Arsenal 2-1 Brighton: Gunners benefit from ANOTHER own goal as Mikel Arteta’s side survive late Seagulls rally – but there is one area they are lacking compared to title rivals Man City, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI

If Arsenal are to finally hold their nerve in a title race, then Mikel Arteta ought to spend the entirety of next summer writing notes of thanks to those who helped them through these Festive weeks. Own goals are the gifts that keep on giving.

As with the home fixtures against Wolves and Crystal Palace in the past fortnight, this was a win assisted greatly by the generosity and goodwill of Arsenal’s guests.

To the names of Sam Johnstone, Yerson Mosquera and Maxence Lacroix, we can add Georginio Rutter for a contribution that proved more consequential than anyone imagined when he glanced a Declan Rice corner off his forehead and into Brighton’s own net for 2-0.

At that point, Arsenal were strolling. They were comfortable, expressive, toying with their food and leading the shot tally by 19-0 – it was all going so well. Martin Odegaard, scorer of the first goal, had been brilliant. So too Bukayo Saka.

But then came the blip, the micro wobble, and the reason why, even when they are winning, we might pessimistically wonder if it will come crashing down eventually, as it has done in the two other seasons of the Arteta reign in which they have stood as the Christmas No 1.

As with those games against Wolves and Palace, respectively in the league and the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, this became far harder than it needed to be.

Georginio Rutter’s own goal doubled Arsenal’s lead before Brighton fought back late on

From a performance that had been woefully flat, Brighton were allowed to pull a goal back through Diego Gomez. Had David Rayo not launched himself into an immense save off his fingertips, Yankuba Minteh would have quickly made it 2-2. He didn’t and so it is academic, but Arsenal have too much previous with mental vulnerabilities to view this match purely in terms of its scoreline.

If we are to be positive about it, which we should because Arsenal have earned some benefit of the doubt, it is that they keep finding a way to win, be it through set-pieces or grinding or squad depth or the creation of chances that lead to own goals. But we might also query the frailties that have started to surface when they are leading games.

With Manchester City breathing dragon fire on their necks, Arsenal are overdue one of those message-sending performances that replenishes their aura, because for now opposition sense there will always be a way back in.

At their best, City offer no such reassurance, so it might just be the one area in which Arsenal are lacking. After all, it is one thing to survive fight backs, as they have done repeatedly through this busy period, and quite another to break the spirits of anyone daring to think it is possible. There is an art to pulling it off.

Arteta, as a smart man, knows as much. He also knows that even a deep squad has limits – for this match, he needed to put Rice at right back after Jurrien Timber hurt his ankle in training on Friday. Riccardo Calafiori was then withdrawn in the warm-up, opening a door for Myles Lewis-Skelly to make his first league start this season.

With those changes came a question: would Brighton finds areas to exploit within an altered backline?

Fabian Hurzeler’s answer was to tweak his system to carry three centre halves, while relying heavily on his wing backs, Maxim De Cuyper and Ferdi Kadioglu, for width. The poor fellas couldn’t get anywhere near Arsenal’s half for what felt like an eternity.

When De Cuyper was finally set loose on Rice, 40 minutes in and at 1-0 down, he was crunched into the ground by a meaty challenge and then took an earful before he could get to his feet. Evidently Rice has the tools for any job.

Odegaard gave Arsenal the perfect start when he swept home in the first half at the Emirates

Diego Gomez halved the deficit to set up a tense finale but the Gunners held their nerve

Victory saw Mikel Arteta’s side regain top spot after they were briefly overtaken by Man City

By then, Arsenal were already cruising. Viktor Gyokeres had muscled his way to a one-on-one inside two minutes only to scuff his shot and a moment later Saka was blocked by Bart Verbruggen after skipping around De Cuyper.

They were finding it easy, so there was no surprise when the goal came, even if it was partially gifted by Verbruggen. The replays lent some blame to Brajan Gruda, who was dispossessed in a dangerous area by Piero Hincappie, but that was only possible because the goalkeeper sent a daft, low ball up the middle of the pitch.

From that initial error, a combination of Rice and Saka worked possession to Odegaard on the edge of the box. With one touch to control and another to steer his shot, he beat Verbruggen low to his left.

Verbruggen’s difficulties were later compounded by a yellow card for hacking down Gyokeres outside his area after Lewis-Skelly opened a lane to goal with a lovely clip over the top. A dismissal seemed imminent, but John Brooks applied greater weight to Jan Paul van Hecke’s marginal presence as last man.

With 52 minutes played, Arsenal went two clear when Rutter flicked Rice’s corner into the net. Own goals and set-pieces could ultimately be worth their weight in silver for Arsenal, but this match was not over.

With Brighton’s first meaningful attack, Yasin Ayari drilled against Raya’s post, before Gomez lashed in the rebound. Hurzeler’s side were suddenly alive again.

Arteta’s responded with two changes but the nerves persisted – a Raya save from Minteh was exceptional and a second let-off followed when Mats Wieffer ballooned a free header over the bar. More pressure came with it, and so too a bunch of Arsenal chances, but they could not restore the comfort of a two-goal lead.

That Arteta’s side held on to win is the point of greatest significance. Doing so without unnecessary stress is their next challenge.