
Tierney (hamstring) are also out. Mikel Merino, who was finally confirmed to be acquired from Real Sociedad this week after weeks of discussions, may make his debut there.
After the game, Hurzeler expressed his instant pessimism over 'Riley's diagnosis.
As a result, the former Celtic player will undoubtedly join Solly March (knee) on the Emirates sidelines, and it will be necessary to evaluate Brajan Gruda and Mats Wieffer's injuries.
After suffering an ankle injury in midweek, Evan Ferguson returned to the bench.
However, Welbeck, a former player for Arsenal, is expected to score in three straight Premier League games for the first time in ten years, so it is doubtful that the 19-year-old would replace him.
Turkish Euro 2024 star Ferdi Kadioglu, who was previously connected to a transfer to the Emirates Stadium, may also be in line for a left-back debut.
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