Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus deliver goods in Arsenal victory over Brighton

Arsenal moved back to the top of the Premier League table – for half an afternoon at least, pending events at Anfield – with a controlled 2-0 win against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Emirates Stadium. At times there was a routine, energy-saver feel to Arsenal’s 12th victory of the league season against a Brighton team that played for much of the opening hour like opponents still feeling the burn from a Europa League fixture on Thursday night.

The key moment arrived after Mikel Arteta’s team, unchanged from a good performance in defeat at Villa Park last week, had re-emerged predictably geed up after a first half of low-throttle dominance. Arsenal had 16 shots at goal in that first half, dominating both territory and possession without any real sense of devil or precision. The half had ended with what felt like a recurrent space-time loop of the preceding 45 minutes, Bukayo Saka veering inside on the left and shooting high over the bar, to a generalised seethe of frustration.

There was more movement, more overlaps, more attacking hunger as the match restarted, although the opening goal came from another in a series of knife-edge Brighton passing moves inside their own box. Jack Hinshelwood won the ball back as Saka tried to find a route through on the right flank. At which point the Brighton defence enacted a startlingly intricate passing zigzag across their own penalty area, no doubt with the intention of sucking Arsenal in, creating space, avoiding the counter-press and so on, but they were hurried and harried and ended up conceding a needless corner.

Saka took it. The ball swung violently in towards goal, Jan Paul van Hecke flicked it on inadvertently, and Gabriel Jesus stooped to nod the ball into the net, unmarked close in.

From there Arsenal pressed with more vigour. Declan Rice was controlling the angles in midfield. Kai Havertz found space on the left. Roberto De Zerbi made a triple substitution, but Arsenal were comfortable playing on the break as Billy Gilmour began to see more of the ball in midfield. Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Ødegaard both had chances to add to the lead before Havertz added a second shortly before the end.

Havertz had spent much of the autumn running on sympathy, kept afloat by the odd pity-penalty, but here he picked up Arsenal’s player of the month award before kick-off, posing a little awkwardly with the trophy (no change there: unless specifically stated otherwise Havertz is always doing things a little awkwardly. This is a footballer who can win the Champions League a little awkwardly). This was his fourth goal in the last four weeks.

Gabriel Jesus heads in Arsenal’s opening goal in the 53rd minute. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

The Emirates had been a chilly, drab, Sunday-ish place at kick-off, touched with a sprinkling of pre-festive glitz. It took 50 seconds for Saka to engineer his first run at the stand-in left-back, James Milner, who wheeled back doggedly and smothered the danger, as he did throughout the first half, more an act of will and persistence than any great defensive technique.

It made for a riveting double act at times, in an otherwise slow-burn first half. Arsenal had control, with Rice easing about like a triple-masted galleon in midfield. But Brighton don’t mind if you have control. It’s part of the plan.

With half an hour gone Ødegaard produced the pass of the day, a stunned, back-spun, curving piece of stage direction, eased inside the tiniest channel of space on the Brighton left to put Saka in on goal, but his cut-back was scooped high over the bar by Martinelli.

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And Arteta managed to make his own mark again here with another booking just before half-time for a moment of sideline rage. Kaoru Mitoma had pulled Saka back, then scooted off with the ball. Arteta responded by leaping about weirdly with both hands in the air, like a man on a desert island spying a distant sail just as it fades over the horizon.

Mitoma was booked. Arteta was also booked, and reacted by throwing back his head in disbelief. What was he expecting? The foul had been given. There was no logical reason to go full touchline-disco.

Otherwise this will have been a hugely satisfying game for Arsenal and their manager. This is a relatively novel fixture, to the extent just over a third of all Arsenal versus Brighton games ever have taken place with Arteta on the touchline. Even in that short time Brighton have acquired mild bogey-team status. But they were kept at arm’s length here for most of the afternoon. Pascal Gross had a chance to equalise ten minutes before the end after fine work by Mitoma but poked his shot wide from four yards out. Havertz sealed the game shortly afterwards, with a fine finish after another quick break down the left flank.