Article by Alexandru Stanciu – Published Saturday, December 27, 2025, 7:32 p.m. / Updated Saturday, December 27, 2025, 7:33 p.m.
Arsenal beat Brighton 2-1 at home on Boxing Day to move back into the lead after Manchester City had earlier climbed to the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 away win at Nottingham Forest.
Martin Odegaard and Georginio Rutter's own goal brought victory for the Gunners, who regained their two-point lead over the main chasers.
Arsenal, hard-fought victory with Brighton
Although Arsenal took the lead quite easily and quickly, through Martin Odegaard, for whom it was the first goal in the shirt of the “gunners” at the beginning of the season, Mikel Arteta's team had to seriously struggle until the end of the match to keep the three points.
Arsenal doubled their lead early in the second half after Declan Rice's corner resulted in Georginio Rutter's own goal.
After that, Brighton hit the gas pedal and went all out for Raya's goal. In the 64th minute, Diego Gomes made it 1-2 after a clearance and Brighton then had a couple of solid chances to equalise, but Arsenal held on until the end.
Brighton's best chance to equalize came in the 77th minute when Jakub Minte shot powerfully under the bar and Raya remained calm enough to send the ball over the bar in the dying moments.
After that miss by Minte, Brighton seemed to run out of energy and Arsenal finished the game with another 3 points. Thus, it reached 42 points, returning to the top of the Premier League, while second-placed Manchester City is now two points behind again.
Brighton, on the other hand, have 24 points and are in 12th place.
Premier League standings
