Arsenal moved back to the top of the Premier League table – for half an afternoon at least, pending events at Anfield – with a controlled 2-0 win against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Emirates Stadium. At times there was a routine, energy-saver feel to Arsenal’s 12th victory of the league season against a Brighton team that played for much of the opening hour like opponents still feeling the burn from a Europa League fixture on Thursday night.
The key moment arrived after Mikel Arteta’s team, unchanged from a good performance in defeat at Villa Park last week, had re-emerged predictably geed up after a first half of low-throttle dominance. Arsenal had 16 shots at goal in that first half, dominating both territory and possession without any real sense of devil or precision. The half had ended with what felt like a recurrent space-time loop of the preceding 45 minutes, Bukayo Saka veering inside on the left and shooting high over the bar, to a generalised seethe of frustration.
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