Arsenal v Brighton: Confirmed line-ups as Gunners look to maintain Premier League top spot

Arsenal host Brighton looking to avoid dropping points and maintain their place at the top of the Premier League.

The Gunners’ lead at the top-flight summit has been cut to just two points in recent weeks, with Manchester City breathing down their necks in the title race.

Mikel Arteta’s men, however, have enjoyed a strong first half of the season, having lost twice in the league and remaining unbeaten in the Champions League.

Brighton, meanwhile, are winless in four matches but are five points off the top five. Fabian Hurzeler’s team have scored just once in their last three outings and the German head coach will be hoping his frontline can bring their shooting boots to the Emirates.

Read on to find out how the two teams lineup for this clash.

Arsenal team news

The return of Piero Hincapie is one of eight changes from the Gunners side that started in the Carabao Cup quarter-final victory over Crystal Palace.

David Raya replaces penalty shootout hero Kepa Arrizabalaga, while Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Viktor Gyokeres all coming back into the fold.

Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino and William Saliba are the only three players to keep their place.

Arsenal: Raya, Saliba, Hincapie, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Merino, Odegaard, Saka, Trossard, Gyokeres

Subs: Arrizabalaga, Gabriel, Jesus, Eze, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly

Brighton team news

The return of captain Lewis Dunk from suspension is a big boost for Brighton, while midfielder Diego Gomez also returns from an enforced absence.

Carlos Baleba is at the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 with Cameroon.

Brighton: Verbruggen, Kadioglu, Van Hecke, Dunk, De Cuyper, Hinshelwood, Coppola, Gruda, Ayari, Gomez, Georginio

Subs: Steele, Minteh, Watson, Welbeck, Kostoulas, Milner, Boscagli, Wieffer, Veltman

How to watch Arsenal v Brighton: TV channel, live online stream

Kick-off on Saturday is at 15:00 GMT (10:00 ET / 07:00 PT). This match is not being shown live in the UK.

Arsenal v Brighton stats

• Arsenal have won three of their eight Premier League home games against Albion (D2 L3)
• They only having a lower win rate against Wimbledon (25%) and Liverpool (36%) among sides they’ve faced at least five times
• All three of Arsenal’s Premier League home wins against Brighton have been by a 2-0 scoreline (October 2017, May 2021, December 2023)
• Mikel Arteta has only once seen a longer winning home run than their current sequence of five victories, recording 10 in a row between April and December 2022
• Goalkeeper David Raya is poised for a 150th Premier League appearance for Arsenal – since his debut in August 2021, the goalkeeper has kept more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper in the competition (58)
• Among players to play at least 500 minutes in the Premier League this season, only Manchester City duo Jeremy Doku (3.4) and Rayan Cherki (3.2) have created more open play chances per 90 minutes than Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard (2.5), with the Norway international creating four in their 1-0 win at Everton last Saturday
• Brighton are winless in their last four Premier League games against Arsenal (D2 L2), although they came from behind to draw 1-1 in both meetings last season
• Albion have failed to score in their last two Premier League matches, joining Everton as the two sides to fail to score on Matchday 16 and 17
• Hurzeler’s winless record in all 10 of his Premier League matches in December (D6 L4) is the most games ever managed by a top-flight coach in December without winning
• Against Sunderland, Brighton named the youngest starting side in a Premier League match this season (23 years, 240 days) under the youngest manager in the competition (32 years, 297 days on 20 December), while also fielding the oldest player to appear in the competition in 2025/26 (substitute James Milner, aged 39 years and 350 days)