[Albion] Arsenal-there for the taking!

[Lifelong Supporter]

I'm not sure I share the confidence. We have done really well recently but only against other bottom half teams. That's fine as they are the teams we're competing with this season, but there is no evidence to say we have suddenly become anything more than a relegation candidate in a good run of form. Arsenal may be a bit of a shambles by their high standards and they are well off the pace of the top five, but they're still stronger than any other team in the league and have some unbelievable players. On their best days they would absolutely rip us to shreds. On most days they would win the game. We have to play very well and hope they don't to avoid defeat. A draw would be fantastic.

This is it in a nutshell. I think a key is that Izzy is getting more at home and dangerous and we have Ulloa on the bench who can score against the best, given good delivery into the box.

 

[B.W.]

I'm not sure I share the confidence. We have done really well recently but only against other bottom half teams. That's fine as they are the teams we're competing with this season, but there is no evidence to say we have suddenly become anything more than a relegation candidate in a good run of form. Arsenal may be a bit of a shambles by their high standards and they are well off the pace of the top five, but they're still stronger than any other team in the league and have some unbelievable players. On their best days they would absolutely rip us to shreds. On most days they would win the game. We have to play very well and hope they don't to avoid defeat. A draw would be fantastic.

They really are NOT playing well tho', are they? Did you watch the cup final? They were shocking...

 

[grubbyhands]

Just wanna beat them and also watch piers morgan go into one on Monday morning on GMTV

That pr*ck is a waste of human organs.

 

[B.W.]

Yes, I watched the cup final. I saw a mediocre Arsenal team being outclassed by a great Manchester City team. I also know that if it had been Brighton (or 10 other PL clubs) in that final against Manchester City the result would not have been any closer.

More to the point... how do you think we would have done if Arsenal played like that against us?

 

[kjgood]

Who cares if we get a 4-0 tonking?

We're Brighton, a team playing in the top flight for the first time in 30 years with a side still relying on players from the Championship season.
They're Arsenal, a team who were disappointed not to qualify for the biggest club competition in world football and are still playing in Europe.

They SHOULD be tonking us 4-0 with one arm tied behind their backs and their eyes closed. But if we go for them, there is just as much chance we might actually beat them 2-0. So why not go for it? Arsenal beating us is literally irrelevant, bar them racking up a cricket score which frankly isn't likely given the shambles they look right now.

This is nearly right although I get the sentiment behind what the OP is saying, I do care if we get a 0-4 tonking but some of the players we now have are better than Championship players. Over the last couple of weeks several of the goals we have scored have been of premier league quality, pace, movement, crisp and accurate passing and good finishing, AK's left foot finish on saturday was superb as was the passing and movement for GM's second goal and thats without the Barcelonna inspired goal the other week.

I think we should continue the way we have recently, have a bit of a go at them.

 

[Two Professors]

Have a go.3 - 1 Albion

 

[Gabbafella]

We'll either win, lose or draw, but I'm only about 33% confident of any one of those happening.

 

[B.W.]

I don't think we're good enough to make Arsenal play like that. Mistakes, poor ball retention, bad decisions etc are going to be more common against Man City than a bottom half team. So to answer your question I just don't think we'll see the Arsenal performance we saw yesterday against us on Sunday.

That's not to say I don't think we've got a chance. We definitely have (as other teams like us have shown against them). But only if we respect the quality they have and try to even things up by working hard, being physical, closing down spaces to stop them playing in our half and then exploiting their defensive weaknesses when we get a chance. Thinking 'Arsenal are only sixth and just got battered by the best team in the land so we're bound to win' will only result in us getting smashed.

Are you suggesting that I said we would definitely win!? I didn't, but I'm obviously more confident we can get a point or 3 than you are...

 

[GT49er]

Not being over-confident by any means, but those who claim we have zero chance are talking out of their ****s. Arsenal will, of course, be the favourites, but we still have a chance if we have a good day and maybe get a bit of luck with the odd 50/50 decision going our way.
In football there is no such thing as zero chance, although some results are obviously much more likely than others.

 

[Brighton Mod]

3-0 Brighton win.

 

[Triggaaar]

Getting hammered late by Arsenal, not getting the referee decisions, scaring them along the way, is fine by me assuming that keeps the momentum up for Everton, Leicester and Huddersfield.

We're deep into the season and our team already know they have what it takes against sides outside the top 6 (undefeated in those 11 home games), so we don't need a great performance to give them belief. What we need are points. I'd take a lucky point or 3 over a valiant loss right now.

 

[World of Sport]

I did the Fabianski test;
We're going to to score at least three.

 

[Marshy]

We're deep into the season and our team already know they have what it takes against sides outside the top 6 (undefeated in those 11 home games), so we don't need a great performance to give them belief. What we need are points. I'd take a lucky point or 3 over a valiant loss right now.

A lucky win over Arsenal or the like for example.. and we are only 1 win from safety pretty much...

 

[Mo Gosfield]

A lot of confidence considering we have played 7 matches against the top six and the only goal we have scored was a very debatable penalty. We have conceded 18 goals in the process and that looks better because we sat back in a number of those games. Arsenal will turn up as they have beaten us twice at the Amex and will fancy it. They will come out the blocks fast and look to kill us off early.
A lot of things have to go right for us to get anything. We have to limit our number of mistakes. Our ball retention has to be better than normal and we need a little bit of luck. Given that, we could get a draw. We won't win as they are likely to score at least twice.

 

[Surf's Up]

This thread ...........

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It depends if we get a referee who will give us a penalty, when we deserve it. If Moss had given us those penalties against Chelsea, it would've been a different scoreline (obviously) as the balance of play changed.

 

[Stat Brother]

We're deep into the season and our team already know they have what it takes against sides outside the top 6 (undefeated in those 11 home games), so we don't need a great performance to give them belief. What we need are points. I'd take a lucky point or 3 over a valiant loss right now.

Oh I'd definitely take losing with style, over 3 points.