Arsenal floor out a 1-0 win over Brighton to capitalise on Manchester City’s slip-up in opposition to Nottingham Forest and transfer seven points clear at the top of the Premier League.
As their title rivals had been held to a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium, Bukayo Saka’s deflected, ninth-minute strike proved decisive for the Gunners in a scrappy, fractious encounter on the south coast.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler mentioned “only one side tried to play football” after the sport as he accused Arsenal of time-wasting ways involving David Raya, who went to floor on three events.
“What a surprise,” mentioned Mikel Arteta in response to Hurzeler’s feedback.
Saka’s purpose, which squirmed previous Bart Verbruggen after taking a spark off Carlos Baleba, got here from one of solely two photographs on track by Arsenal, who laboured in possession however excelled defensively.
Brighton dominated most of the sport, registering 60 per cent of the possession, however Arsenal, led by defenders Gabriel and Piero Hincapie, and with out the injured William Saliba, couldn’t be breached.
Brighton’s finest likelihood got here after solely two minutes, when David Raya despatched a cross straight to Baleba, whose tried chip needed to be cleared off the road by Gabriel.
The hosts pinned Arsenal in their very own half for lengthy intervals, however solely mustered an extra two photographs on track, with Raya saving properly from Georginio Rutter as the house followers grew to become more and more annoyed by the perceived time-wasting from the guests.
Arsenal had an opportunity to place the sport past Brighton when substitute Kai Havertz had a diagonal effort saved by Verbruggen, however their slender lead meant they needed to survive a nervy finale.
The last whistle, and information of Manchester City’s draw with Forest, prompted wild celebrations from the travelling followers as Arsenal opened up a seven-point hole, albeit having performed a sport extra.
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Arsenal followers celebrated the information of Man City’s draw with Nottingham Forest
Hurzeler: Only one staff tried to play soccer
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler slammed Arsenal’s method in an explosive press convention, saying: “We could have even created more chances, but overall, like you said, in the end we lost, so we are all disappointed regarding the performance.
“I like the hassle from my boys, I beloved how they performed soccer. I believe there was just one staff who tried to play soccer at present and subsequently I’m proud of how they did it.
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Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler launched an assault on Arsenal’s ‘time-wasting’ ways
“I ask one question, did you see in the Premier League game a goalkeeper going down three times? No? So I think we shouldn’t waste too many words about that tonight.
“We ought to deal with us, we should always deal with our efficiency. We cannot management these variety of issues.
“I think therefore the Premier League has to find the rule and it’s not my business. I made my point before the game and I stick to it.”
Arteta: I like my gamers
Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta provided solely brief responses to his reverse quantity’s criticism, saying: “What a surprise.”
Asked if he might develop on that remark, he mentioned: “You just go back to the previous games and you’ll find a lot of comments like this always.
“I like my gamers. That’s the spotlight. I like my gamers, we love our gamers and I like the way in which we compete.”
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Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta reacts to Fabian Hurzeler’s feedback
Asked if he cared concerning the feedback of different managers, he mentioned: “Care? Yeah. Depends.” Depends on the supervisor? “Yeah, and the comments. And the purpose of that.
“Obviously, if you end up within the place that we’re in, they wish to take that away from you. That’s regular, that is sport.
“We need to take that with normality and we need to confront it in the right way.”
Analysis: Justified complaints or deflection tactic?
Hurzeler’s feedback will dominate the fallout from the sport. He had made a degree of elevating the time-wasting problem in his pre-match press convention so it was no shock to listen to him return to the topic after a fractious night which led to defeat for his aspect.
His frustration was justified, at least to some extent. Having taken an early lead, Arsenal had been clearly desirous to disrupt the move of the sport, upsetting the ire of the house followers in addition to the supervisor, who spent a lot of the night time remonstrating with the fourth official.
Jurrien Timber and Ferdi Kadioglu battle for the ball
This was an unpleasant sport. Its stop-start nature definitely suited the guests higher than Brighton. But, in opposition to an Arsenal aspect clearly out of types, Hurzeler may also look at his personal aspect’s shortcomings. They had greater than sufficient possession to harm Arsenal however could not.
Their 11 photographs had been value simply 0.8 anticipated objectives, based on Opta, and for all their dominance of the ball and of territory, it was telling that Raya did not have a save to make after the 63rd minute, when Mats Wieffer headed immediately at him.
Hurzeler has succeeded in shaping the narrative within the wake of this sport. But his complaints needs to be of little concern to the Arsenal followers who sang ‘we’ll win the league’ within the away finish. This ugly victory was one to savour for them.
Opta stats: Lucky Arsenal?
- This was Arsenal’s tenth Premier League victory by a one-goal margin this season, which is their most after 30 video games of a league marketing campaign since 2011/12 (10).
- Only in 2003/04 have they ever had extra one-goal victories at this stage of a Premier League season (12).
- Arsenal had simply seven photographs in opposition to Brighton, solely having fewer in a sport this season in opposition to Chelsea (5 in February within the League Cup).
- Indeed, the Gunners’ xG complete tonight of 0.43 was their outright lowest in a sport throughout all competitions in 2025/26.
- Arsenal accomplished simply 70.9 per cent of their passes in opposition to Brighton tonight; their lowest completion price in a Premier League match since August 2021 vs Manchester City (67.6 per cent).
