Mikel Arteta praised Arsenal’s determination to keep their Premier League title push on track despite a growing injury crisis after a hard-fought 2–1 victory over Brighton on Saturday.

The Gunners endured another difficult 24 hours when Dutch defender Jurrien Timber was sidelined after suffering an injury in training on Friday. Matters worsened on matchday as Italy international Riccardo Calafiori was forced out during the pre-match warm-up, adding to an already lengthy list of absentees.

With Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera also unavailable, Arteta was forced into further adjustments, handing Myles Lewis-Skelly a start at left-back while Declan Rice was deployed at right-back. Despite the disruption, Arsenal dug deep to claim a third successive league win by a single-goal margin.

The result lifted Arsenal back to the top of the table, leapfrogging Manchester City, who had earlier edged Nottingham Forest 2–1.

Arteta highlighted his squad’s unity and mentality in the face of adversity.
“What I like is the way we are dealing with these problems,” he said. “Yesterday we lost Jurrien, and today we lost Calafiori in the warm-up. Declan had to play at right-back, and you saw the level of performance he delivered.

“That tells you everything about the spirit in this team and how much the players want it. You tell Declan he has to play there and he just says, ‘OK, I’m up for the challenge.’ That attitude is incredible to see.”

Injuries have plagued Arsenal for much of the past 18 months, although there were signs of relief with Gabriel Jesus recently returning after almost a year out. Kai Havertz remains sidelined, while centre-back Gabriel Magalhães made his first appearance since early November as a second-half substitute.

“At the moment, we’re surviving,” Arteta admitted. “There’s still a long way to go, and hopefully things will improve. Getting Gabby back today earlier than expected was really positive.

“We can only control what we do, and we’re doing many good things. But we need to improve our margins and get players back to keep everyone fresh. Playing every three days is a huge challenge.”

Arsenal appeared comfortable after Martin Ødegaard scored his first goal of the season in the opening half, before Georginio Rutter’s own goal doubled their advantage after the break. However, Brighton made things nervy when Diego Gómez pulled one back in the 64th minute.

Goalkeeper David Raya was then called upon to produce an excellent late save from Yankuba Minteh to secure the points.

“I’m very happy with the performance,” Arteta added. “We were dominant individually and collectively, and we created enough chances to win by a much bigger margin. But this is the Premier League.

“They scored with their first shot, and then David had to make a big save at the end. We wanted the third goal to kill the game, but we didn’t get it, so we had to suffer.”

Arsenal return to action on Tuesday when they host title rivals Aston Villa in a crucial clash at the Emirates Stadium.