EPL 2017-18: Arsenal 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion, 5 Talking Points
Arsenal hosted Brighton & Hove Albion on matchday 7 of the Premier League on the back of an emphatic 4-2 win over BATE Borisov in the Europa League. The Arsene Wenger led side that had missed out on a Champions League spot last season by 1 point had begun the season poorly before stringing together a series of impressive performances to improve on their league position.
It was Nacho Monreal who scored a rare goal in the 16th minute to put the Gunners ahead and while Solly March came very close to restoring parity in the 23rd minute, it was not to be. An Alexis Sanchez back-heel pass in the Brighton box in the 56th minute presented Iwobi with an opportunity to score and the Nigerian forward did not fail to oblige.
Here are the 5 key talking points from the game between Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion.
#5 Arsenal are putting the bad start to the season behind them
After having begun the Premier League season with a come from behind win against Leicester, Arsenal lost consecutive games to Stoke City and Liverpool, thus sending their fans into a meltdown. However, their subsequent performances in games against Bournemouth, Chelsea, West Brom and Brighton have actually propelled the North-London club into the 5th spot with 13 points.
While they remain 6 points behind the league leaders Manchester City, they are now only a point away from their cross-town arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur and have surely steadied the ship that seemed to be going down not a long time ago.
Yes, we agree that they were not at their entertaining best against Brighton in a game that many expected Arsenal to win comfortably, but it is perhaps the kind of result that many Arsenal fans would love.
In the past, the Arsene Wenger managed side was often criticised for not being able to grind out wins and while they were not pushed to their limits by Brighton, they were contained for a long period of time during the game and yet managed to eke out the all-important 3 points.