David Hytner was at the Amex this evening. Here’s his verdict. Thanks for reading this MBM.

Roberto De Zerbi talks to Sky. “The penalty was clear … the referee was good … we played a good first half … until the second goal we were in the game … then the game was finished … in this moment without a lot of important players it is tough … we played a good game without a big chance to score … we played against Arsenal … they are top of the table, no? … especially in this condition we can lose against Arsenal at home … we are sorry for our fans but it is tough to compete against Arsenal and Liverpool last Sunday … maybe we will not close the gap … especially without Mitoma, March, Pedro, Gilmour, Ferguson and all our injured players … I don’t know what the club and Tony [Bloom] wants to do … my problem is on the pitch, to improve my players and my team … the other things are not my business.”

Mikel Arteta speaks to Sky Sports. “I am really happy … a big performance … they are a really good team … they make life really difficult for you … but we were outstanding … we showed a lot of quality … real purpose and clarity … without the ball we were so disciplined … we were really humble … patient … we have gone through a lot of moments together … chemistry … the squad is healthy … the energy around the place is good … we’ve been through it already … I’m just enjoying the moment, embracing it, and seeing how far we can go.”

Bukayo Saka talks to Sky. “We’re buzzing … we’re happy … the boys have put in another top performance … we’re building momentum … I was struggling but as long as I have two legs I’ll give everything … we defended really well.”

That’s a thoroughly deserved victory for Arsenal. They should have scored after 63 seconds. They had to wait for another 32 minutes, when Bukayo Saka’s penalty sent them on an inexorable path to victory. They were by far the better side without ever quite hitting top gear or needing their best stuff, against opponents who had previously lost just once at home all season. That’s quite the title statement. The Gunners now look down on the entire division, having given their goal difference a healthy boost as well. With Manchester City also having won today, it’s over to Liverpool at Old Trafford tomorrow. We’ve got a title race on our hands, right here! Brighton meanwhile, their goal difference having taken a knock, drop into the bottom half of the table.

The whistle goes. Arsenal go top! Mikel Arteta bounds onto the pitch with a wide smile playing across his face. 🎶 When you feel like you’re up in the clouds … 🎶

90 min +5: White is booked for needlessly kicking the ball away as Brighton prepare to take a free kick in the centre circle. What a weird mood he’s been in. Really odd.

90 min +4: The Arsenal fans are giving it plenty. Brighton’s, not so much. Quite a few have chipped off home.

90 min +3: Kai Havertz is named player of the match by Sky co-commentator Alan Smith.

90 min +2: Gabriel celebrates blocking Pedro’s shot like he would a goal. Plenty of alpha-male yelling, pushing and shoving. Arsenal’s defenders want that clean sheet all right!

90 min +1: Adingra wins a corner down the left. Gross, who was dispossessed by Havertz for Arsenal’s third, hits it flat and can’t beat the first man. It’s not been a banner five minutes for the Brighton midfielder.

90 min: The corner comes in from the left. Gabriel tries to force the ball home at the far stick, but Verbruggen parries. The ball’s recycled and Nketiah heads over. There will be five additional minutes.

89 min: Before the corner’s taken, Odegaard and Havertz make way for Vieira and Nketiah.

88 min: Rice strides towards the Brighton box and aims for the bottom left. A little flick takes it wide left, so it’ll just be a corner. Arsenal already have the best goal difference of the three teams chasing the title, and they’re in the mood to bolster it even further.

A loose ball snaffled in the middle of the park by Havertz, and suddenly Trossard is pinged clear down the middle! From 20 yards inside his own half, he races all the way to the Brighton box, draws Verbruggen, and dinks calmly over the keeper and into the net. What a response to all those boos from the Brighton fans.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

84 min: White slides in hard on Adingra, who does the defender a favour by leaping out of the way. There was definitely too much caffeine in his half-time cuppa.

83 min: Havertz and Jorginho combine elegantly down the inside-right channel, then Martinelli nearly juggles his way into a shooting position, ten yards out. But Dunk gets in the road and shepherds the ball back to Verbruggen.

81 min: Adingra’s shot is deflected wide left for a corner, from which nothing comes.

80 min: Brighton huff and puff. “The Seagulls have been oddly blunt in attack for the last couple of months, never scoring more than one goal since they put five past the Blades in mid-February,” writes Kári Tulinius. “They seem to have returned to the Brighton of the Graham Potter era, where they created chance after chance but couldn’t put them away.”

79 min: Saliba shoves Adingra in the back, and is booked for a disproportionate reaction to the referee’s whistle.

78 min: Arsenal are in complete control of this. Unless something very strange happens, they’ll be top tonight. “General Hospital needs to be defended here,” insists Tim K. “The incomparable John Halstead as the porter. Also Nurse Laura Hardy, either she or one of her colleagues delivered a baby in the lift (not shown on camera in those days).” Fair enough. While we’re at it, we should probably right another wrong: all this talk about 1970s ITV and the Mike Sammes Singers, and we’ve yet to mention this …

76 min: Havertz is hoicked back on the halfway line by Baleba, who earns a yellow card for the shirt-grab. Then Welbeck makes way for Fati.

74 min: That second goal really has taken the wind out of the Brighton sail. As a result, the match no longer feels like tipping into ill-tempered mayhem.

72 min: Tomiyasu comes on for Zinchenko.

71 min: Trossard glides in from the left and, with a view to ramming some boos down a few throats, aims forensically towards the bottom left. Verbruggen tips around the post. The resulting corner sees Gabriel blast a header goalwards; the ball batters his own man, the disoriented Havertz, on the seat of his pants. One of the comedy basics, but performed with perfection.

View image in fullscreen

70 min: Dunk crosses from the left. An easy pluck for Raya. Arsenal super-comfortable.

68 min: Brighton knock it around, as they do, but there’s no way through Arsenal, who are more than happy to sit back now. They don’t let in too many, and with the hosts now needing a couple, it’s time to sit back and get the cigars.

66 min: White slides through the back of Adingra. Just a foul, but could easily have been a booking. No idea what’s bugging White this evening, he’s been fuming since the break.

64 min: Arsenal respond with a double switch of their own. Off go Jesus and Saka, on come Martinelli and Trossard, the latter to plenty of pantomime boos from his old fans.

63 min: Brighton make a double change. Enciso, who shipped possession ahead of that Arsenal second, and Moder make way for Pedro and Buonanotte.

Arsenal double their lead! Odegaard latches onto a loose ball and slips a pass down the inside-right channel for Jorginho, who reaches the byline and cuts back. At the near stick, Havertz lunges in and pokes home from close range.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

61 min: Welbeck claims to have been tugged back by White, but the referee shows no interest. This match has the potential to boil over, though we’re not quite there yet.

59 min: Arsenal get a little sloppy at the back and nearly let Adingra in down the right. Fortunately for the visitors, the Brighton attacker can’t keep the ball in play as he scampers down the touchline. That’s got the crowd going, though.

58 min: The corner’s eventually taken. Enciso, who is at the centre of everything right now, lifts a shot over the bar.

56 min: White appears to be in a strange mood. Now he needlessly clips an in-flight Enciso, a couple of swipes, conceding a free kick that leads to the same Brighton player winning a corner down the right. Before it can be taken, there’s some pushing and shoving in the box. The referee goes over to say his piece. In the meantime, Tom Gould writes: “Eno and biscuits only leads towards one conclusion.”

54 min: Odegaard makes some space down the inside-right channel and sends a rising shot goalwards. It should be an easy save for Verbruggen, but the keeper spins 180 degrees in the air and nearly paws the ball into his own net. It just about makes it over the bar. There’s a brief melee at the corner, but Jesus can’t force the ball home. Brighton clear.

52 min: Some fairly embarrassing nonsense between White and Estupinan. The former needlessly barges the latter; the latter then waves a hand in the former’s face. White goes down clutching his throat, some General Hospital / Crossroads level acting, but the referee isn’t impressed with any of it and play is waved on.

51 min: Estupinan takes a fresh-air swipe, then has a second go. His shot across goal narrowly evades the top-right corner. As close as Brighton have come for a while.

50 min: Zinchenko’s loose control nearly allows Adingra to steal away with the ball. Instead a corner is won. From which …

48 min: Havertz worms his way down the right and loops a delightful cross towards Jesus, racing in from the left. Jesus heads down and wide left under pressure from Lamptey.

47 min: The mere presence of Jesus down the left forces Lamptey to carelessly run the ball out of play for a corner. Gabriel heads against Lamptey and claims a penalty, but he’s not getting one.

45 min 17 sec: Enciso dribbles down the middle of the park and shoots. The ball takes a little deflection off the boot of Gabriel, but it’s not enough to fox Raya, who gathers.

Brighton get the second half underway. No changes. In the meantime, Mary Waltz would like to flag a cross-Atlantic cultural disconnect. “General Hospital in the States is a historically bad (meaning campy awesome) soap opera.”

Well, small world, because it was also a dreadful daytime soap on ITV back in the 1970s. Allow Ian Burch to explain: “General Hospital featured actor Tony Adams as one of the doctors and who later appeared in Crossroads for many years as Adam Chance. Crossroads of course was very famous for actors forgetting their lines and for being clumsy and knocking things over on set, so Tony had something else he shared in common with his Arsenal namesake.”

Half-time pint. “Your mention of Music for Airports leads me inevitably towards Music for Biscuits,” writes Simon McMahon. “Especially cos I’m feeling terrific after Dundee United won 5-0 at Hampden today. It was Queen’s Park in the Scottish Championship rather than Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, but still. Little acorns and all that.”

The Gunners are heading for top spot. Just another half of football to go.

45 min +6: Saka crosses low from the right. Verbruggen and Van Hecke combine to clear. Brighton desperately need to hear the half-time whistle, because Arsenal are pushing hard for a second goal.

45 min +5: White is causing all sorts of problems down the Arsenal right. He again pressures Brighton into a mistake, and crosses long. Havertz takes the ball down on the other flank, only for an offside flag to rescue the hosts. Arteta is not happy and throws semaphore shapes.

45 min +4: Moder has an opportunity to hit long and release either Adingra or Welbeck, but faffs around and the chance is gone. “This Liverpool fan isn’t crazy about the anti-Eno dissonance in the current score of 0/1,” writes Peter Oh. “I much prefer 1/1 or even better, 2/1.”

45 min +2: White throws long from the right. Dunk tries to shepherd the bouncing ball back to his keeper, but Havertz sticks out a toe and pokes it across the face of goal. So close to a second, and dreadful play from Dunk, who isn’t in the greatest form of his life right now.

45 min: White crosses low and hard from the right but it’s an easy snaffle for Verbruggen. There will be seven additional first-half minutes.

44 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. Meanwhile Gabriel is back up and running, albeit while grimacing quite a lot. It’ll be interesting to see whether he comes out for the second half.

43 min: Enciso sashays down the left, then cuts back. He drops a shoulder once, twice, then whips a curler towards the top-right corner. Raya claws it away at full stretch. What a shot, with a save to match!

View image in fullscreen

41 min: Welbeck knocks the ball past Saliba and hopes to barge his way into the box, but Gabriel closes the door. The defender then goes down, having taken a knock in making the block. On comes the physio.

40 min: Arsenal look extremely comfortable at the moment. It’s nice at the top of the table.

38 min: Saliba wedges a pass down the right touchline to release White into acres. White reaches the byline and pulls back for Havertz, who can’t force home but manages to earn a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece. Arsenal look dangerous every time they make it into Brighton’s final third.

View image in fullscreen

36 min: Gross floats the free kick towards Dunk on the left-hand edge of the Arsenal six-yard box, but the big defender can’t win a header. Arsenal clear their lines.

35 min: Adingra dribbles hard down the right and works some space to shoot, only to blast the ball straight at his pal Welbeck. But the resulting stramash leads to Havertz fouling Welbeck, and it’s a free kick for Brighton, 25 yards out.