Arsenal end bad run vs. Brighton to capitalise on Man City’s stumble

LONDON — Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes relaxation on discovering enhancements from final season and so Sunday’s 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion is a crucial step in that seek for marginal positive factors.

Few groups have outplayed the Gunners to the extent Brighton have within the earlier two iterations of this fixture. In May, Roberto De Zerbi’s aspect dealt a deadly blow to Arsenal’s pursuit of Manchester City by registering a 3-0 win that includes six photographs on goal and 59% possession. Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta’s aspect have been so bad that day he apologised for the efficiency to his membership’s followers. The earlier season, they have been overwhelmed differently as Brighton below Graham Potter sat again and waited for counter-attacking alternatives, choosing off Arsenal with precision raids that totally merited a 2-1 victory.

In between, De Zerbi masterminded a 3-1 win at Emirates Stadium within the Carabao Cup. So there was a way that Brighton had Arsenal’s quantity heading into Sunday’s sport on a weekend when Manchester City had dropped factors in a fixture of their very own that has proved troublesome in latest seasons: Crystal Palace at dwelling.

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But if there have been any doubts, Arsenal eliminated them in a dominant efficiency during which the one remorse will likely be that they did not translate their superiority to the scoreline even earlier. Their degree of management for greater than an hour was complete however they’d to wait till the 53rd minute to open the scoring, Jan Paul van Hecke inadvertently flicking on Bukayo Saka’s nook to the again publish the place Gabriel Jesus stooped to head dwelling unmarked from shut vary. That nook got here from a spell the place Brighton failed to play out below stress, goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen gifting possession to Declan Rice and triggering a transfer from which Arsenal nearly scored.

There was a late flurry from Brighton both aspect of Kai Havertz’s 87th-minute strike, however they’d to wait till the sixty fourth minute to have a shot of any description and have been solely nonetheless within the sport at that stage due to some errant ending.

The commanding nature of this victory when it comes to the whole lot aside from the ultimate rating is a big psychological increase for a aspect attempting to show they are often extra strong in a title race than final season.

“We should have scored two or three goals [in May] and we didn’t,” Arteta mentioned postmatch. “That was my concern at half-time again and [in May] the way we reacted to conceding that first goal and how we went down. Today we showed a real determination from beginning to end to beat them. We managed to do that.

“We had to affected person however on the identical time we had to be actually decided in opposition to this crew. The second you might have doubts in opposition to this crew they open you up, they begin to frustrate you and dominate with the ball. We did not do this. We did not enable them to do this. We confirmed quite a lot of maturity, and quite a lot of intelligence.”

Opening up a five-point gap over City at this stage will only help that self-belief — even if such advantages can change rapidly over the Christmas period, given how many games take place — and it is especially relevant that Arsenal did so a day after Pep Guardiola’s side failed to beat Palace for the fourth time in six meetings at Etihad Stadium. City rarely lose at home but Palace left Manchester with victories in 2018 and 2021 and now draws in 2020 and 2023, following Saturday’s 2-2 draw. That result means City have only won one of their last six matches in the league.

The title race is shaping up to be more than a two-horse race at this stage, but Arsenal will judge themselves against the league’s benchmark for the last five years and there are encouraging signs in the context of what has gone before. This was the first time in 32 league matches that Brighton had failed to score. Only Arsenal (55), Liverpool (36) and Manchester United (36) have enjoyed a longer run in Premier League history.

Arsenal were still more profligate than they would have liked. Jesus is an undeniably talented player and every so often he produces moments of high class — Lewis Dunk is probably still in a daze after one sumptuous turn from the Brazil international in the second half completely took him out of the game — but whether he is clinical enough to win the Gunners the league remains to be seen. Similarly, Eddie Nketiah is an understudy yet to prove himself at the sharp end of the campaign and so there was at least some evidence here to suggest the clamour for Arsenal to sign a striker in January will grow in the weeks ahead.

Brentford’s Ivan Toney is the club’s preferred target but there remain significant obstacles to pulling of a deal mid-season, not least the England international’s price tag which is expected to be in the region of £80 million.

Asked if Arsenal should have been more clinical, Arteta said: “Yes, but when we generate extra, the chance for scoring will likely be increased. That’s the one factor that we are able to focus on. We have nice gamers that may outline video games and end actions.

“Today we needed too many — especially in big spaces — too many situations to finish the game. That was the fear, especially after half-time, that it could be one of those days because the moment you give something to this team they’ll take it.

“When there are groups that need to go man to man, there are enormous areas opening on the pitch. If you do the correct issues then you may run and we’re a very good crew there as nicely. I believe the crew is clicking as a result of we’re experiencing extra and spending extra time collectively.”