With Manchester City breathing down their necks at the summit, Arsenal nearly fell behind in the fledgling minutes. A loose pass from David Raya saw him stranded 18 yards from goal, but as Carlos Baleba’s deft chip looked destined to nestle in the goal, a heroic Gabriel header off the line kept the scores level.
The out-of-form Seagulls were made to pay the ultimate price for that miss, when Bukayo Saka stepped in off the right and watched on with a wry smile as his strike from the edge of the area squeezed through the hands and legs of Bart Verbruggen.
Brighton huffed and puffed in response, but they did so without threatening the Gunners goal.
That was certainly a cause for concern for boss Fabian Hurzeler, whose side had to overcome the team with the best points per game conversion rate after scoring first in the PL this season.
An incident inside the area involving Gabriel Martinelli and Mats Wieffer on the stroke of half-time, in which the Arsenal man seemed to bundle the Seagulls man to the ground inside the area, prompted an angry reaction from Hurzeler going into the break, after referee Chris Kavanagh saw nothing untoward.
Channeling that burning sense of injustice, Brighton started the second half on the offensive, and they finally tested Raya when Georginio Rutter’s stinging drive from the edge of the area needed beating away to safety.
A bigger chance presented itself to Wieffer shortly after the hour mark as he ghosted into the area to latch onto substitute Yankuba Minteh’s teasing delivery, but his downward header bounced into the grateful arms of Raya.
Former Brighton man Leandro Trossard then missed a glorious opportunity to wrap the game up when he skewed an effort wide 15 minutes from time, which was somewhat symptomatic of the struggles Mikel Arteta’s men faced all night.
Despite being far from their best though, they were able to take full advantage of Manchester City’s surprise 2-2 draw at home to Nottingham Forest. A first title in over 20 years grows ever nearer for the Gunners, while another defeat for Brighton leaves their campaign heading towards mid-table obscurity.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Gabriel (Arsenal)