Arsenal defeat Brighton to put pressure on Liverpool

LONDON – Arsenal moved to the top of the English Premier League with a 2-0 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion, before leaders Liverpool hosted Manchester United in a later match.

The victory meant that the Gunners have 39 points, two more than Jurgen Klopp’s high-flying Reds, whose match result was not available at press time.

“Very important (win),” said Kai Havertz, who scored the second goal.

“It’s (Brighton) a great team. They play very nice football. It’s tough to play against them. But we knew we’re strong at our house here. Today it went quite well.

“I’m happy as an offensive player, it’s always nice to score or assist. The first one or two months (after moving from Chelsea) were difficult but I tried to get the best out of myself every day.”

The Seagulls had won each of their last three visits to the Emirates but did not get off to the best of starts when Bukayo Saka found Gabriel Jesus in the box in the second minute.

The Brazilian striker, however, was immediately surrounded by Brighton defenders and failed to shoot.

Arsenal continued pressing and a good opportunity came in the 14th minute, when captain Martin Odegaard’s shot from outside the box went narrowly wide.

Jesus was a bright spark in the early stages, with another two shots saved by the 20th minute.

Mikel Arteta’s men had another chance just past the half-hour mark but Gabriel Martinelli’s close-range shot from a Saka pass flew high over the bar, much to his frustration.

Brighton also had their goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen to thank for pulling off a save from Martinelli again in the 40th minute following a defence-splitting pass.

Arsenal were totally dominant and according to Opta statistics, the Seagulls failed to attempt a single shot in the first half for the first time in 49 Premier League games, while the home side had 15 shots before the break.

The second half kicked off with the Gunners again on the front foot and their efforts paid off in the 53rd minute, when Jesus found space inside the box and powered a header past Verbruggen for his third league goal of the season.

Brighton finally had their first attempt on goal past the hour mark, when Jack Hinshelwood’s header was directed straight at goalkeeper David Raya, who made an easy catch.

Arsenal kept up their constant pressure and Ben White flicked on a header from a corner in the 69th minute but thankfully for Brighton, their courageous captain Lewis Dunk was on the line to clear.

The Gunners had a perfect chance to put the game to bed in the 74th minute when Odegaard smashed the ball towards the top-left corner, but Verbruggen made a brilliant save to deny the Norwegian midfielder.

Arsenal then had a scare in the 82nd minute, as Kaoru Mitoma put the ball into the box only for Pascal Gross to slice it wide from just in front of goal.

But all nerves were eased with three minutes left as Havertz picked up a ball from substitute Eddie Nketiah – who came on for Jesus – and beat Verbruggen with a shot into the bottom-right corner.

Elsewhere, Aston Villa beat Brentford 2-1 away to take them to 38 points, only one behind Arsenal.

Keane Lewis-Potter scored for the Bees just before half-time, before Ben Mee was sent off in the 71st minute for a high tackle following a VAR (video assistant referee) check.

Unai Emery’s Villa side took advantage of their extra man and scored just six minutes later via Alex Moreno.

Ollie Watkins then sealed three precious points for the away side in the 85th minute when he headed in from a corner.

There was more late drama when Villa were also down to 10 men following Boubacar Kamara’s sending off in stoppage time, but no harm was done in the end.