Albion suffered defeat to a strong Arsenal side.

Here are five things which caught the eye and the ear at the Emirates.

A rare blank: Wouldn’t you know it! As soon as Albion break their club record for scoring in 32 consecutive league games, the run ends. The 21 without a clean sheet is also now an outright club record and needs halting in the next game, wherever that might be.

Slammed Dunk: Lewis Dunk always puts his body on the line but he took it to extremes this time, first being felled like a skittle as he took a shot in the head, then blocking a second-half effort in painful fashion. Arsenal wanted handball but the way he stayed down suggested it wasn’t his hand. He recovered to head off the line at the resulting corner and deny Ben White. Dunk and the equally resilient Jan Paul van Hecke are now Albion’s first choice pairing with Igor offering cover there and at left-back or the option of playing with a three (or a four which becomes a three in possession).

Keep them quiet: The atmosphere at the Emirates has improved both before and early in games in recent times but the noise tends to die away fairly quickly. There were signs of that happening here as Albion managed to get some possession around the 15-minute mark but they could not build any that semblance of a platform. Arsenal were in full cry for much of the afternoon (although some of the complaints over refereeing were laughable).

Balancing act: Arsenal lay in wait and picked Albion off as they looked to play from the back. Which took your mind back to something that was said from the Seagulls camp after their Carabao Cup win here last season. That sometimes the riskier passes are the ones which bring most reward because they suck opponents in. Such a moment brought them a game-changing penalty in that match but the balance tipped the other way this time.

Best yet? Were Arsenal the best team Albion have faced over 90 minutes this season? Manchester City were irresistible for 45 but, for a full game, you think of the 6-1 defeat at Aston Villa. But even there Albion had a good spell after half-time. Arsenal were more relentless than Villa and Albion more resilient than they were that day in Birmingham.