Goals by Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz helped Arsenal to a seventh straight win at the Emirates Stadium as they beat Brighton 2-0 to move to the top of the Premier League table.The hosts completely dominated the first half, as Brighton failed to record a single shot on goal – compared to the hosts’ 15 attempts. Martin Odegaard came close inside the opening 15 minutes, as his effort curled just wide from the edge of the box, while Gabriel Martinelli squandered their best opportunity. The Brazilian had an open goal to aim at after Bart Verbruggen tried to smother Bukayo Saka’s pass, but he fired over with just over half an hour played. He then saw his cross-come-shot saved by the goalkeeper, in what was a positive but frustrating half for the Gunners.No empathy towards his former club: Dyche-ball gets Everton flying out of troubleThe second half started like the first, as Arsenal kept probing until finally, they found the breakthrough. For all their good open play, this one came from a set piece, as Gabriel Jesus sneaked in unmarked at the back post to head home his third league goal this season from Saka’s whipped corner in the 53rd minute. A corner from the other end then almost saw the North Londoners double their advantage, but Ben White’s flick-on was brilliantly cleared off the line by Lewis Dunk.Birthday boy Odegaard really should have made it 2-0 with 15 minutes to go, as he went on a dazzling run before unleashing a fierce shot on target, only for Verbruggen to deny Mikel Arteta’s side once more. While there was only one goal in it, the visitors always had a chance, and they nearly nicked a point when Pascal Gross poked Kauro Mitoma’s dangerous cross wide. However, with just a couple of minutes of normal time to go, Arsenal wrapped up the points as Kai Havertz netted his fourth goal in seven matches by lashing the ball into the corner after pouncing on substitute Eddie Nketiah’s through pass.🚨Kai Havertz scores 2-0 for Arsenal Follow @ocontextsoccer pic.twitter.com/VvZDNIFhLL— VAR Tático (@vartatico) December 17, 2023 The win ended a personal hoodoo of three straight defeats at home to Brighton in all competitions before today’s match, while the Seagulls failed to soar for much of the encounter, as Roberto De Zerbi will be disappointed that his team had no shots on target, and drop down to ninth place in the table as a result of defeat.Elsewhere, Lucas Paquetá provided a hat-trick of assists to help West Ham United earn a convincing 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, recording a fourth consecutive home head-to-head victory without conceding.Wolves haven’t let in a goal from a corner this term and had to battle to maintain that record, with Kurt Zouma coming close with two headers, Dan Bentley tipping over a Jarrod Bowen cross and Mario Lemina blocking Mohammed Kudus’ effort. Gary O’Neil’s side then came close with a corner of their own as Craig Dawson met Pablo Sarabia’s delivery. However, Emerson Palmieri cleared to spring a counter that saw Paquetá slip through Kudus, who cut inside Nélson Semedo and fired in his third opener in the Hammers’ last five games.After overcoming more Hammers pressure, the visitors began to look like they could cause problems with Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s shot requiring a strong block from Nayef Aguerd. Paquetá and Kudus linked up again to down them, though, with the Brazilian carving the visitors’ defence wide open and the Ghanaian providing a calm finish to double the lead. Bowen came agonisingly close to getting himself on the scoresheet, seeing his effort hit the post and bounce teasingly across goal, before Edson Álvarez put in a brave block to deny Toti Gomes in the final moments of the first half.Wolves emerged from the break defiantly and shortly after Hwang Hee-chan had seen an effort deflected wide, he slid the ball forward for Semedo to square the ball to Sarabia, who applied a simple finish but saw his goal ruled out after being caught offside by the finest of margins. Cunha then danced into West Ham’s box and struck marginally over, before David Moyes’ side tightened things up again and Lemina resorted to a speculative effort from range.Bowen then added some extra breathing space, capitalising on yet another Paquetá pass to slide in his 10th league goal of the season, as West Ham continued their positive momentum after securing top spot in Europa League Group A, recording the seventh win in their last nine matches across all competitions. Wolves, meanwhile, extended a peculiar run of not winning any of their last 11 Premier League matches played on a Sunday.Soaring Aston Villa had trouble in the capital against Brentford but capitalized on the hosts’ second-half red card. The Villans extended their unbeaten run to nine matches in all competitions, as the Premier League high-flyers came from behind to Brentford 2-1, condemning the Bees to a third straight defeat.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 17Friday Nott.Forest – Tottenham 0-2 (0-1)/Richarlison 45+2, Kulusevski 65/Saturday Bournemouth – Luton 1-1 (0-1) ABANDONED/Solanke 58 – Adebayo 3/*Abandoned due to serious injury of a player*Chelsea – Sheffield Utd 2-0 (0-0)/Palmer 54, Jackson 61/Newcastle – Fulham 3-0 (0-0)/Miley 57, Almiron 64, Burn 82/Man.City – Crystal Palace 2-2 (1-0)/Grealish 24, Lewis 54 – Mateta 76, Olise 90+5 pen/Burnley – Everton 0-2 (0-2)/Onana 19, Keane 25/SundayArsenal – Brighton 2-0 (0-0)/Jesus 53, Havertz 88/Brentford – Aston Villa 1-2 (1-0)/Lewis-Potter 45 – Moreno 77, Watkins 85/West Ham – Wolverhampton 3-0 (2-0)/Kudus 22,32, Bowen 74/19.30: (1.35) Liverpool (5.30) Man.Utd. (8.00)***odds are subject to change***
