Post Match report for the Arsenal game - Saturday, 20th June 2020

PREMIER LEAGUE restart: Brighton v Arsenal - 20/6/20, P30. (postponed from 14/3/20).

ALBION SNATCH A FIRST 2020 WIN AT THE DEATH


RESULT: 2-1 ~ Dunk, Maupay . (h-t 0-0) . SHAPE: 4-2-2-2


VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - fifteenth home match of thirty fixtures to date.
PRE-KICKOFF: football was back at last following the Prem being suspended in mid March due to that deadly contagious covid pandemic. This and future fixtures throughout the run-in until end of July, would be played behind closed doors without fans attending.
All necessary protocols were in place according to current restrictions.
WEATHER: a warm sunny summer afternoon in June. PITCH: perfect surface.

GRAHAM POTTER had around 100 days to decide which side to put out. In the event he made two changes to the previous eleven fielded at Wolves during early March.
Schelotto and Gross turned out in lieu of Montoya and March on this Prem restart at an empty and echoing community stadium.
Nine substitutes were now seated in the dugout, where up to five could be available in play.

TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. 21 Schelotto, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. . . . 8 Bissouma, 18 Mooy, 24 Propper
. . . . . . 13 Gross, 7 Maupay, 11 Trossard

BENCH: 27 Button, 2 Lamptey, 4 Duffy, 17 Murray,
6 Stephens (87), 10 Mac Allister (94), 22 Montoya (71), 20 March (46), 44 Connolly (71).


GOALS: 68 - no sooner had Seagulls missed a scoring opportunity, opposition stride up the other end and find the top corner.
75 - a quick corner creates an angle for the optimum delivery and DUNK gets a foot in. Confirmed by Hawkeye.
95 - Mac Allister got on and was instrumental in providing the ball that led to MAUPAY bagging the winner.


INCIDENTS: visitors rattled the crossbar in fast-paced opening stages. Gunners sub their keeper prior to halftime because of injury.

YELLOWS: Burn clips his man. Mooy catches an opponent.

SUBS: 46 - March for Mooy. 71 - Montoya replaces Schelotto and Connolly comes on for Gross.
87 - Stephens is inserted while Trossard gets withdrawn. 94 - Mac Allister in, Bissouma out.
Inspired may be an overegged description of changes made by Potter but hey, it is an emotional game.


SYNOPSIS: both teams played tidy football to warrant chances created at each end, with keepers forced to save goal-bound attempts. Prolonged injury time extended the first half but the game remained goalless at the interval.
Albion introduced March on turnaround and reshaped to more like 532. Immediately after conceding, a double change saw locals reverting to a back four and 442 shape, March moving across to right flank.
Things then began to hot up as time ran out.
MoM - Maupay, continuous effort.

NUMBERS: poss 41%-59%, on target 5-6, off target 5-7, corners 10-7, fouls 13-8, yellows 2-1, subs 5-5 (5/9).

CONSEQUENCES: a massive victory that changes complexity of the bottom-six points status at this immediate juncture.

FS


MORE READING: via Stats page tabs - Squad, History & Travel, Archive for PL facts & figs and Clubs records.