Arsenal stretches lead to 7 points with 4-2 win at Brighton

Arsenal stretched its Premier League lead to seven points with a 42 win at Brighton capped by a wellworked breakaway goal from Gabriel MartinelliGoals from Bukayo Saka Martin Odegaard and Eddie Nketiah had Arsenal 30 up by the 47th minute and seemingly cruising to an easy win but Kaoru Mitoma kept Brighton in the game with a goal 25 minutes from timeOdegaard then provided a sublime throughball for Martinelli to race half the length of the field and poke in a fourth to restore the threegoal advantageBrighton substitute Evan Ferguson claimed his first Premier League goal in the 77th and Mitoma thought he had set up a tense finish with an 89thminute strike but it was disallowed for offsideDespite an unnecessarily nervy end the win meant Arsenal took full advantage of secondplace Citys slipup earlier as the defending champion was held to a 11 draw at home against Everton Thirdplace Newcastle meanwhile saw its sixgame winning streak end with a 00 draw against LeedsIts still a long long run to go Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of the title race My excitement comes when I go in the dressing room and the players are talking about what they should have done better today And that means that they know that we can still play better and be betterBrighton had won three of its last four but Saka put the visitors ahead after just a little more than a minute when he reacted quickly to control a deflected shot from Martinelli before sidefooting into the netOdegaard was once again Arsenals main orchestrator in midfield and nearly set up Martinelli for a second with some remarkable footwork in the area but ended up doubling the lead himself in the 39th The ball fell to the Norway international in the area after a corner and while he scuffed his shot into the ground it bounced perfectly to sail into the netAlso readPremier League Haaland brace helps Man City beat Leeds close in on tabletoppers ArsenalNketiah then seemingly put the result beyond doubt just after the restart when he was on hand to send in a rebound after another shot from Martinelli making it two goals in two starts for the Arsenal academy product in the absence of injured striker Gabriel JesusBrighton refused to surrender though and Mitoma stayed just onside to collect a pass in the area and slot a shot past Aaron Ramsdale to give the hosts some lifeSuddenly Brighton was pouring forward but Odegaard made them pay with a perfectly weighted firsttouch pass that set Martinelli clear on the counter The Brazilian outpaced Tariq Lamptey from halfway before finishing low under Robert Sanchez for the fourthArteta exuberantly celebrated the goal on the touchline but there was still plenty of drama for him to endurePoor defending from William Saliba allowed 18yearold striker Ferguson to sneak in and poke a milestone goal through the legs of RamsdaleThe Gunners then looked to be in real danger of throwing away two points when Mitoma diverted his second of the game into the bottom right cornerBut the jubilant atmosphere was swiftly quelled by VAR intervention before the visitors navigated six minutes of added time to tighten their stranglehold on first placeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever