Arsenal fight to win 1-0 at Brighton as Manchester City stumble

Arsenal took advantage of their luck to survive a torrid fixture at Brighton as they claimed a hard-fought 1-0 draw at the AMEX to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points, the BBC reports.

Brighton were superior for long periods, but Bukayo Saka’s early deflected shot was enough to give Mikel Arteta’s side a priceless win, especially as Manchester City drew 2-2 at home to Nottingham Forest.

Arsenal’s night almost started catastrophically in the opening seconds when goalkeeper David Raya sent a clearance straight to Carlos Baleba, but his attempt was weak, allowing Gabriel to retreat and come off the line.

And the Gunners’ luck came after nine minutes, when Saka’s routine shot deflected off Baleba and through the legs of Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who should have done better.

Brighton fans, egged on by head coach Fabian Hurzeler in the dugout, were enraged by what they saw as Arsenal’s waste of time and erupted in fury just before the hour when Raya saved from Georginio Rutter and then lay on the ground clutching his shoulder before receiving treatment.

Arsenal came under heavy pressure and Brighton should have equalized but Mats Wieffer headed straight at Raya from close range.

In the end, Brighton ran out of steam to allow Arsenal to close out another very difficult but hugely significant victory on a night when Manchester City made a mistake.

In other games, Chelsea recovered from the defeat against Arsenal to beat Aston Villa and Fulham suffered a 1-0 defeat against West Ham United.