BRIGHTON, England, Sept 19 (Reuters) – There were no excuses from Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta after his side’s perfect start to their Premier League title defence came to an ignominious end at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday with a stunning 3-0 defeat in which they were out-hustled by their hosts.
Arsenal won their opening four games of the league season, conceding just a single goal, but were undone by a superb Brighton performance that sees them move up to third in the table with 10 points from their five games.
Arsenal dropped to second place on goal difference with 12 points from five games as they suffered their heaviest defeat in all competitions since a 3-0 home loss to Brighton in May 2023.
Brighton took the lead following a superb strike from Pascal Gross as the ball went in off the post.Charalampos Kostoulas then finished from 25 yards and Chema Andres headed home a corner to add a third goal.
“They deserved to win the game, they were the better team, especially in the early stages of the first half. We were not competing on the level that is required,” Arteta said. “We did technical errors in the wrong areas and lost our duels.
“But I have to put into perspective what the team has done since the World Cup. I think it has been exceptional. We will learn from this experience and go again.”
Brighton’s success was built on pressing Arsenal into submission and giving them little time on the ball, denying them control of the game.
Arteta’s side were poor as a result, but that was also due to Brighton’s bravery and in the final third the home side were clinical, taking their Premier League tally to 16 goals in five games this season.
Given that no other side has scored more than 10, free-scoring Brighton have emerged as one of the best teams to watch so far this season.
The visitors were also uncharacteristically poor defending set-pieces and might have lost by a greater margin on another day.
“It was the perfect performance from us,” Andres said. “The team was amazing, the intensity was what we needed to win against this amazing team.
“It was my first Premier League goal and an important moment in the match for us to go 3-0 up. You cannot say it is game over against players of the quality of Arsenal, but the team kept pushing for the win.”
(Reporting by Nick SaidEditing by Toby Davis)
