LONDON: Arsenal’s 4-2 defeat of Brighton saw them seize a seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League after pursuers Manchester City conceded a 1:1 draw to struggling Everton.

Most analysts still expect City to retain the league title but currently the depth of talent in manager Pep Guardiola’s squad and the goals of Erling Haaland are proving no match for the consistency of Mikel Arteta’s men.

Arsenal were sixth favourites at the start of the season. Their prospects have been raised by the continuing fine form of Martin Odegaard plus the pace on the wings of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.

Playmaker Odegaard, outstanding in Monday’s 3:1 win against West Ham, started the move from which Saka opened the scoring, struck the second himself and set up Martinelli for the fourth. Eddie Nketiah, again an effective deputy for injured Gabriel Jesus, scored No3. Brighton revived to claim late goals from Japan World Cup star Kaoru Mitomo and Evan Ferguson.

Odegaard, Arsenal’s captain, is leading by example. He totals five assists in the league and is the club’s seven-goal leading scorer. Arteta said: “A big win, I’m really happy. They made it tough for us. Every game is a huge test.”

No such satisfaction for Guardiola, Arteta’s old boss and mentor. City allowed Everton only 23pc of possession and one shot on goal, albeit a second-half equaliser for Demarai Gray.

City had taken early command with a 24th-minute strike from Haaland which took him to 21 goals in the league. This is more than any City player has scored in an entire season since Sergio Agüero netted 24 times in 2015-16. The goal also left him with more league goals to his name than nine other clubs.

However City’s inability to build on that lead was due to the defensive failings evident in their previous shock home defeat by Brentford before the World Cup.

City’s defence is not what it was. Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte are injured and João Cancelo and Kyle Walker were on the bench after their World Cup exploits. Still, Guardiola would have expected better from John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and the promising youngster Rico Lewis. Gray was allowed a fatal amount of time in which to slip, lose his footing then stand up again to shoot beyond goalkeeper Ederson.

Everton’s endangered manager Frank Lampard was delighted with his team’s defensive determination. They also made a point of harassing Haaland physically, starting with a first-minute challenge from Ben Godfrey which left Haaland without a boot and needing lengthy treatment to an ankle. Later a bruised and frustrated Haaland was fortunate to have been shown only a yellow card and not a red for a bad challenge on Vitalii Mykolenko.

Guardiola said: ““It is a strategy for the opponent. Yellow card for Erling, definitely. I said to him at half-time: ‘Be careful, we cannot play 10 against 11.’”

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