Maupay rubs salt into Arsenal wounds with late Brighton winner

Arsenal’s challenge to return to the Champions League next season faltered another time as Neal Maupay’s 95th minute winner handed Brighton an important 2-1 win in their battle to beat the drop.

Nicolas Pepe’s stunning strike gave the visitors a deserved lead at the Amex, but the Gunners defensive problems reared their head again as Lewis Dunk bundled home from a brief corner.

Maupay had angered the Arsenal players for his part during a serious injury suffered by goalkeeper Bernd Leno within the half .

the Frenchman rubbed salt into those wounds with a fine finish deep into stoppage time to grab all three points.

A second defeat in four days leaves Arsenal still eight points outside the highest four in ninth, having played a game quite fourth-placed Chelsea.

A first league win of 2020 takes Brighton five points beyond the dropping zone in 15th.
In keeping with all matches since the Premier League’s restart on Wednesday, players took a knee before kick-off to protest against racial injustice.

However, slow starts have also been a feature of the primary six games after a three-month layoff and again each side struggled to adapt to the hollow atmosphere of empty stands.

Arsenal had the whip hand of a game under their belts albeit a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City on Wednesday.

Coach Mikel Arteta made five changes from midweek, but there was still no place for Mesut Ozil.

Teenager Bukayo Saka retained his place and nearly made an enormous impact by crashing an attempt off the crossbar within the closest either team came to breaking the deadlock before half-time.

However, even as against City when Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari hobbled off early , Arsenal had to deal with a significant injury setback when Leno was stretchered off after twisting his knee following a push from Maupay.

The German has been one among Arsenal’s few standout performers this season and was visibly furious with the Brighton striker as he was carried from the sector .

Leno’s understudy Emiliano Martinez showed no signs of nerves as he was immediately forced into a fine save from Aaron Mooy low to his right.

Brighton were one among the Premier League clubs to fight strongly to take care of home advantage instead of play at neutral venues, but there was little sign of them enjoying home comforts as Arsenal continued to pose the larger threat after the break.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was twice denied by Mathew Ryan and therefore the offside flag when he did find internet as VAR confirmed the Arsenal skipper was millimetres beyond the last defender.