After beating Crystal Palace on penalties in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final, Arsenal turned their focus to the other half of the M23 derby for their penultimate outing of the calendar year.
The Gunners required less than 15 minutes to break the deadlock after they took full advantage of Bart Verbruggen’s poor kick.
Makeshift right-back Declan Rice nodded the ball into Bukayo Saka’s path before it was laid back to Martin Odegaard, who was given all the time and space needed to wind up a shot from the edge of the box, driving it past the outstretched goalkeeper to end the long wait for his first goal of the season.
With their noses in front, the Gunners continued to control proceedings in the first period, and they nearly grabbed a deserved second when Martin Zubimendi’s clever flick forced Verbruggen into a desperate stop low down to his right.
A second goal eventually arrived within seven minutes of the restart, with Arsenal’s dangerous reputation from set-pieces seemingly forcing Georginio Rutter into a costly mistake, glancing past his own goalkeeper in his attempt to deal with Rice’s near-post corner.
At that stage, Mikel Arteta’s men appeared to have complete control of the contest, so it came as a surprise when Diego Gomez pulled a goal back with over 25 minutes to play.
The Paraguay international reacted quickly to fire home after Yasin Ayari struck the far post, giving his side some much-needed impetus following a lacklustre display up until that point.
With momentum in the visitors’ favour, the hosts required David Raya, on his 150th PL appearance, to make a fingertip stop at full stretch to keep out Yankuba Minteh’s curling effort.
Fabian Hurzeler’s charges ultimately ran out of time in their bid to salvage a point, as Arsenal maintained their unbeaten PL home record with a win that sends Brighton down to 12th and extends their winless run to five matches.
The Gunners, meanwhile, returned to the summit with a third successive PL victory by a one-goal margin.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
