Arsenal player ratings vs Brighton: Ethan Nwaneri's a gem but Joao Pedro steals more points from Gunners to give Mikel Arteta a real headache in Premier League title race

Ethan Nwaneri's early goal was cancelled out by Joao Pedro as Brighton claimed a 1-1 draw with Arsenal at the Amex Stadium

Arsenal saw a first-half lead slip away as they were held to a costly 1-1 draw at Brighton in a major blow to their Premier League title hopes.

With illness still causing problems in the Gunners changing room, Mikel Arteta had to once again leave out Kai Havertz completely while captain Martin Odegaard and winger Gabriel Martinelli were only deemed fit enough for the bench.

That meant a second Premier League start in a row for 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and it was the young attacker who opened the scoring for the visitors on 16 minutes, racing onto Mikel Merino's pass before finishing well to become the first ever Arsenal player to score multiple Premier League goals before turning 18.

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And that's how the score remained until just after the hour mark when Brighton were awarded a penalty after William Saliba was penalised for heading Joao Pedro as he attempted to clear a bouncing ball in the box. Brighton's Brazilian striker dusted himself off and scored the spot-kick himself to level things up.

And that proved to be the final goal of what was a scrappy game, with the draw seeing Arsenal move to within five points of leaders Liverpool. The Reds now have two games in hand on Arteta's side, who will be glad to see the back of Joao Pedro, who also secured a 1-1 draw for Brighton at Emirates Stadium earlier in the season.