Leeds and Manchester United draw 1-1, Brighton crush Palace to move five points behind Man City

By Philip O’Connor and Lori Ewing

Arsenal are gaining a reputation as slow starters this season, but their ability to find a way through tight games helped them earn a 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest on Sunday and keep their Premier League title defence on track.

Arsenal’s total of 11 league goals from seven games is the second-lowest in the top six, eight behind leaders Manchester City and a whopping 12 behind third-placed Brighton & Hove Albion.

Eight of those 11 strikes have come after halftime and they again struggled for attacking fluency in the opening 45 minutes against Forest before substitute Noni Madueke’s deflected 80th-minute strike secured the points.

The goal came from Arsenal’s first shot on target and kept Mikel Arteta’s side in touch with table-toppers City.

“The longer the game goes on, they have more belief. You have to take more risks, and that’s when the game can break,” an upbeat Arteta told Sky Sports.

Madueke said Arsenal might not have won such a game last season but now possessed greater belief and resilience.

“At times maybe last year, this game might have not gone as it did for us in the end, but I think we’ve got that extra belief, that extra mentality now,” he said.

“We know we’re the champions, and we know we can pull out the bag wherever we go and just delighted we were able to do it today.”

Arsenal looked toothless in the first half and although they were sharper after the break, it still took until the 80th minute for Madueke to produce the effort that finally broke the hosts’ resistance.

The 24-year-old, who came off the bench at the break to replace Eberechi Eze, said Arsenal’s squad depth was proving to be one of their main strengths this season.

“If you look at the quality of our starting 11 and bench it’s absurd, so we know that we’re going to start some and finish some [games] and for me it’s the same mentality every time, I just want to create or score. Amazing feeling [to score], but I feel better about the win,” he said.

“We have elite players, all 20-something players are elite and of the highest level. It’s great to have that type of competition, you know on the bench you’re ready to have an impact.”

Arsenal needed Madueke’s late goal from their only shot on target to scrape their win and remain three points behind Premier League leaders Man City.

Also on Sunday, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Diego Gomez struck a sensational goal from inside his own half in a 5-0 rout of Crystal Palace to leave his side third in the table with 16 points, five behind City.

Manchester United and bitter rivals Leeds United shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road at the end of a turbulent week for the Red Devils in which defender Lisandro Martinez had publicly challenged the club’s hierarchy.

Leeds are seventh in the table and United, who have just one win from seven games, are 13th.

Bournemouth beat Sunderland 2-0 for their first league victory of the season to climb to 15th place. Sunderland remained in the drop zone in 19th place.

At the City Ground, a frustrated Arsenal finally sealed victory in the 80th minute.

Ibrahim Sangare hesitated when he could have cleared the ball, leaving Forest manager Oliver Glasner visibly fuming, and second-half substitute Madueke then danced past Daniel Munoz before hammering a shot that deflected off Jair Cunha and wrong-footed Matz Sels.

Murillo almost salvaged a point for Forest in injury time when he beat three players before unleashing a shot that sailed agonisingly wide.

The defeat left Forest, who have yet to win or even score at the City Ground this season, in the drop zone in 18th place with five points.

At the Amex, Brighton got on the scoresheet in the fourth minute through a Jaydee Canvot own goal, before Gomez struck a goal of the season contender three minutes later, robbing Adam Wharton of the ball near the halfway line before taking a touch and firing the ball over keeper Walter Benitez and into the net.

Yasin Ayari padded Brighton’s lead three minutes later, before Charalampos Kostoulas and Jack Hinshelwood completed the rout after the break.

Kostoulas scored just after halftime when Ayari’s shot deflected into the Greece international’s path, and Hinshelwood struck in the 84th when Luka Vuskovic’s header was scooped off the line by Benitez and he fired home the rebound.

Manchester United looked on course for a much-needed victory when Bryan Mbeumo scored in the 35th minute after missing a couple of chances. Mbeumo held off James Justin before tapping in a Youri Tielemans cross from six yards out.

Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised in the 51st minute, chesting down the ball from a corner before poking home.

Manchester defender Martinez retained his place in Michael Carrick’s starting lineup despite criticising United’s hierarchy following Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid, questioning the club’s summer investment and singling out director of football Jason Wilcox before later apologising.