Arsenal moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League with an entertaining victory at Brighton.

The visitors were cruising at 3-0 thanks goals by Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Eddie Nketiah before Kaoru Mitoma pulled one back.

Gabriel Martinelli settled any nerves with Arsenal’s fourth before Evan Ferguson added Brighton’s second with his first league goal.

Mitoma had a second goal chalked off to deny the home fans a grandstand finish as Arsenal held on for a deserved three points.

Brighton were a long way off the pace for the first hour, but after Martinelli had restored the three-goal advantage they showed great spirit to reduce the arrears again through Ferguson.

They were then convinced they had made it 4-3 with two minutes remaining when Mitoma looked to have scored again, but after a VAR check the Japanese midfielder was revealed to be just offside.

Arsenal are back in action against Newcastle United on Tuesday, buoyed by an increasingly formidable-looking lead over champions City with both sides having played 16 games.

Arsenal stand firm despite defensive wobbles.

Although the Premier League season is still not at the halfway point due to the World Cup hiatus, this win could be a key moment in Arsenal’s bid for a first title since 2004.

Brighton had been the last side to beat Arsenal – a 3-1 Carabao Cup win in November – but the prospect of a repeat looked unlikely as soon as Saka had latched on to a rebound from Martinelli’s shot to tuck the ball home for his sixth league goal of the season.

The absence of striker Gabriel Jesus through a knee injury collected while on World Cup duty may have worried Arsenal fans, but Saka and Odegaard are compensating for the Brazilian striker’s layoff.

Arsenal captain Odegaard’s seventh goal of the season came when he capitalised on a poor header out by Billy Gilmour to put his side 2-0 ahead before half-time, the Norwegian’s shot going down into the ground and beyond Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

And they started the second half just as well as the first, Nketiah poking the ball in from close range after Sanchez fumbled Martinelli’s shot from a tight angle.

But they wobbled when full-backs Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko were substituted after an hour. Rattled by Mitomo’s goal and then a good spell from the hosts, Martinelli finished off a length-of-the-pitch move with a shot that went in off Sanchez’s legs to seemingly put the game beyond Brighton’s reach.

William Saliba was then too casual on the edge of his own area, allowing Ferguson his chance to pull another goal back, and when Mitoma seemed to have made the score 4-3, Mikel Arteta’s side looked worried until the decision by VAR.

Arsenal face a tough January before reaching the league campaign’s midpoint, with Tottenham and Manchester United to follow after Newcastle.

Their two meetings with second-placed Manchester City are also yet to come, and Arteta will want to address the defensive frailties that surfaced on the south coast.

More to follow

Player of the match

ØdegaardMartin Ødegaard

with an average of 8.77

Brighton & Hove Albion

1. Squad number22Player nameMitoma

   Average rating

   6.58

2. Squad number28Player nameFerguson

   Average rating

   6.43

3. Squad number2Player nameLamptey

   Average rating

   5.73

4. Squad number30Player nameEstupiñán

   Average rating

   5.72

5. Squad number7Player nameMarch

   Average rating

   5.59

6. Squad number13Player nameGroß

   Average rating

   5.59

7. Squad number5Player nameDunk

   Average rating

   5.58

8. Squad number19Player nameSarmiento

   Average rating

   5.54

9. Squad number11Player nameTrossard

   Average rating

   5.53

10. Squad number20Player nameEnciso

    Average rating

    5.44

11. Squad number14Player nameLallana

    Average rating

    5.41

12. Squad number6Player nameColwill

    Average rating

    5.41

13. Squad number1Player nameSánchez

    Average rating

    5.27

14. Squad number27Player nameGilmour

    Average rating

    4.27

Arsenal

1. Squad number8Player nameØdegaard

   Average rating

   8.77

2. Squad number11Player nameGabriel Martinelli

   Average rating

   8.67

3. Squad number7Player nameSaka

   Average rating

   8.50

4. Squad number5Player namePartey

   Average rating

   8.08

5. Squad number14Player nameNketiah

   Average rating

   8.03

6. Squad number34Player nameXhaka

   Average rating

   7.87

7. Squad number4Player nameWhite

   Average rating

   7.77

8. Squad number35Player nameZinchenko

   Average rating

   7.73

9. Squad number3Player nameTierney

   Average rating

   7.70

10. Squad number6Player nameGabriel Magalhães

    Average rating

    7.51

11. Squad number1Player nameRamsdale

    Average rating

    7.32

12. Squad number12Player nameSaliba

    Average rating

    7.31

13. Squad number18Player nameTomiyasu

    Average rating

    6.98

14. Squad number25Player nameMohamed Elneny

    Average rating

    6.94

15. Squad number16Player nameHolding

    Average rating

    6.77

Source: BBC