Arsenal team news: Ferguson and Kadioglu ruled out

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Charlie Hanson

2025-01-02T11:40+00:00

Evan Ferguson will miss Saturday's game against Arsenal. 📷 by James Boardman.

Albion will look to end a winless run of seven games in the Premier League when they take on Arsenal at the Amex on Saturday, kick-off 5.30pm.

Team news

On Adam Webster and Jack Hinshelwood, “Adam [Webster] will be back. Hopefully Jack [Hinshelwood] is close. The rest will stay the same.”

On Evan Ferguson, “He will also be out. It’s not an easy issue, but I hope that it doesn't take too long. I don't want to make or say any clear predictions because I don't know. We really have to go week for week and hope that he's a good healer.

On Ferdi Kadioglu, “Unfortunately [he is] not [back anytime soon]. I think he will be out for a while.”

Pervis Estupinan was not in our matchday squad to face Aston Villa on Monday. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

On Danny Welbeck, “I can't say when he will be back – so it could be next week, it could be really quick, but it could also take two, three, four more weeks. So we have to go day by day. He is without any pain, so that's a really good thing and he's back on the pitch. Hopefully he will be back soon.

On Pervis Estuipinan, “Hopefully [he will be back after illness]. I can't say but we have to wait today and tomorrow if he's available.”

Fabian’s thoughts

On what he wants from his team, “We have to push our limits in every phase of the game. To play with courage and continue to play intensely. I think that's what we showed in the last two games. Of course the results were not good. But in the end we showed really good performances. We showed that we are able to beat every team in this league and we already proved it. So I think it's very important that we play with our identity our identity means to play intense. If you don't play intense, we have no chance against Arsenal."

On Bukayo Saka being injured, “He’s a player who makes a difference for sure. But in the end we saw it also yesterday [in the 3-1 win over Brentford], that they have enough world class players to replace him. So there's not only one world class player in the squad. There are several, especially in the offensive line.”

Match facts

Having been unbeaten in five consecutive home league games against Arsenal between 1982 and 2020 (W4 D1), Albion have now lost three of their last four against the Gunners (D1).

Arsenal have won three of their last five Premier League games against Brighton (D1 L1), as many as they had in their first 10 against the Seagulls in the competition (D3 L4).

Albion haven’t lost their first league game in any of the last eight calendar years (W3 D5), since a 1-0 home loss to Wolves on New Year’s Day 2016 in the Championship.

Albion scored just 21 goals at the Amex in the Premier League in 2024, a drop of 25 goals from 2023 when they scored 46. They failed to score in six home games in 2024, having only failed to score in one in 2023.

No side won more points in the Premier League in 2024 than Arsenal (85). Their 26 wins were their most in one year since 2004 (also 26), their 89 goals were their most since 1963 (112) and their 18 clean sheets were their most since 1999 (19).

Albion have drawn their last three Premier League games and are winless in seven (D5 L2). The Seagulls haven’t drawn four league games in a row since October 2014 in the Championship under Sami Hyypia.

In their first 19 Premier League games under Fabian Hürzeler, Brighton have drawn nine times (W6 L4). Only three managers have drawn 10 of their first 20 games in the Premier League – John Lyall in 1992 (11), John Deehan in 1994 (10) and Egil Olsen in 1999 (10).

Kai Havertz has scored in each of his last four Premier League games against Brighton, netting in all three against the Seagulls so far for Arsenal.

Since the start of last season, João Pedro has more Premier League goals and assists combined than any other Brighton player (13 goals, 8 assists) – his 13 goals are the most, while his eight assists are bettered only by the now departed Pascal Gross (10).

Match officials