Brighton & Hove Albion have brought Arsenal’s winning run to an end, inflicting a painful 0–3 defeat on the champions. Pascal Groß shone for the in-form Seagulls with a goal and an assist, whilst former Stuttgart player Chema also got on the scoresheet.
Top-of-the-table clash in Brighton on Saturday afternoon: the Seagulls hosted reigning champions Arsenal.
Following their 3–2 victory at Manchester United in the League Cup, Seagulls manager Fabian Hürzeler made five changes to the starting line-up. Only Kostoulas, Groß, Vuskovic, Boscagli, Chema and Struijk remained in the starting line-up.
The reshuffle at Arsenal was similarly extensive, as little remained of the starting line-up from their 4–2 win at Ipswich Town. Gunners manager Mikel Arteta brought in nine new players and kept only Gabriel and Bruno Guimaraes in the starting eleven.
Arsenal off their game
Brighton showed early on that their success at Old Trafford had given them a real boost. The Seagulls started strongly but missed the chance to take an early lead through Kostoulas (7’). Arsenal subsequently took control, though the Gunners lacked creativity in the final third. The home side fared much better in attack: Groß scored from outside the box to give them the lead (30′).
Arsenal looked taken aback and sat deep to counter Brighton’s attacking football. A counter-attack presented the Gunners with a good chance, but they failed to capitalise on it (44′). And so it came to pass: in the immediate counter-attack, Kostoulas also scored with a fine strike from distance (44′).
Chema also scores
The second half began just as the first had ended. Arsenal played erratically and made some poor passes, which Kostoulas, however, failed to capitalise on (51’, 56’). Chema fared better, though, finding the net from a corner (56’).
Arsenal were in trouble: At the back, Gabriel made a save against Kostoulas (59’) and Raya was lucky that Struijk headed wide (68’); up front, both Saka (75’) and Havertz (79’) squandered clear-cut chances. As Raya ultimately saved from O’Riley (90’), the score remained 3–0.
For Arsenal, it was their first defeat of the current season. Brighton, on the other hand, temporarily climbed to third place.
Both teams return to action on Saturday (10 October) following the international break. Whilst Brighton are away to AFC Sunderland at 4 pm, Arsenal face Leeds United two hours earlier.
