Brighton stuns Gunners
BRIGHTON scored in the fifth minute of injury time as it shocked Arsenal 2-1 to pull away from trouble in the English Premier League on Saturday. Neal Maupay snatched the winner deep into time-on after Nicolas Pepe’s opener for Arsenal was cancelled out by Lewis Dunk.
The result keeps Brighton 15th, but it is now five points above the relegation zone.
Watford also scored late as it picked up a vital point with a 1-1 draw at home to thirdplaced Leicester, leaving it 16th, one point above the drop zone. West Ham remains in trouble, now in 17th place after being beaten 2-0 at home by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In Saturday’s late game, Bournemouth’s relegation fears increased after Crystal Palace secured a comfortable 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium thanks to goals from captain Luka Milivojevic and Jordan Ayew.
Eddie Howe’s side suffered a fourth defeat in five games leaving it in the bottom three and with a tricky run of matches to come, the future looks bleak for the south coast club.
Roy Hodgson’s Palace made it four straight victories — albeit the most recent before this was 105 days ago — with a professional display to throw its name into the hat when it comes to European qualification.
Arsenal’s loss was its second in four days as they went down at Brighton to a last-gasp goal.
The Gunners lost goalkeeper Bernd Leno through injury in the first half after a challenge with Maupay but Pepe put it in front on 68 minutes. The lead lasted just seven minutes, though, as Dunk equalised and the home side then grabbed victory when Maupay flicked the ball over the onrushing reserve goalkeeper.
“Every three points in the Premier League is massive,” Brighton manager Graham Potter said.
“It is nice to get off to a good start. It gives us a little bit of a foundation to build on, we have to recover now and go again Tuesday.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he felt his side had thrown the game away.
“We did more than enough to win the game comfortably but we leave with zero points again,” he said.
Earlier, Leicester thought it had taken the three points at Watford when Ben Chilwell put it ahead on 90 minutes with a stunning strike. But Craig Dawson levelled with an unlikely overhead kick deep into injury time to secure a share of the points for the home side. “It is a really good point against a good team,” Watford manager Nigel Pearson said.