Arsenal closed Boxing Day as leaders, but had to break a sweat. The team that Mikel Arteta won against … Brighton 2-1 in a match in which they went from more to less and in which this time they did not know how to manage the score. Own goals from Odegaard and Rutter gave way to an unleashed rival that put the Emirates on edge with a goal from Diego Gómez and a chance from Minteh that was miraculously saved by David Raya to maintain the lead in the Premier League.
And it was not an easy day for the Gunners. Arteta’s men jumped to the Emirates Stadium with the buzz still in their ears of a Manchester City that had just risen to the lead after winning at the City Ground. Arteta’s men digested that pressure with the same solvency that they have had throughout the entire season. The Basque coach styled a 4-3-3 in which Declan Rice was many things. He was a right winger and at the same time muscle for a midfield that, once again, was going to be key. Rice himself was there at times and also Zubimendi, Mikel Merino and an Odegaard who is once again that player who once marveled in the Premier League.
The Norwegian is key in ball circulation and also in forward pressure that was soon going to bear fruit after a robbery and a quick play that ended at his feet. Odegaard fired from the front and paved Boxing Day for Arteta’s team. From there a rollercoaster was unleashed. Arsenal play by memory. He knows when to take a step forward, when to give up meters and when to sleep the shock. In the first act he slowed down after the goal and ended up besieging Brighton at will, which was miraculously saved from the second thanks to a stellar appearance by Verbruggen.
After the restart, the second goal fell under its own weight. So much was the pitcher to the fountain that finally it was Brighton himself who ended up shooting himself in the foot. It was after a cross from Declan Rice that Rutter ended up deflecting against his own goal. The goal woke up a Brighton team that improved with the changes and tied the match in the last half hour. Diego Gómez closed the gap after a rebound in the area and the Seagulls put fear into the Emirates with a final stretch in which David Raya emerged to be the hero and save the Gunner victory with a prodigious intervention on a shot from Minteh.
The City, a rebufo
Two hours earlier, Manchester City had fulfilled its mission of putting pressure on Arsenal. Pep’s men added spice to Boxing Day by beating Nottingham Forest 1-2 at the City Ground thanks to a sensational Rayan Cherki. The Frenchman assisted Reijnders in the first goal and scored the second with a whip from the edge of the area that allowed Guardiola’s team to add their eighth consecutive victory and keep the Premier League in their grasp.
And it was not a simple meeting. City hit a wall in the first half and were unable to transform their positional dominance into dangerous chances. Everything changed in a second act in which Cherki emerged in the three-quarter zone to turn everything upside down. He did it first with a pinpoint pass to Reijnders to open the scoring and then with a tight shot from the edge of the area that diluted Hutchinson’s tie and made Guardiola euphoric, who ended up celebrating the victory with the displaced citizen fans and knowing that he had won a battle in one of the most complicated stadiums in the Premier.
Liverpool reengages
Far from the head is a Liverpool that little by little is regaining its pulse. After a start full of surprises, Arne Slot’s men added their third straight win this Boxing Day after beating Wolverhampton at home. They did it without much fanfare, managing a 2-0 lead in the first half after goals from Gravenberch and Wirtz, and suffering in the final stretch after Santiago Bueno’s goal after the break. The Reds are already in the Champions League positions and looking for sensations ahead of the KO tournaments and a Champions League that they once again have between their eyes.
