“Playing against him tomorrow is the only Arsenal player I have any issues with.” He’s a little more difficult to play against than any other Arsenal player.Karou Mitoma, an attacker for Brighton, reveals the ONE player from Arsenal that he is terrified to face on Saturday.
At the Emirates Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion will compete for the top spot in the Premier League table, putting their perfect records on the line.
Last weekend, the Gunners defeated Manchester United 2-0 in the West Midlands, ending their hoodoo against Aston Villa, while the Seagulls upset Manchester United by winning two goals to one.
Since taking over as Aston Villa’s manager in 2019, Unai Emery has made it a point to get back at the Arsenal, as evidenced by his two Premier League victories last season and his ability to eliminate the Gunners from the 2020–21 Europa League semifinals with Villarreal.
But the Spaniard’s desire to exact revenge for his dismissal vanished last Saturday, as Leandro Trossard’s clinical finish and Thomas Partey’s typical 20-yard goal (albeit with one or two assists from Emiliano Martinez) helped the Gunners to a victory that lifted spirits.
The game-winning play may have happened inside the Arsenal box when David Raya made what will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest saves in Premier League history from Ollie Watkins’s close-range header, even though Trossard and Partey’s goals were significant moments.
Arsenal is one of just four teams in the 2024–25 Premier League season to have six points from six games available, joining future rivals Brighton, Liverpool, and Manchester City in that select group. This is due to significant contributions made at both ends of the field.
The Gunners have won their last eight Premier League games, and if Arteta leads them to victory again on Saturday, Arsenal will break a 20-year drought for nine consecutive league victories, a feat last accomplished by the Invincibles in 2003–04.
While Arteta’s accomplishments as a young manager have been duly recognized, this weekend’s opponent, Fabian Hurzeler, who was only eighteen when the Spaniard entered the Arsenal playing ranks in 2011, is creating quite a stir on the South Coast.
After thrashing a defensively-starved Everton team by three goals, Brighton triumphed over Erik ten Hag’s Man United at the Amex, where goals from Joao Pedro and former Red Devil Danny Welbeck negated Amad Diallo’s effort.
Alejandro Garnacho’s effort was nearly overturned by an offside Joshua Zirkzee, giving the Seagulls a scare, but the visitors on Saturday were well worth their second competitive victory under Hurzeler, who also oversaw a 4-0 EFL Cup thrashing of Crawley Town in midweek.
Hurzeler, who has led Brighton to a perfect record under his tutelage, is now looking to break the capital curse that plagued the Seagulls the previous season, when they were unable to win any of their seven away games against London clubs in the 2023–24 Premier League.
But their last victory in the capital was a humiliating 3-0 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates in May 2023. Arteta’s team responded with two wins the following season, including a match-winning three-goal victory on American soil.
