Arsenal let their title dream slip away after heavy home defeat

• Arsenal saw their faint Premier League title chances slip away following a heavy 3-0 defeat against Brighton at home
• The defeat leaves Mikel Arteta’s side four points behind Manchester City with two games left to play

Arsenal saw their faint Premier League title chances slip away following a heavy 3-0 defeat against Brighton at home.

The face of Arsenal players after the thrashing on Sunday evening made it clear that the Premier League title race was over. Some sat on the ground and looked over while others stood staring into the distance as Brighton players went to celebrate with their fans.

Arsenal are now four points behind leaders Manchester City following the heavy defeat at home on Sunday. Photo/ Sky Sports.

The Gunners needed to beat Brighton if they wanted to keep the pressure on Manchester City. Instead, it was the other way round as Brighton scored three second-half goals to increase their chances of playing European football next season.

The defeat leaves Mikel Arteta’s side four points behind Manchester City with two games left to play. The Cytizens have a game in hand and could be crowned Premier League champions if they beat Chelsea on Sunday. City had earlier on Sunday secured a 3-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park.

Brighton Stun Arsenal At The Emirates 

Brighton, who are chasing a place in top-six, made things difficult for Arsenal at the Emirates from the word go. However, Arsenal managed to contain them in the first 45 minutes. It was the Gunners who actually came within inches of an opener after a cagey 30 minutes of play.

Leandro Trossard, who replaced the injured Gabriel Martinelli, hit the bar with a powerful strike from the edge of the box. This gave momentum to Arsenal but they were nearly caught when the best opportunity fell to Julio Enciso. Mitoma showed his brilliance once again to beat Ben White and pass the ball to Enciso, who hit it over the bar.

Barely six minutes after the restart, Enciso opened the scoring for Brighton. The Paraguay international headed in Pervis Estupinan’s cross to give the Brighton fans a reason to celebrate. Arsenal needed to respond immediately but it was no easy task against the Seagulls who have now scored in the last 12 Premier League matches.

Reiss Nelson, who replaced Granit Xhaka at the hour mark, fired a low strike but it went narrowly wide. With the clock ticking, Arsenal’s pursuit for a late comeback looked to be running out of steam. The Gunners found themselves in big trouble when Brighton doubled their lead in the 86th minute, thanks to Deniz Undav.

Estupinan completed Arsenal’s misery in added time as their fans walked out of the stadium in disappointment. This was Arsenal’s fifth defeat of the season and second defeat at home.

Brighton thrashed Arsenal 3-0. Photo/ Sports Illustrated.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta took responsibility for the Gunners’ 3-0 Brighton defeat and apologized to the fans.

“We knew the challenge we had, it was very different to the one we had at Newcastle. I was stood here and very proud of what we did last week but today we have to apologize to our people. We have to move on very quickly and not keep that feeling for a long time.” BBC Sports quotes Mikel Arteta.