2GS The Sunday Times November 28, 2021 3
PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
PAUL CHILDS
Arsenal eased off at the end, their pos-
session levels hovered around the 25
per cent mark and they played direct
to Callum Wilson and Joelinton. Their
artist, Saint-Maximin, was reimagined
as an artisan auxiliary left back.
However, during the game’s initial
phase, there were moments it seemed
they might snatch something. Their
best hope was Jonjo Shelvey’s shoot-
ing skills. After breaking upfield and
with the ball fed back to Shelvey, he
curled a sweet shot from 20 yards,
which Aaron Ramsdale, who was
again impressive, touched on to the
bar.
Shelvey threatened Ramsdale with
two further long-range efforts and,
after Wilson pressed Thomas Partey
to force a mistake, Fabian Schär
headed just over from the resulting
corner. For 40 minutes, Arsenal did
not play smartly enough. Smith Rowe
kept finding pockets of space and
being ignored while the passing was
too slow, meaning Saka kept receiving
the ball when Newcastle’s defence
was set.
It was when Saka switched wings,
just before half-time, that a clear
opportunity came. And what an
opportunity. Pierre-Emerick Aubam-
eyang could not miss it again if he
tried. Saka burst outside Jamaal Las-
celles, holding off the defender with
good upper-body strength, before
chipping to Smith Rowe in the middle.
Dubravka, recalled by Howe, par-
ried Smith Rowe’s header and the ball
dropped to Aubameyang, who was
just a few feet out. However, he lost
concentration and knocked his shot
against the post instead of into the
open goal. Arteta’s expression was as
if he had found a slug in his tapas.
Yet, having cut Newcastle apart
once, Arsenal gained the knowhow
and confidence to keep doing it again.
Among Howe’s issues is the paucity of
his back four, where Ritchie and
Krafth particularly struggled in the
full-back positions. The straw he
clutched at was that less than one min-
ute before Arsenal’s second goal,
Newcastle might have been awarded a
penalty. Wilson chased a through ball
and went over after coming together
with Tavares.
Stuart Attwell, the referee, was
probably correct in judging that
Wilson had initiated the contact and it
was shoulder-to-shoulder in any case.
Off Newcastle trooped, bottom of the
league, without a win — in any compe-
tition — since May.Diego Llorente stretches to deny an effort from Brighton forward Maupay
Graham Potter was fuming at the
Brighton & Hove Albion supporters
who booed this result, a goalless draw
hardly reflective of the dominance
the home side enjoyed, particularly
in the first half.
“We did everything but score and
showed great personality and great
courage,” said the Brighton head
coach, who went out of his way to
praise his players in the face of
supporter dissatisfaction. “We have a
couple of young players who are
pushing, but they are young and we
have to help them in their careers. We
are eighth in the Premier league and
it is even more surprising the reaction
we get from inside the ground at the
end of the game.”
Freezing conditions perhaps
heightened the sense of grievance at
the lack of goals to warm the mood.
The Leeds United goalkeeper Illan
Meslier made a handful of excellent
saves, but Neal Maupay was guilty of a
couple of bad misses in the first half.
Leeds were unable to cope with the
pace and trickery of Tariq Lamptey,
with Junior Firpo struggling on his
recall. The left back was booked in
the fifth minute for hauling down
Lamptey, who had just crossed only
for Jakub Moder to volley over.
Maupay missed the first of two
sitters on eight minutes as Lamptey’s
deflected shot landed at his feet, but
he blasted over. Brighton’s high press
and line, superbly marshalled by
Lewis Dunk, continually pinned
Leeds back in their own half and the
away side lost most of the 50-50s.
Leandro Trossard had a long-
distance shot from the edge of the
box brilliantly tipped on to the post
by Meslier and the ball then deflected
away. Leeds briefly threatened when
Raphinha’s free kick was deflected
into the path of Daniel James, but he
could only bundle wide. Meslier
pulled off another good save from
Trossard just after the half hour and
Lamptey again featured dangerously,
sending in another peach of a cross toPotter furious after
Brighton booed off
Maupay, but the forward’s
connection was faulty.
Marcelo Bielsa’s answer was two
half-time substitutions, with Firpo
replaced by Jamie Shackleton and
Kalvin Phillips, who had alternated
between centre half and midfield,
making way for Pascal Struijk. Stuart
Dallas was switched on to Lamptey
and Leeds looked better balanced.
Moments later, Dallas managed to
get himself on to the end of some
positive work from Struijk striding
forward and his shot troubled Robert
Sánchez, who could only beat the ball
away when it was fired straight at
him. With Leeds playing more on the
break, circumstances called for
Brighton to use guile rather than pace
to try to break the stalemate and a
quick throw by Joel Veltman into the
path of Pascal Gross almost yielded a
goal, but again Moder hit too high.
The ball was passed long by the
impressive Struijk to the Leeds
substitute Tyler Roberts, whose low
shot was saved by the feet of Sánchez.
The tiring Lamptey, on just his
third Premier League start since
returning from long-term injury, was
replaced by Solly March with 15
minutes left and the substitute made
an immediate impact as he shot from
long distance and forced another
good save from Meslier. Brighton
nearly undid their good work when
Adam Webster attempted a short pass
across his penalty area with Leeds
now pressing hard and when the
away side recycled the ball, Sánchez
saved well with his feet.Star man Illan Meslier (Leeds United).
Brighton & Hove Albion (4-1-4-1) R Sánchez 6 —
J Veltman 6, A Webster 6, L Dunk 7, M Cucurella 7
— Y Bissouma 6 — T Lamptey 8 (S March 76min),
P Gross 6, J Moder 6 (J Sarmiento 82), L Trossard 7
— N Maupay 6 (J Locadia 67, 6). Booked Bissouma.
Leeds United (4-2-3-1) I Meslier 8 — S Dallas 7,
D Llorente 6, L Cooper 7, J Firpo 5 (J Shackleton 46,
7) — A Forshaw 6, K Phillips 5 (P Struijk 46, 7) —
Raphinha 5, Rodrigo 5, J Harrison 5 (T Roberts 63, 7)
— D James 6. Booked Firpo, Llorente, Shackleton.
Referee C Pawson.Paul Rowan
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION
0LEEDS UNITED
0THE GAFFER TAPES
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID
MIKEL ARTETA
The second half
we had to be
patient, not to lose
structure in our
play. The finish and
the combination
from Bukayo Saka and the
composure to place the ball in the
right area was excellent. And
Gabby [Martinelli’s] great
movement, run, the ball as well,
the technique to keep the ball
down and have that quality to
finish, it’s impressive. Saka said he
felt something and he wasn’t
comfortable to continue. We’ll
have to assess him tomorrow. He
felt something muscular.EDDIE HOWE
I’m not seeking any
controversy here,
but the 50-50 calls
tended to go against
us. Against top clubs,
away from home, that
can happen. When Callum Wilson
gets goal side of the defender in
on goal, I don’t think he’s going to
go down in that situation unless
he’s fouled. The key moment came
with that one-on-one. When you’re
lacking in confidence you’ll
naturally attract criticism, and we’ll
have to take that and be broad-
shouldered. But if we stay
committed like we were today,
then we will have a chance.56 mins Arsenal
On ball
Off ball
BallMovement:Smith Rowe
Saka
Tavare s
Tavare s
Odegaard
Partey
Saka
Lokonga
Aubameyang
Arsenal's first goal was a flashback to the Wenger days. Left-back Nuno Tavares
was key. He started the move and provided the focal point from a midfield positionSAKA FINISHES OFF SEVEN-MAN, 15-PASS MOVE
Saka caps a brilliant team move to put Arsenal ahead against Newcastle
Arsenal v present top four
P3 L3 GD-11 Pts 0/9
Arsenal v teams below them
P10 W7 D2 L1 GD+9Pts 23/30
IT’S A TALE OF TWO
SEASONS FOR ARSENAL
After their next two games against
Norwich City and Burnley,
Newcastle and Howe face a series
of very difficult fixtures:
Leicester (A) Dec 12
Liverpool (A) Dec 16
Man City (H) Dec 19
Man Utd (H) Dec 27BLEAK MIDWINTER TO
COME FOR NEWCASTLE
P W D L F A Pts
Chelsea 12 9 2 1 30 4 29
Liverpool 13 8 4 1 39 11 28
Man City 12 8 2 2 25 6 26
West Ham 12 7 2 3 231423Arsenal 13 7 2 4 15 17 23Wolves 13 6 2 5 12 12 20
Tottenham 12 6 1 5 11 17 19
Brighton 13 4 6 3 12 14 18
Man Utd 12 5 2 5 20 21 17
Crystal Palace 13 3 7 3 19 19 16
Aston Villa 13 5 1 7 18 21 16Everton 12 4 3 5 16 19 15
Leicester 12 4 3 5 16 21 15
Southampton 13 3 5 5 11 18 14
Brentford 12 3 4 5 16 17 13
Watford 12 4 1 7 16 20 13
Leeds 13 2 6 5 122012Burnley 12 1 6 5 14 20 9
Norwich 13 2 3 8 7 27 9
Newcastle 13 0 6 7 15 29 66
Successive
away league
games against
Brighton in
which Leeds
have failed to
score