ARSENAL’S PREMIER LEAGUE title challenge suffered a setback after Joao Pedro’s second-half penalty earned Brighton a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium.
The second-placed Gunners were on course to cut the gap on leaders Liverpool to three points following an early opener from 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri.
But, after being felled by an accidental headbutt from William Saliba, stand-in Seagulls captain Pedro fired home from the spot to level in the 61st minute.
The result leaves Mikel Arteta’s men five points adrift of Arne Slot’s table-topping Reds, having played two games more, while 10th-placed Albion deservedly registered a sixth draw of an eight-match winless run which stretches back to November.
New England manager Thomas Tuchel was among those in attendance as Arsenal arrived in Sussex seeking to claim a fourth successive top-flight victory to keep up the pressure at the top.
Gunners captain Martin Odegaard dropped to the bench due to illness as part of three changes following the 3-1 New Year’s Day success at Brentford, while top scorer Kai Havertz remained sidelined because of sickness.
The visitors edged ahead in the 16th minute by capitalising on the first notable chance of the match.
England Under-19 international Nwaneri, who once again deputised for the injured Bukayo Saka, collected Mikel Merino’s pass around 40 yards from goal and ran unchallenged down the right before driving towards goal and calmly slotting under Seagulls goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Having opened his account against Nottingham Forest in November, the teenager became only the sixth player to score more than one Premier League goal before his 18th birthday after Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Danny Cadamarteri, James Milner and Federico Macheda.
Brighton, who were captained by Brazil forward Pedro in the absence of defender Lewis Dunk, offered little from an attacking perspective in the first half but could have levelled 11 minutes before the break.
After stand-in Gunners skipper Jorginho was dispossessed deep inside his own half, the unmarked Simon Adingra was teed up by Matt O’Riley only to slice horribly wide from close to the penalty spot.
Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler attempted to inject life into his side by introducing Georginio Rutter and Yankuba Minteh in place of O’Riley and Brajan Gruda for the second period, while goal scorer Nwaneri, who had been booked for taking too long over a corner, was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli.
Home fans were growing restless at the lack of creativity before Albion were gifted an equaliser just after the hour mark.
After beating Saliba to the ball and going down in the box following the subsequent clash of heads, Pedro picked himself up to bury the spot-kick into the right corner, sending David Raya the wrong way.
Gunners boss Arteta, who looked unhappy at the penalty decision, brought on talisman Odegaard in a bid to shift momentum back in his team’s favour.
Yet it was Brighton who almost grabbed a winner in the closing stages.
Arsenal’s defence backed off as Minteh burst clear down the right but, with just Raya to beat, his low effort from a narrow angle evaded fellow substitute Kaoru Mitoma and rolled agonisingly wide, to the evident frustration of Hurzeler.
The Gunners were given six minutes of added time to grab all three points.
Yet Arteta’s men rarely threated to regain the lead as their league campaign was dealt a blow ahead of Tuesday evening’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at home to Newcastle.
Written by Press Association and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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