Who thought our fourth round FA Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion was going to be easy? Theo Walcott was back and scored his first goal since 2013 (389 days to be precise) just 89 seconds into the game. Mesut Özil had his first start for 112 days and scored a goal in the 24th minute. Welcome back Theo and Mesut! It was also Wojciech Szczesny’s first appearance since our loss to Southampton and David Ospina stepped into the breach. Three games and three clean sheets later Szczesny found himself back in goal.
At half time we could have assumed it was all over. An easy first half ensured Szczesny had nothing to do. Arsenal continued with their fierce attacking in the second half but a failure to clear the ball saw a shot by Chris O’Grady land in the back of the net in the 50th minute. It seemed as though it was game on for Brighton & Hove Albion until Tomáš Rosický scored a cracking goal in the 59th minute. Arsenal regained momentum while Brighton & Hove Albion all but called it a day. That is, until the 76th minute when Sam Baldock chipped the ball over an oncoming Szczesny straight into the open goal. Game on again. The match definitely wasn’t over until the final whistle though if Alexis Sánchez has scored from just one of his three missed chances the Arsenal fans could’ve rested a bit easy.
In summary, by the end of the game, with just two shots on target Brighton & Hove Albion had scored two goals. The question Arsenal fans will now be asking themselves is whether Szczesny is good enough to continue as our Number One.
Brighton have had 2 shots on target and scored two…. #SzczesnyEffect — James (@JamesWillicombe) January 25, 2015
Szczesny inspires little confidence. Zero sense of time management and cannot grab a cross out of the air. He has a lot of work to do. #AFC
— NoDefendersNoProblem (@samiam_21) January 25, 2015
Statistically speaking, if you have a shot against Wojciech Szczesny it is basically guaranteed to go in. — gunnerblog (@gunnerblog) January 25, 2015
With a very tight seat belt @Ohafia_bOi: Hope we can all agree Szcsecny needs to remain on the bench”
— ARSENAL CheerLeaDer (@Soft_Shawty) January 25, 2015
Our goalkeeper has lost his confidence…and shattered mine. #afc #szczesny
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 25, 2015
Agree? There is a lot on the line for Szczesny. A poor performance and Ospina becomes the #1 at #Arsenal. — LWOS World (@LWOSworld) January 25, 2015
Szczesny in net today is confirmation that he has lost his PL spot to Ospina in my opinion. @PremierPunditry @GC_Gooners @timjbharg — Morgan Rubes (@morganArseCan) January 25, 2015