Arsenal’s perfect Premier League start came to a sharp halt on the south coast as Brighton beat them 3-0 at the Amex Stadium, leaving Mikel Arteta with no complaint about either the scoreline or the standards of his side.
Why it landed this week
- Arsenal
- Brighton
- Mikel Arteta
- Fabian Hürzeler
The defeat was Arsenal’s first of the league season after four straight wins, but Arteta did not attempt to dress it up as an unlucky afternoon. He said Brighton had earned the result, particularly through their first-half work, and accepted that his players had failed to meet the demands of the match.
“Brighton deserved to win,” Arteta said. “They were the better team, especially before half-time. We did not compete at the level that was needed.”
It was the old Premier League arithmetic, and Brighton got to it first: win the opening duel, claim the loose ball, then make the opponent run backwards. Arteta said Arsenal lost both the first challenges and the second balls, which pulled his team apart. Technical errors in dangerous areas compounded the problem.
Brighton’s press also caused Arsenal persistent difficulty. There were spells in which the visitors found some control and managed to play through the home side, but those moments did not produce the finish required to alter the course of the game.
Arteta acknowledged that Arsenal had opportunities to make their way back into the contest, only for the final action to let them down. “When we had periods of dominance and control, we could open them up,” he said, “but we did not complete those moves with enough quality.”
A lesson rather than an alibi
For all the severity of the 3-0 result, Arteta placed the setback within the wider work of recent weeks. He praised the level Arsenal had reached across the previous six or seven weeks, while making clear that Brighton had supplied a timely reminder of what is needed at the top level.
“What we have done, and the way we have competed over the past six or seven weeks, has been exceptional,” he said. “But this is a big lesson for all of us in understanding what it takes to win at this level.”
Arsenal left the Amex beaten in intensity, in the contest for possession and in front of goal. Their unbeaten opening had been impressive; Brighton made sure it did not become a comfort blanket.
