Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was full of praise for matchwinner Alexandre Lacazette after their 1-0 win at Brighton.

Lacazette came off the bench to net on 66 minutes after some clever work from Bukayo Saka.

Arteta enthused, "We need big players and the senior players to step up in these difficult moments, and he's doing that for sure. Front players need their team-mates to support them and put them in situations like he had today, as often as possible. At the same time, they have to step up and create these opportunities themselves. I think Laca has been working really hard. Since I've been here, his work has never been an issue.

"His goalscoring record could improve but it's improving because he's so willing to do it for us.

"Yes [he had a sore back] but he finished the game against Chelsea with some pain. We had the opportunity to refresh that and use him as well in other moments. We knew Auba could last for 90 minutes, we knew that Gabi wasn't going to last for 90 minutes for sure, so we had a substitution there and someone with a goal threat that we believed was going to be needed."

Arteta added: "It was a great move from Bukayo first to create the action that he did, but then I think apart from the finish, it was his movement, the counter move that he made to create the space for himself. With the touch and the finish, I think it was a brilliant goal."