THE NOTEBOOK: Brighton batter Arsenal without ditching their style in 3-0 win

Arsenal’s title hopes all but ended on Sunday when they lost 3-0 to Brighton at the Emirates.

Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Etsupinan all scored as the Seagulls overtook Tottenham into sixth.

Manchester City are now four points ahead of Arsenal and have one game in hand. They can win the league in their next game by beating Chelsea.

With an eight-point lead at the top of the league at the start of April, Mikel Arteta’s side have won just two of their last seven games.

Sporstmail’s DANIEL MATTHEWS takes a closer look at some things you may have missed on the Emirates.

The loss all but ended Arsenal’s title hopes, with Man City now just one win away from the Premier League title

Brighton stands firm

Not many teams have come here and imposed their style on Arsenal with as much courage and bluntness as Brighton.

Even in the beginning, when the home side looked more menacing, this match was played on Albion’s terms.

Arsenal had fun in large part as Brighton applied pressure deep into their own half. Under Roberto De Zerbi, they try to pull in opposition teams and launch counter-attacks – without ever losing the ball.

It is incredibly high risk and depends on small details. Like players who control the ball with their studs to apply pressure. Just like Lewis Dunk did from kick-off.

At one point you saw Arteta gesturing to Martin Odegaard about the same trap. This was an exciting battle of ideas.

Odegaard lashes out at mascot criticism

There was a (barely) hidden message to Arsenal’s critics hidden (barely) in Martin Odegaard’s program notes. The captain said he was “always happy to have a chat with our mascot…to make it a memorable day for them.”

It comes a few weeks after Arsenal were accused – unjustly in Mikel Arteta’s eyes – of ‘ignoring’ a young girl mascot at a match.

Martin Odegaard took a thinly veiled swipe at critics of Arsenal’s treatment of mascots in his pre-match program notes

Levi Colwill impressed for Brighton in a tight man-marking role that kept one of Arsenal’s more dangerous players at bay

He followed Martin Odegaard across the field in a fascinating game of cat and mouse

Heat map?

LevI Colwill was tasked with captivating Martin Odegaard and Brighton’s daring, often man-to-man approach meant the young centre-back followed the Arsenal playmaker all over the pitch. It was an exciting game of cat and mouse.

At one point Colwill followed Odegaard all the way to the edge of the Arsenal box, blocked his attempted clearance and then raced back to a more orthodox position, where 5ft 7ins had filled in Billy Gilmour. Hardly like-for-like.

Eclectic couple on the chic seats

It took some Arsenal staff a while to recognize Nicklas Bendtner after the retired striker returned here dressed in a retro Arsenal shirt, round sunglasses and a cap, with hair hanging over his shoulders.

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany looked a bit sharper in his suit, sitting between Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham and DJ Roman Kemp. Why? Who knows.

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany was one of many famous faces in the crowd at the Emirates

Basketball Royalties in the Emirates

Near Kompany in the posh chairs on Sunday was Mike Dunlap. The basketball coach, who worked with Michael Jordan at the then Charlotte Bobcats, shadowed the Arsenal manager this week.

He was present at the pre-match press conference on Friday and also attended a viewing mission at the Emirates.

Dunlap is in regular contact with Arteta as part of an international coaching group that also includes Australian rugby boss Eddie Jones, basketball Hall Of Famer George Karl and Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.

They meet – usually via Zoom – to exchange secrets and mine for inspiration for different sports. Dunlap, who works as an assistant coach for the NBA side of the Milwaukee Bucks, has been studying “The Arsenal Way” and writing down the behavior, culture and customs at London Colney.