Jesus and Havertz advance Arsenal in stealth mode

At the end of this controlled, arm’slength victory against a defanged Brighton there was a sense once again of this Arsenal team operating in a kind of stealth mode.

- Barney Ronay

Defeat against Brighton here in May had effectively ended Arsenal’s hopes of winning the league last season. This time around second-half goals from Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz lifted Mikel Arteta’s team back to the top of the table.

Afterward, Arteta spoke about things like maturity and game intelligence. Roberto De Zerbi was more effusive: “Arsenal are the best team we have played so far this season. We are not used to suffering in this way. We are used to controlling the game.”

Control is the key word. There has been a less emotionally draining pitch about Arsenal’s progress so far this year after the adrenal highs of last season, the talk of collapse, of being, of all things, “too emotional” in the final knockings (never mind losing your best defender or being reeled in by one of the great club teams: emotion is definitely a better story). Even the celebrations at the end here were relatively contained, Martin Ødegaard restricting himself to a rather mannered fi st-pump toward the home end.

Sporting narrative is always entirely outcome-based. This kind of victory will either become evidence of a team ready to win titles or evidence of a team still looking for fluency. Take your pick and count backward from the end.