Bukayo Saka feels “blessed” after scoring the decisive goal on his 300th appearance for Arsenal across all competitions, securing a narrow 1-0 victory over Brighton.

Saka broke the deadlock after nine minutes in Wednesday’s clash at the Amex Stadium, with his low, curling effort taking a fortunate deflection off Carlos Baleba before finding the net.

In doing so, he secured a vital win for Arsenal, who moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League following Manchester City’s surprise 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest.

Aged 24 years and 180 days old, the winger became the fourth-youngest player in Arsenal’s history to reach 300 appearances, behind only David O’Leary (23 years, 315 days), Cesc Fabregas (23 years, 341 days) and Liam Brady (24 years, 73 days).

“I couldn’t believe it. They told me yesterday [about 300 appearances] and I was shocked,” Saka told TNT Sports.

“I just feel so happy right now, I feel blessed, I feel joy to wear the armband for this club and make 300 appearances, pick up a massive win, you know. I’m happy, just continue moving like this.

“This feels like a massive win for us. We didn’t know the score [of the City match] but we heard the fans celebrating out of nowhere, so I kind of knew something went well in the other games.

“But we just stayed focused, got the result and we feel good about it.”

With his goal, Saka took his tally up to six in the league this season and extended his already-prolific record against the Seagulls.

Saka has now been directly involved in five goals in six Premier League appearances at the Amex Stadium against Brighton (three goals, two assists).

Those three goals are his joint-most at an away venue against sides in the league, along with three against West Ham at London Stadium.

When asked whether he felt relief at the seven-point cushion between Arsenal and City, Saka added: “Yeah, of course, it’s a nice feeling, but like I said, we try to just focus on getting our result done and the rest is out of our control.

“We know we’re in a race, and it’s very tight. It’s been like that the last few years.

“Tonight, we played at the same time, and we both needed to win. Massive games. We did, they didn’t, so we can be happy today.”

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta echoed Saka’s sentiment about the significance of the result, while waxing lyrical about the England international’s consistency.

“This was a really difficult one after everything we’ve been through in the last few weeks,” Arteta told TNT Sports.

“Every game in the Premier League offers you different things. Big credit to the boys because the effort they put in is astronomical.

“I didn’t know that Bukayo made that many appearances, but at his age, it is incredible the consistency he shows and it is a pleasure to have him here.”