Monreal Strike for Arsenal Ensures Record Breaking Victory for Arsene Wenger

Arsenal picked up a routine 2-0 win over Premier League new boys Brighton and Hove Albion, at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Gunners made two changes from the side that beat West Brom on Monday with Rob Holding and Alex Iwobi replacing the unavailable Laurent Koscielny and Mohamed Elneny, with the Egyptian dropping to the bench.

Chris Hughton made three changes from their 1-0 win over Newcastle last weekend with Izzy Brown replacing suspended match winner Tomer Hemed, with Gaetan Bong and Jose Izquierdo coming into the side in place of Markus Suttner and Anthony Knockaert.

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Going into the game Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger knew that if his side won it would mean a record-breaking result, as the Frenchmen over took Alex Ferguson as the manager who has beaten the most Premier League teams, with Sunday's victory being the 45th team Wenger has prevailed over as manager.

In an electric start to the match, the home side were unlucky not to be ahead after two minutes when Alexandre Lacazette's 25-yard volley thumped off the post, with the rebound evading Alexis Sanchez, as the Chilean looked to pounce.

The Seagulls then had a chance of their own to open the scoring when Pascal Gross's free-kick was met by Chelsea loanee Izzy Brown, but he could only glance his header past the far post of the Arsenal goal.

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The Gunners were dominating the game with Brighton unable to escape their own half as the home side tried to find the first goal, with Iwobi firing into the body of Matt Ryan. With 16 minutes on the clock Nacho Monreal did fire Arsenal ahead as a Granit Xhaka corner caused chaos, leaving the Spaniard to drill home after some pinball in the area.

Brighton then were unlucky to not be on level terms after 23 minutes, when a well worked short free-kick teed up Solly March, with the England Under 21 international firing his effort of the post with Petr Cech routed.

Arsenal continued to look for the second goal, with Lacazette firing straight at Ryan after a slip from Lewis Dunk. The Australian then superbly denied Aaron Ramsey from a Sead Kolasinac cross after the Gunners broke from the away side's corner.

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The second half began in a similar pattern with Lacazette being denied another Emirates goal from a desperate block by Shane Duffy, before Ryan again thwarted Ramsey after the Welshmen was set free by Sanchez.

In the 56th minute the Australian was finally beaten for the second time after Iwobi clinically finished following a sensational run and backheel from Sanchez. The Chilean continued to be at the heartbeat of everything as he tried his luck from distance, but saw his dipping drive blocked.

The game was nearly over six minutes later when Kolasinac's header was cleared off the line by Dunk, with Ryan saving Sanchez's follow up to keep his side in the game. Lacazette then had another chance as he was released behind the Seagulls backline before Dunk recovered to block the striker's effort behind.

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Hughton had one last throw of the dice as Glenn Murray and Knockaert were introduced for Brown and Izquierdo. It was Murray who came within inches of setting up a grandstand finish when he headed Gross' corner into the side netting.

The final action of the game saw Brighton continue to threaten with Murray as Mustafi was forced to clear with the forward lurking, as Arsenal climbed up to fifth place in the table, level on points with Chelsea and one point behind rivals Tottenham.