Ever since being given the Emirates boot in 2019, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has made a habit of getting his own back, from eliminating the Gunners from the 2020-21 Europa League semi-finals with Villarreal to last season’s pair of Premier League successes.
However, the Spaniard’s penchant for avenging his sacking ceased to exist last weekend, where Leandro Trossard‘s clinical finish and a customary 20-yard goal from Thomas Partey – albeit with a helping hand, or two, from Emiliano Martinez – propelled the Gunners to a morale-boosting victory.
While Trossard and Partey’s strikes were pivotal moments, the game-defining event arguably came inside the Arsenal box, where David Raya produced what will surely be remembered as one of the best saves ever seen in the Premier League from Ollie Watkins‘s close-range header.
Thanks to crucial contributions at both ends of the pitch, Arsenal are one of just four sides to boast six points from six on offer in the 2024-25 Premier League season, joining upcoming foes Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester City in that exclusive crowd.
Each of the Gunners’ last eight Premier League games has now ended in victory, and should Arteta oversee another success on Saturday, Arsenal will end a 20-year wait for nine straight Premier League wins since the Invincibles achieved the feat in 2003-04.
Arteta’s feats as a young manager have been rightly lauded, but his opposite number this weekend – Fabian Hurzeler, who was just 18 years old when the Spaniard joined Arsenal’s playing ranks in 2011 – is making serious waves on the South Coast.
Fresh from a three-goal trouncing of a defensively-depleted Everton side, Brighton overcame wet and windy South Coast conditions to send Erik ten Hag‘s Man United packing at the Amex, where ex-Red Devil Danny Welbeck and Joao Pedro rendered Amad Diallo‘s strike meaningless.
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The Seagulls still had to survive a scare when an offside Joshua Zirkzee helped Alejandro Garnacho‘s effort over the line, but Saturday’s visitors were full value for their second competitive win under Hurzeler, who also oversaw a 4-0 EFL Cup thumping of Crawley Town in midweek.
As Brighton proudly show off their 100% record under Hurzeler, the 31-year-old now aims to lift a capital curse that bedevilled the Seagulls last year, as they failed to win any of their seven top-flight games away to London clubs in the 2023-24 top-flight season.
However, their most recent success in the capital was a 3-0 Emirates embarrassment of Arsenal in May 2023, although Arteta’s men avenged that beatdown with a pair of victories last term, including a like-for-like three-goal triumph on Amex soil.
