Unai Emery Rues Missed Chances as Arsenal Slip to Disappointing Draw With Brighton

Arsenal manager Unai Emery was left to rue his side's missed chances as the Gunners slipped to a disappointing 1-1 draw with Brighton at the Amex Stadium on

Arsenal manager Unai Emery was left to rue his side's missed chances as the Gunners slipped to a disappointing 1-1 draw with Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Wednesday.

After taking the lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's classy first-time finish, the Gunners were made to pay for failing to take advantage of their early dominance. 

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A Brighton counter-attack saw Stephan Lichtsteiner misjudge the flight of the ball and only manage to glance his header into the path of Jurgen Locadia, who took it around Gunners goalkeeper Bernd Leno and score for the equaliser.

With Aubameyang missing a further two opportunities, Emery was left frustrated at his side's inability to convert their chances in the first-half, and admitted they struggled as the game wore on.

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He said (as quoted by the club's official website): "I think the key to the match today was the first 45 minutes, when we controlled the match as we wanted to. We scored and we had the advantage, with another two good chances for Aubameyang to get the second. 

"Their goalkeeper saved with two good actions and from then, they equalised. In the second half we tried again to control the match, to create the chances, but we didn’t do that. We had control with possession but not with creating chances against them. It wasn’t enough to win the game today."

With the sides around them in the Premier League winning, Emery admitted his concern about Arsenal's recent run of results, but remained optimistic that the Gunners could overcome their recent troubles and maintain a challenge for the top four.

That wasn't the result we came for - but we'll keep fighting 👊

Thanks for your support in #BHAARS, be it in the ground or wherever you watched the game from 👍 pic.twitter.com/HnalVKJfOJ

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 26, 2018

He added: "It’s football. We are in our process and we are improving. We are wanting to take one stability in offence and defence. It’s a difficult moment for us because we have injuries, but it’s an opportunity for other players and I want also to look at other players playing in the big games, like today, and on Saturday against Liverpool.

"I think this draw is not the best but also not the worst. While we are near the top four, I can have a big motivation. Today is for me very important. We’ve spoke about our motivation and our progression [the three points would have been very important] - but football is like that. In 90 minutes, we drew and we need to [think] for Saturday."