LONDON -- The thing about Arsenal is they always try and head it in. Bully ball in the midfield, a set piece goal and a late winner on the counter: Mikel Arteta's tall boys are at it again.
It is hardly a surprise to see them topping the table for the Premier League's most set-play goals. With penalties struck out of the equation, they have 10 to their name, as many as the behemoths in Everton shirts. The rest of the Premier League can only cower when these giants start stomping around their penalty area.
Brighton certainly had no answer when Arsenal got the artillery out. Gabriel Martinelli's deliveries fizzed towards the front post, red shirts crashing through the crowd to make merry nuisance. It was all the visitors could do to actually get their head on the ball and when Jan Paul van Hecke flicked a delivery onwards in the 53rd minute, he only found himself an unwitting assister for Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian's fourth in seven club games, setting the Gunners on course for the top of the table, perhaps only momentarily.
Further chances would come from Martinelli's dead ball delivery, though they were as much about the physical threat of the targets as they were anything in particular about the crosses into the box. Ben White flashed one effort over Bart Verbruggen only to see Lewis Dunk deny him on the line. Declan Rice, as dominant in the air as he is on the deck, might have had one too. Nearly six shots, more than half an expected goal (xG). That is an extremely effective tool in any team's arsenal.
Helpfully, such pressure is the norm more often than not for Arsenal. Since the start of last season they have scored 25 goals from set pieces (excluding penalties, where they appear to be finding different edges altogether). No one else in the top flight has scored more than 22. Nicolas Jover, the coach they snared from Manchester City, is delivering the sort of marginal gain that might swing this title race. Surely a Christmas bonus is in the offing?
"Maybe, we can think about it," said Mikel Arteta, resolutely refusing to give this column the cheap headline it so needs.
Arteta would be the first among his profession to demure at the suggestion that his side's success is down to any wizardry on the dugout. After all, this isn't the Arsenal of diminutive virtuosos like Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere or even Arteta. There might be no shortage of technical quality in this midfield but recruit Kai Havertz, Rice and Gabriel Jesus, whose springy step means he can rise above many who tower over his 5-foot-9 frame, and there are rather more avenues to goal.
Laying out what is making Arsenal such a dead ball force, Arteta said, "This is a factor, the height is really important on set plays. The takers are getting better and better, understanding where to attack in relation to what the opponents do well. Big credit to the coaches for all the work they've done and big credit to the players for the work they've done, buying into that and understanding how crucial it is in the game."
All the more crucial when Arsenal threaten to revive the old joke about them walking the ball into the net, as they did in the first half at the Emirates Stadium. They might have outshot Brighton 16-0 with 1.56 xG to their name and 176 final-third touches to 23, but even those statistics felt insufficient to represent the Gunners' dominance. At what is often a happy hunting ground, 3-0 victors here last season, the visitors found themselves preyed on by a relentless side who could have delivered the killer blow far earlier on if they had not been intent on over complicating their shots.
"Arsenal played much better than us," said Roberto De Zerbi. "They deserved to win the game. We suffered a lot. I think Arsenal are one of the best, maybe this season the best team in the Premier League. We are not used to suffering in this way. We are used to controlling the game."
Bukayo Saka, Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all turned dangerous openings into less than they might have been, those three and many more guilty of one extra pass in search of the perfect shot. Given that Arsenal were so wasteful in defeat to Aston Villa eight days ago, there might be cause for a scintilla of concern in how they labored to kill off this game, Havertz converting on the counter just as Brighton were beginning to grow in menace.
Arteta, however, could only see the good in a display he labelled "incredible from start to the end." After all, it is far better to keep getting in positions to miss than to not.
"If we generate more, the probability for scoring will be higher," he added. "That's the only thing that we can focus on. We have great players that can define games and finish actions.
"Today we needed too many - especially in big spaces - too many situations to finish the game. That was the fear, especially after halftime, that it could be one of those days because the moment you give something to this team they'll take it."
All the more valuable then for a team that is underperforming their open play xG -- Jesus in particular -- that they have hit such a heater when the ball goes dead. When even a team as progressive as Brighton pack the box in an attempt to weather the storm, Arsenal are going to need more than one way to blow their opposition out of the water. That is what they have right now.
