Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season came to an abrupt end on the south coast, where Brighton beat them 3-0 to move third in the table and hand Mikel Arteta’s side their first league defeat of the campaign.
The defending champions had been tipped by many to retain the title they won last season for the first time in 22 years, and their early form backed up that belief: a seven-match winning start in all competitions this season and nine successive league victories stretching back to April. At the Amex Stadium, though, they were humbled by a well-drilled and clinical Brighton outfit. Arteta acknowledged that the Seagulls “deserved” their success and said there were lessons his players needed to take into the international break.
The Arsenal manager was blunt about his side’s shortcomings, saying he was “extremely disappointed” and that they were “very far” from doing the basics he expects. He pointed to uncertainty in defence, a loss of midfield control and a lack of attacking creativity, and conceded his team had come off second best in the physical duels that are usually their strength. “There are a lot of moments when the ball is 50-50 and it changes hands and most of the time it was for them,” Arteta said. “Sometimes there were some technical errors very much involved that opened us up in a really difficult way, but that’s something to learn.” Asked to explain the below-par display, he gave credit to the opposition first, saying Brighton were “really good” and had an extra edge.
He was also quick to place the result in context, reminding the media that it remained a strong start to the season. Arsenal had 15 players at the World Cup, meaning a large part of the squad joined up for pre-season later than the rest of their team-mates. “That’s not going to take away what the team has done and the boys have done in the last six or seven weeks since coming back from the World Cup,” Arteta said. “What we’ve done and the way we’ve competed and the amount of games we’ve won has been remarkable, but this is a big lesson for all of us to understand what it takes to win at this level.”
The manner of the defeat will also offer encouragement to Arsenal’s title rivals. It was their heaviest as reigning top-flight champions since 1989, and last season they did not lose by more than a single goal in the top flight. The scoreline, moreover, arguably flattered the visitors. “It should have been more, the chances Brighton created, they were that good,” former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “They absolutely battered Arsenal. How many times have we said that recently? From start to finish today Brighton were magnificent, every single one of them played their part. They were strong, they were fit, they went after Arsenal. They had no fear and it worked brilliantly for them, it should have been six or seven goals.”
Brighton are the Premier League’s top scorers with 16 goals, eight of them coming in the past week, and they could have added to their tally against an Arsenal side who pride themselves on keeping clean sheets. The Gunners conceded the fewest goals of any side last season, and only one goal got past David Raya in their first four league games before Saturday’s defeat. Arsenal were 2-0 down at the break and have not recovered to win from such a position in a league game since March 2008 at Bolton.
Shearer was equally impressed by how Brighton went about it, crediting their organisation and their manager. “Every time Brighton chased down the ball, they got it absolutely spot on. They did it as a team, they didn’t do it individually,” he said. “They thought, ‘we respect Arsenal but we’re not going to give them any space to play’. The organisation was great and that just doesn’t happen on its own and you’ve got to give [manager] Fabian Hurzeler credit for that.”
Former Premier League defender Curtis Davies, also speaking on 5 Live, believed the Gunners could put the result and the performance down to a “blip”. “Their form this season has so far been good, this has been a really shocking performance,” he said. “That defence today was nowhere near what it’s used to being. The disappointment will be a set-piece goal conceded, Arsenal will have a real long look at themselves. They didn’t lay a glove on Brighton, and didn’t make anything of their attacking situations.”
Arsenal spent around £200m in the summer transfer window in a bid to strengthen the squad and challenge for more honours, and Arteta was asked whether his players needed reminding how tough the Premier League can be. “I think they knew, I think we knew how tough it was going to be today,” he replied. “If you don’t get out of that first part as winners, it will be extremely difficult to dominate the game and to have any probability of winning the game. We knew that, but that’s again credit to them for what they’ve done because they’ve overcome us and they had another edge than we did. And that’s something that at this level it’s extremely important to respect and to understand before anything else.”