Arsenal break Brighton spell to set up early Premier League title showdown

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Onto Liverpool. If Arsenal returning to the top of the Premier League table felt like a statement before Jurgen Klopp’s side were held by Manchester United in the final fixture of the weekend, it also sends a message ahead of what is shaping up to be one of the defining clashes of the campaign on the Saturday before Christmas. As Manchester City jet off to the Club World Cup amid their worst run of form in years under Pep Guardiola, it leaves a clear top two in the Premier League table: they meet at Anfield next weekend.

After defeat at Aston Villa, who may feel they should also be in the conversation after their late win at Brentford, returning to winning ways was the objective here for Mikel Arteta’s side. They managed to do so against a Brighton team whose struggles in the Premier League continued after hitting further heights in Europe in midweek. Arsenal had almost all the chances and almost all the shots against Roberto De Zerbi’s visitors and for the first time in 33 top-flight matches, Brighton failed to score.

It meant that an unmarked header from Gabriel Jesus at the back post and a late clincher from Kai Havertz were all Arsenal needed to go top. The Brazilian stooped to nod into an empty net after 53 minutes when Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke flicked on, before Havertz wrapped up the points as he raced clear before finishing under goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. The German’s fourth goal in seven games came moments after Brighton finally came alive, with Pascal Gross poking what was their only real chance of the match wide of the near post following a sharp dribble from Kaoru Mitoma.

This should have felt like more of a contest, however. Brighton had won their last three visits to the Emirates, including a 3-0 win in May, and should have carried enough of a counter-attacking threat and pressing ability to trouble the Gunners. But the hosts were dominant, with the power and authority of Declan Rice and William Saliba limiting Brighton’s opportunities to transition from defence into attack. Instead, it was one-way traffic from the start, with Brighton penned in by the close control of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli.

Jesus and Havertz were the match-winners, though, as Arsenal eventually found the clinical edge that eluded that at Villa Park last weekend. If Brighton never looked like scoring until it was too late, the visitors never looked like keeping a first clean sheet in 21 Premier League games, either. De Zerbi’s side may be through to the last 16 of the Europa League, in what is the club’s first European campaign, but it has come at a cost: with just one win from the six Premier League games that have directly followed European action.

And if there was an individual duel that summed up Brighton’s lack of energy, the obvious one to pick would be Saka’s mismatch with the 37-year-old James Milner; the spritely winger against the grizzled veteran, summoned for a job he, in all honesty, was no longer equipped for. Saka, of course, had the beating of Milner as he raced and scampered to the byline throughout the first half. Arsenal forced Brighton into a retreat and had the visitors camped inside their penalty area, their play almost exclusively focused on a series of short, intricate exchanges between Saka, Odegaard and Rice on the corner of the penalty area.

Yet the breakthrough eluded them and the frustration briefly rose, with Arteta receiving his fourth booking of the season close to half time. Punished for their wastefulness at Villa Park last weekend, Arsenal threatened more of the same. Martinelli missed the best of the first-half chances following a sumptuous ball from Odegaard with the outside of his foot, which curled around the backtracking Milner and released Saka. But Brighton survived when Martinelli blazed over from Saka’s cut-back, and then Arsenal were denied again as Havertz’s close-range shot was blocked by Van Hecke.

Arsenal were in control and Brighton were hanging on: quite literally in Milner’s case as he escaped a booking for an early lunge on Saka that was desperately late. De Zerbi’s side were without a shot in the first half and were the architects of their downfall in the second, playing themselves into trouble as goalkeeper Verbruggen’s dangerous pass out from the back was cut out by Rice. Odegaard was denied in the box but, from the resulting corner, Saka’s inswinging delivery was touched on by Van Hecke and Jesus ducked at the back post to head into the empty net.

Brighton would eventually improve but the last visiting team to win at the Emirates never looked like repeating the trick and Arsenal instead improved their home unbeaten run to 13 matches. Brighton pushed on after going behind and Arsenal missed chances to kill off the game when Havertz headed over from Martinelli’s cross and Rice saw a shot blocked by Verbruggen following a galloping run forwards. It meant the Seagulls remained alive and Mitoma’s burst around the outside of Ben White set up a rare chance for Gross to steal a point. But the German poked wide and now the leaders head to Anfield for an early title showdown.