Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler launched a stinging critique of Arsenal’s tactics after his side’s 1-0 defeat at the Amex, accusing the visitors of deliberately disrupting the game to protect an early lead.
Bukayo Saka’s early strike proved decisive, and it remained Arsenal’s only shot on target until the closing stages. Brighton pressed for an equaliser and created numerous chances, but home fans spent large parts of the match booing both the visitors and the match officials as recovery play and stoppages broke the rhythm.
After the game Hurzeler did not hold back. He insisted “only one team tried to play football” and accused Arsenal of “making their own rules” by repeatedly slowing the game down. He added that he would never instruct his players to play like that and said supporters deserved better.
Hurzeler also highlighted Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya repeatedly going down during the match, claiming Raya went down “injured” three times with no disciplinary action. “I ask one question, did you see in the Premier League a goalkeeper going down three times? No? … I think therefore the Premier League has to find the rule,” he said, urging governing bodies and referees to set clearer limits on time-wasting.
On his side’s performance he was proud of the way his players attacked: “I love the effort from my boys, I loved how they played football. I think there was only one team who tried to play football today and therefore I’m proud of how they did it.” He acknowledged Brighton were wasteful in the final third—”we weren’t that effective… we could have been more clinical, more calm”—but said the visitors’ tactics made it hard to establish a rhythm.
Hurzeler stressed his managerial principles: “There are different kinds of winning… I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way. I want my players to keep improving and keep playing football on the pitch. Every team will manage and waste time, but I think there has to be a limit and the limit has to be set by the Premier League, the limit has to be set by the referees.” He declined to single out the referee for blame, noting the official had a difficult job, but still urged stronger enforcement.
Mikel Arteta was dismissive of the criticism, responding: “What a surprise! … I love my players. That’s the highlight. I love the way we compete.” When asked if he cared about other managers’ comments, Arteta replied: “Care? Yeah. Depends. On the comments. And the purpose of that.”
Post-match analysis from Sky Sports’ Nick Wright suggested Hurzeler’s frustration was understandable—Arsenal did disrupt the match after their early goal—but also pointed out Brighton’s inability to convert possession into a result. Brighton had 11 shots worth around 0.8 expected goals and failed to force a save from Raya after the 63rd minute. While Hurzeler framed the narrative around time-wasting, supporters of Arsenal were unlikely to be disturbed by what they saw as an effective, if unattractive, victory.
In short, Hurzeler argued the game was spoilt by deliberate delay tactics and called for clearer rules to curb time-wasting; Arsenal and their manager defended the approach as competitive game management, leaving the debate over where to draw the line between gamesmanship and unsporting behaviour unresolved.