LONDON - The double injury blow of losing Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey was always going to ask Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta some tough questions, but he will have to answer better than that.
Brighton - a shrewd but out-of-form team with one goal in seven matches, losing six of them - deserved their 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium here on Saturday as goals from Leandro Trossard and Enoch Mwepu scored a goal. It dealt a big blow to the Gunners' hopes of a place in the top four of the Premier League.
Arsenal have surrendered the initiative in the race for Champions League qualification with two defeats in six days - and Arteta compounded the absence of two key players with a team selection on Saturday that only contributed to an unsatisfying performance .
It was a mistake to deploy midfielder Granit Zaka to the left to replace Tierney. Xhaka has previously deputized in that position, but with Parte already absent, losing the Switzerland international in midfield only served to increase the disconnect across the team.
Albert Sambi Lokonga, in his first start since 23 January, was asked to anchor a three-man midfield, providing defensive cover while enabling Arsenal to play from behind. The difficulty of that task was compounded by Zaka's absence from the same area of the pitch, something Arteta sought to improve upon in the second half, when possession of the home side encouraged Zaka to drift into the midfield.
Although there was a late rally from Arsenal, which was halved with 89 minutes of play by Martin Odegaard's long-range deflected strike, the performance was a bit messy, away from the structure and rhythm that he had seen for Arteta. Under his best performance. ,
He had his moments. Gabriel hit side-netting with a close-range header before Trossard's opener and Gabriel Martinelli had an equalizer disallowed offside at the stroke of halftime. After Mwebu doubled the visitors' lead with a brilliant goal featuring beautiful link-up play between Trossard and Moises Caicedo, Odegaard hit the crossbar with a free-kick and substitute Eddie Neketia achieved the same with a rebound.
But Arsenal lacked coherence and balance, which only underscores the difficulty they now face in overcoming the absence of Tierney, who had knee surgery on Thursday, and a thigh fracture. Parte because of the problem.
"With all the teams available, we know what a tough challenge we face," Arteta said. "With those two big injuries it just makes the situation more complicated. We can't see it because we're going to have to look for excuses, and what happened today is with the players we have and the way we have for the game." has prepared."
By removing Nuno Tavares at halftime against Crystal Palace, Arteta would have raised further doubts in the minds of Tierney's most logical sense. Tavares was an unused option here but will certainly be called up at some stage as his inclusion will allow Zaka to return to his natural midfield role.
Cedric Soares could also be deployed to left-back after Takehiro Tomiyasu is fit again, but the Japan international will not return to full training until after next weekend's game in Southampton following a calf problem. Finding a way to get Xhaka back into the team's heart seems inevitable after Saturday's performance. The cushion that Arsenal had in the race for the top four is gone and Arteta has not shied away from the difficult moment in which they now find themselves.
"What happens [now] is a lot of criticism of ourselves," he said. "Slap again because we deserved it, because we were poor again in the first half, and lift ourselves up because we know this road isn't going to take us anywhere - especially where we want to be.
"We have everything we have to play in the last eight games. We have to have that level of energy and imagine the challenge - we have a beautiful challenge ahead of us and sit back and see what happens."
Alexandre Lacazette was once again a peripheral figure, now with no goals from open play since 11 December. He touched the ball just 21 times - the fewest of any starter - and attempted just eight passes. His personal xG was 0.00. The only other Arsenal outfield player with the same vacancy was Ben White, who found himself the subject of much ridicule from away fans after leaving Brighton in a £50million move last summer.
Neketia and Nicolas Pepe tried to make an impact on the bench as before, but Arteta's lack of options comes more into focus on days like this after streamlining the squad in January.
Arsenal have shown they can handle adversity this season. But Tierney and Partey's double defeat remains one of their biggest hurdles yet.