Arsenal beat Brighton to return to first place

                                    Arsenal beat Brighton to return to first place

Arsenal continued their bid to win their first Premier League title in 20 years, moving into the top spot with an impressive away win against Brighton.

Mikel Arteta's side have one point against title rivals Liverpool, who play Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, and Manchester City, where the reigning champions beat Crystal Palace 4-2 on Saturday. He was in the lead.

Bukayo Saka, who missed Wednesday's 2-0 win over Luton with a minor injury, returned and remained calm under pressure, converting a first-half penalty following Tariq Lamptey's foul on Gabriel Jesus. Ta.

Brighton had their first attempt on goal after 43 minutes when David Raya leapt across goal to deny Julio Enciso's superb long-range shot, but Arsenal secured the lead before the end of the first half.

It was the in-form Kai Havertz who took advantage of Jorginho's counterattack to give the Gunners some breathing space and calm the nerves of the Arsenal fans who had moved on after an hour. Former Brighton player Leandro Trossard was denied by Bad Verbruggen but then the substitute made no mistake and Havertz slotted through and calmly lifted the ball over the Seagulls goalkeeper. , leaving no room for doubt about the outcome.

The defeat dropped Brighton to 10th place, with immediate wins by West Ham and Newcastle ending their hopes of making it to Europe for a second successive season.