Brighton 2 - 3 Arsenal: Arsenal capitalise on the weekend's games with hard-fought victory

 #BHAvAFC

Arsenal line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny; Chambers, Koscielny, Monreal, Gibbs; Rosicky, Flamini, Ramsey; Walcott, Giroud, Özil

This was a game where the result was much more important than the performance. The first half was comfortable, but Brighton really made us work for it in the second. The result, however, never really looked in doubt, and puts us in a great position to retain our trophy, with Chelsea, Man City, Spurs and Southampton all going out this weekend. It was great to see the return of Özil and Walcott to the team, as their creativity and pace (respectively) could potentially add a lot of options to our team for the remainder of the season.

Thoughts on the game:

• The first goal was really well taken by Walcott and helped us to take control of the game.
• Özil's goal was also well taken, with three quick touches that made it look like he had more time than he did.
• Özil was positioned in the front three, high up the pitch, which made it hard for him to gain possession and influence the game. I would have liked to see him play deeper, with more opportunity to pick out the runs of Walcott. On the plus side, he did work hard and chase back, and some of his one-touch passing was a level above the rest.
• Rosicky played well, effectively replacing Cazorla as the player to dictate the game and make driving runs forward. His goal was well taken too.
• Ramsey still looks far from his best, but he always keeps running, works really hard and is composed on the ball. A great run at the end of the game should have led to a goal, but the important thing, for now, is that he's beginning to find goal scoring positions again.
• Chambers, Flamini and Koscielny should all have done better for the first goal from Brighton. Perhaps we missed some organisation and leadership from Mertesacker.
• For me, Gibbs outshone Chambers at full back. While Chambers always looked slightly off the pace when there were 50-50 balls to win, Gibbs always looked like he would get there first.
• Great to see Alexis keep getting up and running at Brighton. Not only did he cope with their physical approach well, he seemed to be loving finding out what the FA Cup is all about.
• There was a great tackle by Coquelin on Ince at about 90 minutes. Their players had been flying in on Alexis, and Coquelin's reply was well timed, hard, and helped us to maintain our dominance.
• Akpom showed a lot of potential and was a useful outlet. He's got plenty of pace, an ability to take on defenders and a decent shot, but he needs to gain a bit of composure and improve his decision making.
• Great that this should be Monreal's last game at centre back, with Wenger all but confirming the arrival of Paulista.