In the first match of the 2023 Premier League season, Arsenal took advantage of the situation to extend their lead to seven points with a 4-2 win away to Bradenton. Manchester City and Newcastle dropped points at the same time, making Arsenal lead the top of the table. Arsenal's strong performance this season, with 14 wins in 16 rounds of league matches, made them the 6th team in the history of England's top flight to win at least 14 matches in the first 16 rounds of the league, while the previous 5 teams all managed to win the championship.
Arsenal continued to look strong after their Premier League resumption, with Bukayo Shaka breaking the deadlock just 66 seconds into the game. Mateusz Ortigat extended the lead to 2-0 in the 39th minute through a clever draw.In the second half, Nikidia made it 3-0 with a goalmouth grab in the 42nd minute.Although the Brighton Triptych Lavender pulled a goal back in the 65th minute, Gabil Matunilli followed with another to make it 4-1.In the end, Junior Ewan Ferguson scored twice for Brighton, but still could not reverse the score.
With defending champions Manchester City losing points in this round of fixtures, Arsenal are seven points clear of City on 43 points, nine more than Newcastle and with one game less to play. In the history of the English top flight, only Manchester United (1907/08), Tottenham Hotspur (1960/61), Chelsea (2005/06), Manchester City (2017/18) and Liverpool (2019/20) have won at least 14 matches in the first 16 rounds, and all five of them won the league title of the season.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said after the game: There is still a long way to go in the league, and my excitement comes from going back to the dressing room after the game and hearing the players discussing how to improve their performance, which shows that they know they can do better. Next game against Newcastle, we need to have a better performance. The Footsie currently has Arsenal and Manchester City tied as 1.85 times favorites to win the Premier League.
