Ian Wright concerned with Arsenal ‘problem’ after Brighton win

Ian Wright admits he is concerned by Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge in front of goal after their 2-1 win against Brighton on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s side have retained their two-point lead at the top of the Premier League after Manchester City sealed a 2-1 victory against Nottingham Forest in Saturday’s early kick-off.

Martin Odegaard put Arsenal in front with an excellent strike in the 14th minute before Georginio Rutter’s own goal doubled their lead. Brighton pulled a goal back through Diego Gomez before David Raya produced a fine save to deny Yankuba Minteh’s curled effort to keep the Gunners in front.

Arsenal had chances to extend their lead even further against Brighton and Wright believes Arteta’s side need to become more ruthless during games.

‘I think David Raya has probably saved our blushes with that amazing save,’ Wright told Premier League Productions.

‘But it’s a problem we’ve got at the moment, for some reason, with the chances we’re making, we don’t seem to be able to take the chances to be comfortable in the game, then the anxiety kicks in and then it feels like a basketball match kind of energy.

‘Gabriel Magalhaes coming back, hopefully that will settle us down with the familiarity with him and [William] Saliba.

‘But in the main, we’ve won the game and hopefully we can settle down and start taking these chances because I don’t think we will be able to get away with that too often.’

Arteta also agreed with Wright’s verdict, insisting that Arsenal should have been out of sight before Brighton set up a nervy finish at the Emirates Stadium.

‘Very happy with the performance, individually and collectively, so dominant. We were a big threat, so very pleased with all of that,’ Arteta said.

‘But the margins should have been much bigger. I mean, with the amount of situations, chances, open chances that we generated through the game, it should never be 2-1.

‘But that’s the Premier League, that’s the step that we have to make. I think the first shot that they had, they scored the goal and then David has to make another save to maintain the result.’

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