Arsenal miss Premier League top spot, Spurs lose thriller at Brighton

Arsenal failed to return to the Premier League summit on Thursday, losing 2-0 to West Ham. Elsewhere, Tottenham Hotspur suffered one of their biggest defeats since Ange Postecoglou became their manager, losing 4-2 at Brighton & Hove Albion and missing out on the chance to surpass Manchester City and move into top four.

West Ham only had three efforts on target but Tomas Soucek gave them a halftime lead before former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos extended the advantage after the break.

Arsenal had more than twice as many chances but failed to take any as the visitors defended gamely. They remain on 40 points, two behind Liverpool, who beat Burnley 2-0 on Tuesday.

In Thursday's other match, Josh Hinshelwood and a Joao Pedro penalty gave Brighton a 2-0 lead against Tottenham. Halftime substitute Pervis Estupinan sent a thunderbolt past Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario and Pedro converted his second penalty of the day to put immense pressure on an injury-hit Spurs, whose substitute Alejo Veliz fired home from close range in the 75th minute before Ben Davies scored with a header.

Midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg hit the post for Spurs in stoppage time as Brighton looked nervy, but they held on to move into eighth place in the table on 30 points while Tottenham remain fifth on 36, a point off the top four. The final scoreline hardly did justice to a chaotic match in which Tottenham were second-best for long periods but showed some spirit to emerge with their pride intact. However Brighton, without the likes of Kaoru Mitoma, Tariq Lamptey, Solly March and Julio Enciso, were worthy winners as they snapped a three-match league sequence without a win.

"It is a very disappointing performance. This is not how we've approached the season," Spurs captain Son Heung-min said. "This performance was nowhere near the level we want to play at. But now is not the time to point fingers at each other because the games are coming fast," he added.

Tottenham host in-form Bournemouth on Sunday when they will be without Kulusevski, who will be suspended after picking up another booking, while Brighton visit West Ham United on January 2.

(With input from agencies)