Bukayo Saka’s early goal was enough to seal three big points in a tight encounter against Brighton.
The England man - making his 300th first-team appearance for us – gave us the ideal start, squeezing his shot from the edge of the area through the keeper’s legs via a deflection inside 10 minutes. And it proved to be the only goal of an edgy and at times hotly-contested match on the road. It was enough to move us seven points clear back at the top of the table, with eight matches remaining in the Premier League season.
**Saka’s slick start**
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Just two minutes after kick off we survived a huge scare. David Raya left his pass short and Carlos Baleba nipped in to take possession. Raya was stranded on the edge of the area, Baleba lifted the ball over him but Gabriel got back, stretched his neck and headed the effort away from in front of the goalline for a corner. At the other end Saka beat the offside trap to get beyond the defence, but his cross was ahead of Gabriel Martinelli at the far post. A couple of minutes later he put us ahead, from just inside the area. Jurrien Timber found him in space on the right flank, and our winger headed to the box. He got his shot away, which deflected off Baleba and went through Bart Verbruggen’s legs. It was the perfect way for Saka to mark his landmark appearance – that’s now 79 goals from his 300 games, to add to his 69 assists.
**Digging in**
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After we went ahead though the hosts began to exert more pressure and were pressing us well in our own half, looking to force mistakes. Gabriel superbly blocked a Kaoru Mitoma effort after he broke free in the box, before Mitoma then inadvertently blocked a shot from Georginio Rutter at close range. Meanwhile we were unable to capitalise on our early lead, failing to register another shot in the rest of the first half. Saka had our next attempt, ten minutes after the restart, but couldn’t wrap his foot round his effort after beating a couple of defenders. Mikel Arteta sent on Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard and the latter deflected a Yankubah Minteh cross just wide after he darted into the area. Havertz was well tackled as he tried to muscle his way in on goal with the game beginning to open up.
**Seeing it out**
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Trossard screwed a shot wide from a good position in the area after Timber had pulled the ball back to him, but the game began to get scrappy as we entered the final ten minutes. Havertz broke the offside trap to race through on goal, but his shot at the near post was parried behind. But the one goal was enough, we saw out seven minutes of injury-time well to seal three huge points on the south coast.
What’s next
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We switch attentions to the FA Cup this weekend, with a fifth round tie away to Mansfield Town on Saturday. That’s followed by a Champions League Round of 16 first leg trip to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen next Wednesday and our next Premier League game is back at Emirates Stadium against Everton on Saturday, March 14.
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