Arsenal facing Tottenham midfield selection nightmare as Mikel Arteta rues Brighton draw

Rice red leaves Arsenal short in midfield

There’s only one real place to start when it comes to this game. Declan Rice’s red card changed a game that Arsenal looked well on their way to winning.

There’s little doubting that it didn’t need to be given. Yes, by the letter of the law Rice stopped a quick free kick being taken and should be booked. The England international will need to take some responsibility for that, and has apologised to his teammates. At the same time though, no one would have been complaining if Chris Kavanaugh hadn’t given it.

To make matters worse, he did not book Joao Pedro in the first half when the Brighton forward committed a far more egregious act of time wasting to stop Arsenal taking a quick throw in. It was this that Arteta was most upset about.

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"I was amazed," the Spaniard said after the game. "Amazed, amazed, amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be. In the first half, there are two incidents and nothing happens.

"Then, in a non-critical area, the ball hits Declan [on the back of his leg], he turns around, he doesn't see the player coming and he touches the ball. By law, he can make that call, but then by law he needs to make the next call, which is red card so we play 10vs10. This is what amazed me. At this level it’s amazing."

Regardless of how frustrating the decision may be, though, Arsenal will not be able to appeal it, as it was a second yellow card rather than a straight red. It creates something of a problem for the upcoming North London Derby.

Mikel Merino has fractured his elbow and will not be fit in time for the trip to Spurs. With Rice now unavailable, Arsenal's options in midfield do look a bit light. Jorginho is the obvious candidate to come in, but with neither him nor Thomas Partey a natural in the left eight role Rice has been playing, it could require a shift in the Gunners' set up.

"Well, this is what happens," Arteta said of the challenge facing his side. "We have to adapt to that context. That's why we have other players that can fulfil that [role] and [I can] give that opportunity to somebody else."

People will point to the transfer window and say Arsenal should have done more, but it's not like the Gunners could have predicted Merino would be injured in his first training session or that Rice would be sent off so harshly. Instead it's another challenge the Gunners must overcome.

Arsenal pay for missed chances

This game could have been so different, and that's not just because of the red card. Arsenal once again were dominant in the early phase of a home match, but once again failed to convert that dominance into a handsome lead.

Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz all had chances to put the Gunners in front before they did eventually take the lead. Then after Brighton were level, Havertz and Saka both missed gilt-edged opportunities that could have secured a morale-boosting three points.

"For sure," Arteta said when asked if he was frustrated at his side’s profligacy. "Because the spirit and how well we controlled the emotional part of the game because it was a really hard one to take. But the team reacted that way.

"We showed a lot of discipline. We reacted to what we had to do playing at home with 10 men. We didn't want to be so deep defending like this, but we read the game and we played the game that we had to play and we should have got rewarded."

It’s a problem that Arsenal have sought to address by adding Raheem Sterling to bolster their forward options. That clinical edge remains an issue that will be held against them going forward, though.

Arteta decisions cost Arsenal points?

Arteta jokingly made the point before the start of the season that Arsenal might need 114 points to topple Manchester City - the maximum amount of points available for winning every game. That first target is now unachievable.

He will point to circumstances outside of his control as a reason for this – Rice's game-changing red card of course being one of them. But could Arsenal have done more to win the game?

Immediately after being reduced to 10 men, the Gunners were a little slow to decide what they wanted to do. Martin Odegaard dropped alongside Thomas Partey as they set up in a 4-2-3 formation.

It was just as they had decided how to handle the setback, that Arsenal were punished for this indecision. Riccardo Calafiori was waiting on the touchline just as Lewis Dunk passed the ball straight through Rice-shaped gap in the Gunners' midfield for Yankuba Minteh to run on to and shoot before Joao Pedro tapped home the rebound.

It was at that point, having been pegged back, that Arteta attempted to shut up shop. Calafiori came on for Leandro Trossard in a switch to a 5-3-1 set up, essentially with five centre-backs. Arteta was delighted with how his team handled the shift.

"Still like this with 10 men, the team reacts unbelievably well, the stadium reacts unbelievably well and probably we should have won the game," he said of the game after the red card.

He has a strong case given that Arsenal created chances to win the game with that set up. But with City's consistency as strong as it, every point matters. As Arsenal killed time to hang on for the point at the end, you wonder if they might live to regret not claiming all three.