Nacho Monreal netted a rare league goal as Arsenal moved up to fifth going into the international break with a 2-0 home win over Brighton.
It wasn't the most vintage of performances from the Gunners, but Arsene Wenger's men at least kept their winning run of form going on the manager's 21st anniversary at the helm.
In terms of results things are definitely looking up with three wins and a draw in our four league games since the Anfield horror show. To an extent we are showing a decent improvement, especially with the fact we haven't conceded a league goal since the defeat at Liverpool. But looking at the bigger picture we are still realistically not where we would want to be in terms of the title race. The recent results have been just what we needed and the goalless draw at Chelsea was also excellent, but we need to keep this consistency going rather than be the Jekyll and Hyde side we can sometimes be.
Only goal difference is keeping us out the top four and six points away from leaders Manchester City isn't too bad at this early stage of the season, but if it wasn't for earlier blips we could have been in a much better position so we need to make sure kick on and have a strong final three months of 2017.
Back to the match and, although there are no easy matches in the Premier League, some may say we should have really won a fixture like this by a bigger margin. Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan produced some decent saves to keep Arsenal out, but with 25 shots on goal we should be making it count more. When we face the sides currently above us in the table missing the number of chances we did could come at a bigger cost. That said, it was still a good performance and we did what mattered most and got another maximum three-point haul at the Emirates.
Arsenal started strongly and came very close to opening the scoring inside the opening two minutes of the match, but Alexandre Lacazette's powerful strike cannoned back of a post.
The Gunners continued to attack and create chances with Alexis Sanchez and Alex Iwobi forcing saves out of Ryan, albeit it rather routine ones.
But the hosts made no mistake as Monreal opened the scoring with his first league goal in over four years after 17 minutes. Shkodran Mustafi saw his shot cleared off the line before Hector Bellerin's follow-up was blocked, but Monreal was on hand to chest the ball down and score. Brighton appeared to be unhappy with the goal, with some feeling the ball had gone out of play in the build-up, but it seemed okay to me.
Although Arsenal were in control Brighton almost found an equaliser against the run of play, but Solly March's effort hit a post before Lewis Dunk somehow sent the rebound off target.
Iwobi and Sanchez were both denied by Ryan, who then produced an even better save to keep Arsenal out four minutes before the break. Arsenal broke quickly following a Brighton corner and Bellerin passed through to Sead Kolasinac, who in turn set up Ramsey, but the Welshman's effort was superbly kept out by the legs of the goalkeeper.
Davy Pröpper tried to get Brighton back into the game on the stroke of half-time, but the Dutch midfielder sent his shot wide.
Arsenal started the second half strongly with Brighton defender Shane Duffy getting himself in the right place to block Lacazette's effort. At the other end, Dunk's long-range strike was saved by Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal.
Although we were in control of the match 1-0 is far too dangerous a scoreline, so I was relieved when we doubled our advantage through Iwobi after 56 minutes. Great build up play from Lacazette and Ramsey set up Sanchez, who then provided a sublime back-heel assist for Iwobi to fire a shot high and past Ryan.
It could have been three soon after had Dunk not produced an excellent challenge to divert Sanchez's strike behind for a corner. Arsenal continued to dominate with March heading off the line to deny Kolasinac.
Brighton wasted two late chances to get themselves back into the game as substitute Glenn Murray headed into the side netting, while Pröpper curled an effort wide.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Brighton fan Kevin Ticehurst believes his side can still hold their heads high despite the result.
"We didn't disgrace ourselves," said Ticehurst. "We made it hard work for them and on another day we might have scored.
"The first half was a lot better than the second, apart from the last five minutes where we gave it a good go."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
As much as I love watching my country play, I do find the early season international breaks rather frustrating and I wish we could resume league action sooner to try and continue our winning momentum.
Instead we must wait nearly a fortnight before the trip to Watford and, although it has the potential to be a tricky away match I feel it is one we should be winning.
There are some pluses to the looming international break though as it should give Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck longer to recovery from their injury problems, with none of the trio set to travel with their countries.
Seven games in and we have had a rather mixed start. Four wins, along with an impressive draw at champions Chelsea, gave us reasons to feel positive, but the earlier losses to Stoke and Liverpool show we can still be fragile and have plenty of things to work on.
Let's just hope the right Arsenal turn up when we take to the field at Vicarage Road in around two weeks.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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