Arsenal just did something to De Zerbi’s Brighton that hasn’t been done in 49 games

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Arsenal produced an utterly dominant first half display against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon.

Whilst the Gunners’ goals did not come until after the break, Arsenal took a stranglehold on the match in the first half.

This is borne out by one statistic, which highlights how in control of proceedings Mikel Arteta’s side were. As reported by Opta, at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, Brighton failed to register a shot in the first half. That is the first time in 49 matches under Roberto De Zerbi that the Seagulls have failed to register an effort in the opening 45 minutes.

Arsenal, meanwhile, took 15 shots before the half-time whistle. Arteta will have been delighted with the positivity and intent of his team’s play, but their finishing in the first half left plenty to be desired. Club captain Martin Odegaard was once again guilty of passing up a presentable opportunity, having also been wasteful against Aston Villa.

The Gunners were able to find their shooting boots in the second half, as Gabriel Jesus put the hosts ahead. The south coast club then found some attacking threat of their own, and a nervy finish looked to be on the cards before Kai Havertz continued his impressive recent goalscoring form and confirmed the result with an 87th minute strike.

Arsenal must maintain this defensive platform

Title winning sides are built on solid defensive foundations. Arsenal look to have those firmly in place this season. The north London club currently boast, at the time of writing, the joint-best defensive record in the Premier League, having conceded just 15 times in their 17 matches so far.

The best way to keep clean sheets is to prevent shots, and the Gunners proved that they could do that for long periods against a Brighton side that are certainly capable of finding the back of the net. Arteta will be extremely pleased with how his team were able to prevent the visitors from overly testing David Raya, in the first half especially.

The Gunners now need to maintain this defensive diligence for the rest of the campaign. That, of course, will be a tall order, especially considering they are set to travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool next time out. If Arsenal can remain experts at preventing shooting opportunities, though, then they will stand a great chance of being crowned champions come the end of the campaign.