Premier League: Arsenal are Back on Top…For Now

Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal

After reclaiming the top spot in the Premier League standings, Arsenal will hurriedly march to Falmer Stadium to defend their newly acquired throne with a tie against Roberto De Zerbi and his Seagulls.

Brighton continue their quest for back-to-back features on the European stage, but their recent scoreless draw against Brentford has put a halt to their campaign. With the bitter draw behind them, De Zerbi will now navigate his men in hopes of garnering better results against Arteta’s Gunners.

It won’t be a walk in the park, not in the slightest. After staying unbeaten and winning four of their last five, Arsenal are now one point ahead of their fellow title contenders, Liverpool and Manchester City.

The Gunners will be keen on securing their top spot for at least another matchweek before they entertain Bundesliga side Bayern Munich for their Champions League quarterfinal clash.

Talking Points

Brighton’s draw against the Bees sting

The Seagulls paid a visit to the Bees’ hive today, where both teams played highly competitively but ended in a goalless stalemate. The 0-0 draw meant so much for both teams, but for different reasons.

By garnering just one point from their clash, where they were the Premier League 2024 odds favourites to win, Brighton failed to cruise past Newcastle and West Ham in the league standings, forcing them to stay put at the ninth spot.

This poses an instrumental delay in Brighton’s attempt to once again qualify for European competition. Not all hope is lost, though, as the Magpies and the Hammers also ended their recent bouts with a draw, failing to garner a convincing lead over the Seagulls.

As of now, Brighton are just one point behind Newcastle and two points behind West Ham United, but having to go up against the league-leading Arsenal for their next attempt to climb the standings doesn’t really help their cause.

Brentford, on the other hand, have further separated themselves from the relegation zone. By adding another point to their league tally, they are now six points ahead of 18^th-seeded Luton Town.

Gunners are on top of the league once again

Garnering pivotal Premier League 2024 results from their bouts against Manchester City and Luton Town, Arteta’s Gunners have yet again reached the summit of the English top flight.

They boast a total of 68 points after 30 Premier League ties and the best goal differential in the league. But they’re not out of the woods just yet, as Liverpool and Manchester City are trailing by just one point, not to mention that the Reds still have a game in hand.

With this win, Arteta and his men simply keep the pressure on the Reds and Sky Blues in the tight title race. Despite having the top spot, Arteta is still behind Klopp and Pep’s outfit in the SBOTOP odds to win the title this season, but a win against the struggling Seagulls can definitely change that.

Arsenal still have a tough slate to end the Premier League season, and Arteta could be up for a wild ride in the next few weeks as they’ll need to juggle the top flight and the Champions League at the same time.

They will face the mighty Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinal just three days after their upcoming tie with the Seagulls, so Gunners fans should expect Arteta to mix things up in his lineup.

History

To the shock of some, Brighton have fared well against the Gunners for over a decade. Since 2013, these outfits have faced each other 16 times, and in those ties, Arsenal have won seven, while the Seagulls have kept it competitive with six wins as well.

But in their most recent bout, Arsenal claimed the victory by humbling the Seagulls with a 2-0 clean sheet victory at Emirates Stadium.

Their biggest aggregate was a six-goal thriller back in the new year of 2023 at the American Express Stadium, where Arsenal simply outgunned the home side with four different Gunners scoring one goal apiece, ending the match with a 2-4 score line.

Betting Tip

Understandably, Arsenal are the favourites for this Premier League contest at 1.55, while the host Brighton pose as underdogs with a price of 4.83 and 4.03 to tally a draw.

Going with the Gunners’ 1X2 is a sound move, but it doesn’t offer that much value for punters to get excited. Instead, their Asian Handicap of -1.00 at 2.01 poses much more excitement while garnering more value to boot.

Brighton have been tepid since their exit from the Europa League, while Arsenal have been nothing but stellar since the season began. With this, asking Arsenal to have a one-goal handicap against the struggling Seagulls doesn’t seem that much of an ask.

 

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