Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to seven points after Bukayo Saka’s first-half goal saw them scrape a 1-0 win over Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
This was a potentiality pivotal night in the title race but Mikel Arteta’s side were a long way from at their best, sloppy and slow in attack, careless with the ball and altogether too accommodating in letting Brighton play through them in midfield.
A more optimistic reading would be that despite being unable to find any fluency, they dug in doggedly and held off opponents who were superior to them in almost every area.
Most crucially of all, this was a third league win in a row, and on a night when Manchester City dropped points at home, one more fixture crossed out in their race to the finish.
They did so without the injured William Saliba, absent with an ankle problem, while Martin Odegaard had also lost the race to be fit in time, but even so this was a poor, albeit winning display.
Even the winner owed to more than a stroke of fortune as Saka’s shot in the ninth minute bamboozled goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who will wonder how he let the ball slip through him.
It would not be an overstatement to say Brighton dominated for significant periods, backed by a vociferous crowd who grew incensed with Arsenal’s determination to delay restarts and slow the game down at every opportunity.
Arsenal almost suffered a calamity inside two minutes. David Raya blindly passed the ball straight to the feet of Carlos Baleba who lobbed it back goalwards but with too little heft to clear the recovering Gabriel.
The strangest of goals gave Arsenal the lead. Brighton lost possession in midfield and the ball was funnelled up their left side to where Jurrien Timber had space to move it to Saka. Cutting in and striking, his effort was bound straight for Verbruggen who was seemingly foxed by the merest nick off Baleba, allowing the ball through his legs and in.
Arsenal came under considerable pressure around their own box after going in front, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter with shots from good positions that were blocked. The league leaders stood up to the challenge well in the absence of their most influential defender.
There was a worry for Arteta when Martin Zubimendi required lengthy treatment after turning his ankle late in the first half, but the midfielder was able to continue.
Brighton supporters grew increasingly impatient as the half wore on with the time Arsenal were taking over free-kicks, and Fabian Hurzeler also vented his frustration with the visitors’ languid approach to restarting play.
Arsenal finally carved out their first chance since the goal 10 minutes into the second half when Saka fired over from inside the box.
Brighton were still the more dangerous team, Rutter drawing a good one-handed stop from Raya who then evoked further ire by calling for the Arsenal medics.
Mats Wieffer wasted the chance to blow the title race wide open with a tame header straight at the goalkeeper when left free in the box as Arsenal held on.
