After Manchester City's victory, it was Arsenal's turn to shine on the 32nd day of the Premier League. Traveling on the Brighton pitch, the Gunners were obliged to respond in order to stay in contact with the Skyblues at the top of the standings and above all to build up their confidence four days before hosting Bayern Munich in the quarter-final of the Champions League. Faced with the Seagulls who have won only one of their last five league matches, the Londoners set the pace from the start by taking possession of the ball then creating the clearest opportunities.
If Gabriel (2nd) then Saka (12th) narrowly failed to deceive Verbruggen, the Belgian goalkeeper pulled out all the stops against Gabriel Jesus to block him (13th). But by pushing, Arsenal broke the opposing barrier. Benefiting from a penalty obtained by Gabriel Jesus, cut down by Lamptey, Saka showed composure to allow the Gunners to take the lead (0-1, 33rd) while scoring his 14th goal of the season in the league. If Enciso tried to sound the revolt for Brighton before the break with a long-range strike, the Argentinian came up against Raya, author of a beautiful flight (44th).
Arsenal responds to Manchester City!
After a controlled first act, Arsenal returned with the same intentions in the second half. Greatly called upon, Verbruggen did his best to limit the damage before bending once again after the hour mark. Taking advantage of a high recovery from Odegaard, Jorginho distilled a wonderful ball behind for Havertz. Arriving launched, the German started again with his left foot to allow Arsenal to take off on the scoreboard (0-2, 62nd). Behind, the Seagulls tried to respond without really managing to worry a serious and well-placed London defense. Finally, it was a veteran of the house who came to dampen the last hopes of De Zerbi's men.
Overall Premier League standings
|
#
|
Team
|
Pts
|
J
|
DIF
|
G
|
NOT
|
D
|
BP
|
B.C.
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
|
73 |
32 |
44 |
22 |
7 |
3 |
76 |
32 |
|
2 |
|
71 |
32 |
49 |
22 |
5 |
5 |
75 |
26 |
|
3 |
|
71 |
32 |
41 |
21 |
8 |
3 |
72 |
31 |
See the full ranking
Coming into play, Trossard added his stone to the building to ensure new success for his team (0-3, 86th). While waiting for the Liverpool match on Sunday, Arsenal did the job to regain the lead in the Premier League standings. A great operation for Arteta's men who will appear in front of their public with high morale against a moribund Munich team beaten by Heidenheim this afternoon. Despite a more aggressive face in the last quarter of an hour, Brighton were no match and temporarily slipped to 10th place.
