Arsenal blanks Brighton to move to top of table in EPL

BRIGHTON, England (AP) — Arsenal regained first place in the English Premier League, at least for one night, after goals from Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard secured a 3-0 win that dented Brighton’s push for Europe on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s team arrived at Amex Stadium having dropped to third place following Manchester City’s 4-2 win at Crystal Palace earlier in the day.

Saka, declared fit after missing the midweek win over Luton through injury, set the Gunners on course to return to the summit by converting a first-half penalty after Tariq Lamptey was adjudged to have tripped Gabriel Jesus despite appearing to touch the ball first.

Havertz tapped in the second goal before setting up substitute Trossard to seal victory over his former club.

The visitors were worthy winners on the south coast and sit a point ahead of both Liverpool, whose game in hand is at Manchester United on Sunday, and City. Arsenal's attention switches to a Champions League quarterfinal against Bayern Munich, with the first leg on Tuesday.

Brighton faded after a strong start and its first top-flight home loss in 13 outings, dating to August, left the team with an uphill task to secure European football for the second successive year, on the back of this season’s Europa League adventure.

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