I understand a big club in a bad way will always be the story rather than a smaller one such as Brighton achieving a remarkable result but Sunday’s win did not happen by chanceYou might think when a team such as Brighton & Hove Albion record a historic victory over Arsenal the way we celebrate would include a few drinks and a lot of noise but nothing could be further from the truth. We were jubilant in the dressing room after our 2-1 win against Arsène Wenger’s side on Sunday but, rather than champagne and plaudits, all the lads wanted was a couple of days off. The manager had given us just that after our crucial victory over Swansea last...
Chris Hughton deserves plaudits, Sam Allardyce will not win Everton fans’ affections and Spurs look ready for JuventusThere is something striking about watching the defending champions cede their title to their successors, and this was a particularly mournful way to go about it. The last time a title-winning Chelsea team visited the side that was destined to succeed them they lost 2-1 to Leicester in December 2015 and promptly sacked their manager. This display is unlikely to accelerate Antonio Conte’s apparently inevitable summer departure, but a performance so stripped of ambition and attacking quality certainly reflected poorly on him. “My tactic was: don’t concede space between the lines,” he said. “If you concede space at Manchester City you risk losing...
Spirited Brighton throw visitors’ lack of personality into a stark light to leave their season hanging on a daunting trip to MilanIt was the body language that damned Arsenal most of all. The hunching of the shoulders and shuffled attempts to retreat into position, internationals of considerable repute with their heads down, trudging around the pitch as if wading through treacle. Arsène Wenger described them as “passive”. About as animated as they became during a dreadful opening half-hour was when Mesut Özil flung his gloves to the turf in frustration, even if that was all for show. The same could be said for the anguished glances to the heavens at each misplaced pass or the yellow cards collected as if...
Albion’s bullish dressing room has started to compare run-ins and won’t be alone as a dozen Premier League teams take on board the price of on-pitch failure over the next three monthsI’m going to admit something that goes against all of the “take every game as it comes” answers that players trot out when talking about their team’s chances over the coming months and into the closing stages of the season. I was sitting in our dressing room on Wednesday after a cold, windy morning’s session while preparing for this weekend’s six-pointer at home against Swansea when I heard the first mutterings from my team-mates about how many points are going to be necessary for us to be safe from relegation.What struck me...