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Arsenal 0-3 Brighton & Hove Albion: Gunners title challenge suffers devastating blow

by el-admin - 082
Julio Enciso heads Brighton into the lead at Arsenal in the Premier League
Brighton have won their past three matches at Emirates Stadium in the league and cup

Arsenal’s fading title hopes were dealt a devastating blow after losing to Brighton to leave leaders Manchester City one win from a fifth Premier League title in six seasons.

The Gunners needed to respond after City’s 3-0 win over Everton earlier on Sunday left Mikel Arteta’s side trailing by four points in the race for the title.

On a deeply frustrating day for Arsenal, Leandro Trossard hit the bar against his former club while Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka both went close before Julio Enciso’s close-range header put Brighton ahead.

Substitute Deniz Undav doubled the lead after lobbing Aaron Ramsdale in the 86th minute before Pervis Estupinan added to Arsenal’s misery with Brighton’s third in the 96th minute.

City will win the Premier League title next Sunday in front of their own fans if they beat Chelsea at home (16:00 BST), even if Arsenal defeat Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday (17:30).

However, City will be confirmed champions without playing on Saturday if the Gunners lose at Forest.

In a game littered with niggly fouls, Arsenal lost Brazil forward Gabriel Martinelli to injury in the first half after a foul by Brighton’s Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo, who the Gunners tried to sign in January.

Brighton, who are chasing a place in Europe for the first time, had gone close through Enciso before the Paraguay forward stunned the Emirates with his 51st-minute goal.

The win lifted the Seagulls above both Aston Villa and Tottenham into sixth on 58 points, four behind fifth-placed Liverpool with one game in hand.

The maximum number of points Arsenal can score is 87, while City have 85 with matches against Chelsea (home), Brighton (away) and Brentford (away) to come.

Arsenal’s title challenge runs out of steam

Arsenal’s players sank to their knees after the full-time whistle, the realisation quickly sinking in that their title dream was all but over after being picked apart by Brighton.

The Gunners deserve enormous credit for the way they have pushed Manchester City in the title race but their pursuit is close to being extinguished after a highly damaging defeat at the business end of the season.

Manchester City’s comfortable win at Everton earlier on Sunday opened up a four-point gap at the top but this time Arsenal were unable to respond to the pressure heaped on them by Pep Guardiola’s Treble-chasing team.

There was still almost 40 minutes left when Enciso opened the scoring but the Gunners failed to find the net for the first time since 4 February.

Arteta sent on Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe to try and salvage a point but the Arsenal boss, who was shown a yellow card by referee Andy Madley, saw his side concede two further goals as the home side suffered a comprehensive defeat.

More to follow.

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Arsenal

Starting XI

  1. Squad number1Player nameRamsdale
    Average rating

    4.05

  2. Squad number4Player nameWhite
    Average rating

    3.69

  3. Squad number15Player nameKiwior
    Average rating

    3.71

  4. Squad number6Player nameGabriel Magalhães
    Average rating

    3.78

  5. Squad number3Player nameTierney
    Average rating

    4.80

  6. Squad number8Player nameØdegaard
    Average rating

    4.32

  7. Squad number20Player nameJorginho
    Average rating

    3.96

  8. Squad number34Player nameXhaka
    Average rating

    4.30

  9. Squad number7Player nameSaka
    Average rating

    3.94

  10. Squad number9Player nameGabriel Jesus
    Average rating

    3.96

  11. Squad number11Player nameGabriel Martinelli
    Average rating

    3.81

Substitutes

  1. Squad number5Player namePartey
    Average rating

    3.10

  2. Squad number10Player nameSmith Rowe
    Average rating

    3.22

  3. Squad number14Player nameNketiah
    Average rating

    3.09

  4. Squad number19Player nameTrossard
    Average rating

    3.67

  5. Squad number24Player nameNelson
    Average rating

    3.57

Brighton & Hove Albion

Starting XI

  1. Squad number23Player nameSteele
    Average rating

    7.70

  2. Squad number25Player nameCaicedo
    Average rating

    7.94

  3. Squad number5Player nameDunk
    Average rating

    8.00

  4. Squad number6Player nameColwill
    Average rating

    7.76

  5. Squad number30Player nameEstupiñán
    Average rating

    7.97

  6. Squad number13Player nameGroß
    Average rating

    7.77

  7. Squad number27Player nameGilmour
    Average rating

    8.08

  8. Squad number22Player nameMitoma
    Average rating

    7.93

  9. Squad number10Player nameMac Allister
    Average rating

    8.03

  10. Squad number20Player nameEnciso
    Average rating

    7.94

  11. Squad number28Player nameFerguson
    Average rating

    7.80

Substitutes

  1. Squad number18Player nameWelbeck
    Average rating

    7.62

  2. Squad number21Player nameUndav
    Average rating

    7.91

  3. Squad number40Player nameBuonanotte
    Average rating

    7.49

Line-ups

Arsenal

Formation 4-3-3

  • 1Ramsdale
  • 4White
  • 15Kiwior
  • 6Gabriel
  • 3Tierney
  • 8ØdegaardSubstituted forSmith Roweat 77′minutes
  • 20JorginhoSubstituted forParteyat 60′minutesBooked at 88mins
  • 34XhakaSubstituted forNelsonat 60′minutes
  • 7Saka
  • 9Gabriel JesusSubstituted forNketiahat 77′minutes
  • 11MartinelliSubstituted forTrossardat 20′minutes

Substitutes

  • 5Partey
  • 10Smith Rowe
  • 14Nketiah
  • 16Holding
  • 19Trossard
  • 21Fábio Vieira
  • 24Nelson
  • 30Turner
  • 97Walters

Brighton

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 23Steele
  • 25Caicedo
  • 5Dunk
  • 6Colwill
  • 30EstupiñánBooked at 34mins
  • 13GroßBooked at 55mins
  • 27GilmourSubstituted forWelbeckat 60′minutes
  • 22Mitoma
  • 10Mac Allister
  • 20EncisoSubstituted forUndavat 82′minutes
  • 28FergusonSubstituted forBuonanotteat 77′minutes

Substitutes

  • 18Welbeck
  • 21Undav
  • 26Ayari
  • 29van Hecke
  • 38McGill
  • 40Buonanotte
  • 42Offiah
  • 49Moran
  • 51Peupion

Referee:
Andy Madley

Attendance:
60,139

Match Stats

Live Text

  1. Match ends, Arsenal 0, Brighton and Hove Albion 3.

  2. Second Half ends, Arsenal 0, Brighton and Hove Albion 3.

  3. Goal! Arsenal 0, Brighton and Hove Albion 3. Pervis Estupiñán (Brighton and Hove Albion) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal.

  4. Attempt saved. Deniz Undav (Brighton and Hove Albion) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Danny Welbeck.

  5. Attempt blocked. Reiss Nelson (Arsenal) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Thomas Partey.

  6. Offside, Brighton and Hove Albion. Levi Colwill tries a through ball, but Pervis Estupiñán is caught offside.

  7. Moisés Caicedo (Brighton and Hove Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  8. Foul by Reiss Nelson (Arsenal).

  9. Attempt blocked. Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton and Hove Albion) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Deniz Undav.

  10. Hand ball by Deniz Undav (Brighton and Hove Albion).

  11. Thomas Partey (Arsenal) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

  12. Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton and Hove Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  13. Foul by Thomas Partey (Arsenal).

  14. Goal! Arsenal 0, Brighton and Hove Albion 2. Deniz Undav (Brighton and Hove Albion) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Pascal Groß.

  15. Foul by Deniz Undav (Brighton and Hove Albion).

  16. Thomas Partey (Arsenal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  17. Attempt saved. Deniz Undav (Brighton and Hove Albion) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.

  18. Attempt missed. Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Thomas Partey following a corner.

  19. Corner, Arsenal. Conceded by Lewis Dunk.

  20. Attempt blocked. Reiss Nelson (Arsenal) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is blocked. Assisted by Eddie Nketiah.

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