English Premier League
Result: Brighton and Hove Albion 1 - 1 Arsenal
Date: 26 December 2018
Venue: The American Express Community Stadium
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's early strike was not enough as Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League on Wednesday evening. The Gunners boss Unai Emery made three changes to the side that beat Burnley last weekend, with Laurent Kolscielny, Stephan Lichsteiner and Lucas Torreira starting ahead of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elneny. Nacho Monreal was missing due to injury. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring for the visitors in the seventh minute after finding space inside the box to curl his strike into the top corner following persistent pressure, 0-1. Glen Murray thought he had found the equaliser for the hosts in the 24th minute after getting on the end of a lose ball in the goal-mouth scramble but the goal was disallowed for offside. Chris Hughton's troops equalised ten minutes before the break through Jurgen Locadia, as straight from defending a corner, one long ball released the Dutch striker who rounded goalkeeper Bernd Leno and netted into an empty net, 1-1. Arsenal were threatening to restore their lead but they could not really create clear chances as the sides went to the break level pegging. Emery made his first change immediately at the start of the second stanza after taking off Mesut Ozil for Alex Iwobi. The Gunners made another change in the 62nd minute as they could not control the game, taking out Alexandre Lacazette for Welsh star Aaron Ramsey. Still, the vistors could not get going and were finding it difficult to break down the Brighton solid defence. Torreira had a rare chance to net the winner for Arsenal ten minutes before time with a strike from just outside the box that was threatening, but he sent his effort just over the bar. Hughton closed shop in the last two minutes as he took out goalscorer Locadia and brought in Anthony Knockaert to shore up the midfield. In the end , the sides shared the spoils as the Seagulls halted a three-game losing streak.