Goals came late in Arsenal’s win back to top

LONDON, DEC 18

Despite dominating the first half’s play, it wasn’t until later in the game that Arsenal were able to ensure full points with a 2-0 win over Brighton. Arsenal went into the attack putting pressure on the opposition from the start but Brighton’s stubborn defence held on until a double strike by the Gunners in the second half.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who received a fourth yellow card this season for his rant at the referee in disputing a foul, said: “It was an incredible performance. A joy to watch from start to end – the way we did it against this very good team. Even at half-time the scoreline didn’t reflect that. We fully deserved to win the game.”

He praised Kai Havertz who scored the winning goal: “The performance, as well as his aggression, he is top. Really good. In terms of performance, it’s exactly the same as he was at the start of the season. But you can now see he’s confident and enjoying his football. We were outstanding, against a top side we had an incredible performance.”

Arsenal missed early chances. Gabriel Martinelli and Havertz could have scored in the opening three minutes and Gabriel Jesus could not connect with a cross by Bukayo Saka across the goal. Saka was excellent on the right wing throughout the game and tormented James Milner whose task was to mark the England player and that proved too much for the 37-year-old former Liverpool player.

Arsenal eventually went ahead eight minutes after the break. It came from a corner taken by Saka which prompted a mistake by Jan Paul van Hecke who flicked back to Jesus, waiting unmarked at the back post to nod into the net. It was only his third goal of the season and he celebrated it wildly in relief. For a striker, he’ll have to up his game if his side is to win their first league title in 20 years.

Brighton made three substitutions, among them was Igor Julio who was tasked to mark Saka as Milner had failed to do. Saka then sent a superb pass to Martin Odegaard in a counter attack but his shot went into the side netting.

Brighton improved as the second half went on but with a goal up the Gunners were still in control and confident. They should have scored again midway through the half following a near-post header from Ben White but William Saliba’s effort from it was cleared off the line by Lewis Dunk.

There were two more chances for Arsenal, first Bart Verbruggen’s finger tips saved from Odegaard and Havertz headed from just six yards in front of goal. Finally, with only three minutes remaining, Havertz ran on to a ball put forward by substitute Eddie Nketiah and drove in his fourth goal in his last seven matches in all competitions.

Disappointed with the defeat, Brighton manager, Roberto De Zerbi simply said: “We are not used to suffering in this way. We cannot forget we are Brighton and they are Arsenal.”