That &*$%ing goodness for VAR.

Bollocks. Surely we can't throw this away. Phew offside.

Every substitute should be docked a weeks wage

It was then.

Less fun now. Starting to feel like the old Newcastle away game.

Ronaldo’s new weekly wage perhaps.

El nenny total shite. No pressure on the ball

Looks like it's ours now. Like I said earlier this is a good Brighton side who will give anybody a game so a splendid win despite the hairy moments near the end.

Seriously though can you blame him for going there though.

That’s Monopoly money literally

14-1-1

Quite astonishing.

No I couldn’t blame him at all. Makes enormous sense in his position.

It is.

3 points, that's all that matters

Bloody hell I’ve enjoyed my football this year.

Flu permitting I’ll be at the Newcastle game. (Everyone I know has it!) Happy new year folks. A difficult one for the Forum this year but next year we have the footballing skys limit. Do yourself a favour, listen to great music, drink great wine, visit great places and have laughs with great mates.

HNY

Happy new year TG and everybody on the forum, I'm getting stuck into the happy juice now and it tastes even better after a win and a look at the table.
Cheers!

Too true G7 .... I'd think it would be seen as a milestone game if we do win the league . Brighton is the start of a stinky period in the fixture list , Newcastle next up [ they were like an army ant colony on the move against Leicester swarming everywhere attack attack attack ] then it's Spurs , then Man U a "breather " against Brentford then it's Man City .
I was thinking if we lose v Brighton maybe a draw v the Geordies , Kane and Song decide to turn up , the normal loss to the Mancs and things could unravel .
very quickly
Brighton's passing was excellent ; thank God their " third "goal was ruled out I wouldn't have put big money on us holding on , 4 - 4 would have been a disaster for our confidence .

Happy new year Brom. Get stuck in son !

Alls well that ends well. It was good that they got minutes.

A case could have been made for substituting Saka too. He ran out of steam a bit I thought.

Happy New Year to all. Great result. Saka and Martenelli came back from the WC with such self belief. It’s like they now realise they are as good as the best out there. For Martin O the rest has been good.

Happy New Year to you all.

Amazingly this is a better start than the invincible year. Possibly our best start ever but I haven't checked any stats.

I like that our goals were spread out and the goals came to players who we need to keep scoring while Jesus is out.

Shaky time or two but when you are up 3-0 and a young squad you tend to take your foot off the gas too much. We've seen that from our most experienced side almost a couple decades ago because the goals came way too easy.

Some big 'ifs' but if we can beat Newcastle and Chelsea take points off City, is 9 points enough? We know what City can do. They can win 7, 8, 9 games straight.

If An Arsenal player pulled off the Haaland tackle, what do you think would have happened?

We aren't publicly putting pressure on ourselves. We are also not giving City motivation by publicly being confident about our chances of a title.

I think quietly, among the players they are thinking it. They have to. I like that Arteta is only talking about 'improving' with each game.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64137617

Happy New Year to everyone.

A few thoughts on yesterday's game.

Fantastic result at a very tough place to go.

Ødegaard was just outrageously good. Saka's touch and finish was sublime.

Lamptey had a relatively good game against Martinelli and yet he still scored one, set up Eddies and had a part in Saka's. Football is mad sometimes.

Partey was great, as was Ben White.

Saliba was woeful for the second game running. His concentration and decisionmaking were not good. I am a little concerned.

Ramsdale was not great either, his distribution was good as always but I think he could have done better with the Saliba error and generally his catching was not good. A mitigating factor, maybe, was the wind as Brighton's keeper had a bad day at the office too.

Overall we got the job done but could have had a very nervy last ten minutes but for a marginal offside.

By the way, Mitoma looks some player. Very quick and great dribbling skills.

Still thinking about last nights game.

Partey is the best midfielder in the league I reckon. It’s now evident we have some very good players we just miss a bit of depth. We need a capable deputy to allow Partey to be rested. I thought el nenny was hopeless when he came on.

You’ve almost got all the ingredients for a side that will win trophies. Just missing a bit of depth and some firepower off the bench. It’s an exciting time for Arsenal

He was easily their best player but my goodness he didn’t get much out of Ben white when he was on the pitch then Tommy and el nenny come on and nobody is pressing their midfielders and he looked like having a field day.

Saka has 4 yellow cards in the league. Players fouling Saka in the league have collected just 1 yellow card. This kid is refereed differently

It is funny how so many pundits keep having to change their mind on which player we can’t afford to lose to injury. Is it Partey, Jesus, Saka or now Ødegaard? If you’re having to jump around that argument so much then you have to conclude we’re not reliant on an individual player so much

As I recall every yellow card I have seen him receive was througohgly deserved including the one yesterday .

He also got the benefit of leniency when not collecting a second yellow in the dying minutes yesterday.

Surely the correct decision doesn’t count as leniency. It was a trip not a yellow. If he hadn’t been booked no one would be asking for a yellow.

If every defender was carded for what Saka has been carded for for fouls on Saka there would be a lot more than just 1 yellow for his opponents.

3 Arsenal players in here

Hi Rich. I agree with LTG; he was lucky to get away with not getting a second yellow there. If you look carefully, he tripped the Brighton player but then carried through with a sweep kicking the lad on the back of his legs. If that had been the other way round I would have been screaming for a yellow.

Your second para is accurate though.

Emery helping his former club, AV a goal up against Spurs.

Mikel sign Douglas Luiz!!

AV now 2 up against Spurs

Ooops, Spurs losing 2-0 at home to Villa.

Emery will never allow that

But it was more than just a trip wasn’t it?

I was more than happy and somewhat relieved when no card was produced.

Lots of speculation whether Conte signs a new deal at spurs, it’s almost at the point where I want him to sign a new deal. I’ve said it for ages that they aren’t going anywhere with him. Sure they’ll get a few flukey wins against big sides and Kane/Son can bail them out but Conte’s style is so outdated and is not a style that can win consistently or win the biggest trophies. He cedes possession and territory too much - what top team in the last 30 years has done that? They have zero creativity in their side and don’t have the technical ability to dominate, build and sustain wave of attacking pressure.

If you find a video of all spurs goals this season watch them and see how many come from technical excellence and team play opening the lock of a 9 man defence.