Arsenal win at Brighton (2-4) and take a 7-point lead over Manchester City in the Premier League standings

Arsenal supporters are celebrating and it is not new. Once again spectacular and damn effective, in the wake of an exceptional Saka-Odegaard-Martinelli trio, Mikel Arteta’s players won brilliantly (2-4) in Brighton, on the lawn of the Amex Stadium. Long in control and masters of their game, the Gunners experienced scares at the end of the game but they won their 14th success this season in the Premier League. Here they are with 7 points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the championship.

Christmas was six days ago but Arsenal offered a nice gift to its supporters on December 31 by exploiting perfectly the failure of Manchester City (1-1) at home, against Everton. A blunder that the Gunners did not want to commit, perfectly back in their match and who only needed two minutes to open the scoring. Time for Martinelli to overflow and for Saka to score his 6th goal of the season (0-1, 2nd).

The Brazilian winger has also been in all the right moves. It was he again who was behind Nketiah’s goal just after the break (47th), with a breakthrough on his side and a strike badly repelled by Sanchez. The young striker’s goal appeared to have ended Brighton’s hopes of a comeback.

Arsenal got scared

Completely overwhelmed, the Eagles were then led (0-3), Martin Odegaard having gone there from his goal by taking a corner badly repelled by the Brighton defense (39th, 0-2). But De Zerbi’s players never gave up and, helped by coaching from coach De Zerbi, changed the pace of the match. A match where they always had the ball a lot (68% possession).

The Eagles even revived the suspense a little twice, thanks to Kaoru Mitoma (1-3, 64th) and incoming Evan Ferguson (2-4, 75th). But Martinelli had in the meantime perfectly exploited an extraordinary opening from Odegaard to score his 7th goal of the season and breathe new life into the Gunners (1-4, 71st). This did not calm the ardor of Brighton.

Continuing to push, regaining hope in the face of Arsenal’s lack of defensive control in the last quarter of an hour, the Eagles even believed for a few seconds in a potential miracle when Mitoma offered himself a double. But the Japanese finally saw his goal (89th) be refused for an offside position of a few centimeters. A very small nothing that definitively extinguished Brighton.

This sequence was a perfect symbol of the season for Arsenal, a club largely spared the blows of fate. More than ever solid leader of the Premier League, with seven points ahead of Manchester City, the London club is heading towards the title. Nineteen years after their last title in the league, the Gunners are currently untouchable. Failing to be Invincible.