The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
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Arsenal survived a tough fight against Brighton and extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.
Brighton were the better team for a long time – but Bukayo Saka’s early goal was enough to give Mikel Arteta’s side a comfortable victory as rivals Manchester City were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal’s night almost started in disastrous fashion in the opening seconds when goalkeeper David Raya misplayed the ball to Carlos Baleba, but his attempted clearance was weak, allowing Gabriel to retreat and save his shot.
The Gunners’ luck then came to a halt after nine minutes when Saka’s standard shot deflected off Baleba and went through the legs of Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who had no answer.
Meanwhile, Nottingham, who were playing away against Man City, sat back and defended the goal as City dominated for much of the game before Antoine Semenyo scored the first goal and gave the visitors a warning.
The hosts put their pressure on after half an hour when Rayan Cherki sank a cross into the box and January signing Semenyo scored his seventh goal since joining City.
Manchester United were also forced to accept the result after losing 2-1 to 10-man Newcastle away.
However, Michael Carrick did not abandon his team unlike his predecessor Ruben Amorim who was once quoted as saying: “This is probably the worst team in Manchester United’s history”, when he made the comment more than a year ago after a home defeat to Brighton.
But Carrick knows the 11 days between the 2-1 defeat to Newcastle at St James’ Park and Aston Villa’s visit to Old Trafford on March 15 could be the most crucial of his season.
