Mikel Arteta has challenged Arsenal to become the same dominant team away from home as they are at Emirates Stadium ahead of Saturday’s trip to Brighton.
The Premier League champions travel to the Amex for their fourth consecutive away fixture across four different competitions.
Arsenal have already beaten Napoli in the Champions League, Sunderland in the Premier League and Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup during that run.
Arteta believes those results demonstrate an important development within his squad.
Speaking before the Brighton clash, the Arsenal manager insisted location should no longer dictate how his team approaches matches.
Arteta Wants Same Arsenal Home and Away
Arsenal’s recent schedule has provided a significant test.
Three consecutive away victories have required Arteta’s squad to adapt to different opponents, competitions and environments without returning to Emirates Stadium for competitive action.
The manager has been impressed by the response.
“That’s one of the challenges of the schedule and the team has responded so well, playing with such a dominance,” Arteta said in comments carried by Reuters ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Brighton.
He then outlined the standard he wants Arsenal to reach.
“It doesn’t really matter if we play at home or away, we want to cause the same problems to the opposition.”
That is a significant statement.
Away fixtures have traditionally required even elite teams to accept longer spells without the ball or alter their approach depending on the atmosphere and opponent.
Arteta wants Arsenal to remove that distinction.
Arsenal Have Won Three Straight Away Games
The evidence from the last week supports Arteta’s argument.
Arsenal first travelled to Napoli and secured an important Champions League victory.
They followed that by beating Sunderland 2-0 in the Premier League despite coming under significant pressure during parts of the contest.
A heavily rotated side then won 4-2 at Ipswich in the Carabao Cup.
Our full report from Arsenal’s victory at Portman Road showed how Arteta was able to make nine changes without sacrificing progression.
Brighton presents a different challenge again.
Fabian Hürzeler’s side have scored more Premier League goals than any other team during the opening weeks of the season and are particularly aggressive when pressing high up the pitch.
We examined that threat in our analysis of Brighton’s league-leading attack.
Brighton Trip Tests Arsenal’s New Standard
Arsenal’s recent record at the Amex should provide confidence.
The Gunners are unbeaten in their last seven competitive meetings with Brighton and have also become increasingly difficult to beat on the south coast.
Our Brighton vs Arsenal head-to-head record details how the balance of the fixture has shifted under Arteta.
However, Saturday should offer a better measure of Arsenal’s away dominance than the historical record.
Brighton will attempt to press Arsenal’s build-up and turn the contest into an open game.
Arteta will want the opposite.
His team have increasingly controlled matches through secure possession and carefully structured passing, with our analysis of Arsenal’s low-risk attacking approach showing how they continue to create danger without repeatedly sacrificing the ball.
That approach now has to survive another hostile away environment.
Arsenal Chasing Perfect Premier League Start
Victory would also maintain Arsenal’s perfect beginning to their title defence.
Arteta’s side have won their opening four Premier League fixtures and arrive at Brighton at the top end of the early table.
The manager is not simply asking Arsenal to survive another away game.
He wants them to impose themselves.
That distinction reflects the standards now expected of the defending champions.
Arsenal have already handled Napoli, Sunderland and Ipswich away from home.
Brighton is the fourth consecutive test.
If Arteta’s team can again control the game on their own terms, his ambition of making Arsenal equally dominant home and away will look increasingly realistic.
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