Georgino Rutler Makes Arsenal's Day, Beat Brighton At Emirates

 

It was another important victory for Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, where they defeated Brighton and Hove Albion and maintained their lead over the nearest rivals, Manchester City, in the Premier League table. 

Arsenal have found winning a Premier League game tedious recently. Earlier this week, Arsenal battled through the shootouts against Crystal Palace to avoid elimination from the EFL Carabao Cup. They narrowly defeated Everton after coming back from a home defeat to Aston Villa.

Bukayo Saka instigated the moment for Martin Odegaard to score the opening goal in the 14th minute. Declan Rice nodded the ball to Saka, who latched onto the box and cut back a pass to Odegaard, and he curled a left-footed shot into the back of the net. 

Rice facilitated the second goal from a corner in the second half. The midfielder's corner was nodded home by Georgino Rutler for an own goal in the 52nd minute. Brighton pulled one goal back when Diego Gomez struck home a rebound shot from Yasin Ayari's attempt in the 64th minute. 

Yankubak Minteh was near leveling the terms for the Seagulls, sliding for a shot that forced a save from David Raya. Gabriel Martinelli also lost a glaring chance in front of the goal to put the game to rest from Saka's cross.

Having won the match, Arsenal extended their unbeaten run to four in all competitions. In the Premier League table, they maintain a two-point lead over the nearest team, Manchester City. 

Overview 

It was not an energetic match. Rather, it was such that Arsenal held the ground to earn the maximum points. The Seagulls' goal exposed the defensive lapses in the Gunners' half, but Mikel Arteta made up for that by bringing in Gabriel in the dire minutes. 

Arsenal have scarcely scored more than two goals in their previous games, which could be an indication of a lack of aggressiveness in scoring goals. Gyokeres' best moment in front of the goal was when he struck a shot on target in the 60th minute. Bukayo Saka has consistently been a key figure in the team. He lost a one-on-one challenge with the goalkeeper in injury time. Though the winger was contested against by a defender, that could have put the game to rest.