JAKARTA - Arsenal is closer to ending the league trophy drought. In the duel against host Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium, Thursday, March 5, 2026 early morning WIB, Arsenal won narrowly 1-0.
The crucial victory shows that Arsenal is able to overcome pressure when the competition enters the final weeks. Moreover, Arsenal is far enough away from its competitors who are actually losing points. Manchester City, who are in second place, were held to a 2-2 draw by Nottingham Forest at home.
Meanwhile, Manchester United, who managed to poke into the top, finally suffered their first defeat under Michael Carrick. Aston Villa, who were moved by Man Utd, have not been able to return to the top three after being beaten by Chelsea 4-1.
In this midweek match, Arsenal became the only top team to score a victory through the only goal scored by Bukayo Saka. The victory confirmed the position of The Gunners at the top of the standings after collecting 67 points.
Arsenal are seven points ahead of Man City as they still have eight league games to go. However, Man City still has nine games so mathematically they can still hunt down Arsenal. Moreover, Man City has a schedule to host their rivals from North London.
If they are able to overcome the pressure of competing for the title as they handed over the trophy to Man City in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Arsenal have the opportunity to fulfill their ambition of ending the title drought for decades.
Yes, Arsenal last won the Premier League in 2004. This means they are still waiting for 22 years to return to the league champions.
Not only that, Mikel Arteta's troops also have the ambition to achieve a quadruple because they are still in the Champions League, the FA Cup and advancing to the final of the English League Cup or Carabao Cup against Man City. The Champions League trophy is also Arsenal's target because they are the only Premier League elite club who have never lifted the big ears trophy.
Brighton themselves are still struggling at the bottom of the table after suffering a defeat at home. They are ranked 13th with 37 points. Or nine points ahead of West Ham United who are in the relegation zone.
In that match, Brighton was actually able to fight even though they were facing a team at the top. In fact, The Albion almost took the lead when the match was only three minutes old because goalkeeper David Raya made a blunder.
He was going to give the ball to his teammate but instead it was received by Carlos Baleba who then shot into the goal. Fortunately, there was a defender Gabriel Magelhaes who threw the ball before crossing the line.
Despite being threatened in the early minutes, Arsenal was also quick to rise and was able to break Brighton's goal when the match entered the ninth minute.
Through an attack, Saka who was on the right side penetrated into the penalty box and then kicked the ball. Saka's kick hit Baleba, which made the ball slightly turn and pass through the legs of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
This is Saka's second goal in the last 19 matches in various competitions. The 25-year-old is also the fourth youngest player to reach the 300-match milestone with Arsenal.
After leading 1-0, Arsenal seemed to have declined. They played slowly and always procrastinated when they got a dead ball. Even Arsenal players seemed to linger when throwing into the goal, which made Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler protest to the fourth referee.
Hurzeler's protest action had a response from Arteta. With the high tension of the match, the two managers were seen pointing at each other on the sidelines.
In the second half, Brighton tried to rise to equalize the score. Only their efforts did not bear fruit. However, they got an opportunity through Georginio Rutter. However, his half-volley shot could be stopped by Raya.
Then a kick from Yankuba Minteh was still wide. Likewise, Jack Hinshelwood's header did not threaten the Arsenal goal which managed to maintain a 1-0 lead until the end of the match.
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