What national media said about Arsenal’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Brighton

Arsenal suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season as Brighton produced an emphatic 3-0 victory at the Amex Stadium.

Goals from Pascal Groß, Charalampos Kostoulas and Chema Andrés ended the Gunners’ perfect league start and handed Mikel Arteta plenty to consider over the international break.

Our Brighton 3-0 Arsenal match report detailed a performance in which Arsenal had plenty of possession but created little genuine danger.

Here is how the national media reacted.

Guardian says Arsenal were brought back down to earth

The Guardian’s match report focused heavily on Brighton’s intensity and the scale of Arsenal’s drop-off.

Ed Aarons described the champions as being brought “back down to earth” after entering the afternoon attempting to extend their perfect start.

Brighton restricted Arsenal to only two efforts on target despite the visitors having 60 per cent possession.

The newspaper also highlighted that Arsenal could easily have conceded more against a Brighton side that repeatedly caused problems with its pressing and direct attacking.

Reuters highlights Arsenal being out-hustled

Reuters centred its reaction on Arsenal’s inability to match Brighton physically.

Arteta admitted his side lost duels, made technical mistakes in dangerous areas and failed to compete at the required level.

Reuters noted that Brighton’s aggressive pressing repeatedly prevented Arsenal from establishing their usual control in possession.

That echoed Arteta’s own assessment after the game.

We covered his admission that Arsenal failed several basic requirements in our full breakdown of Arteta’s Brighton reaction.

Guimarães performance comes under scrutiny

Individual performances also attracted criticism.

Troy Deeney told talkSPORT that Bruno Guimarães should have been withdrawn at half-time following a difficult display in Arsenal’s midfield.

Arteta eventually replaced the Brazilian during the second half.

The manager has publicly backed the developing Declan Rice-Guimarães partnership, but Brighton provided its toughest test so far.

There was also controversy late on involving Rice, with several pundits questioning whether the midfielder was fortunate to avoid a red card.

Our separate look at the Rice incident covers that debate.

Arsenal handed major international-break lesson

The wider media verdict is consistent.

Brighton were not fortunate winners.

They disrupted Arsenal’s build-up, won important individual battles and were considerably more clinical in the final third.

Arteta himself accepted Brighton deserved the result and described the defeat as a significant lesson for his players.

Arsenal’s perfect start is over.

The challenge after the international break is ensuring one poor afternoon does not develop into something more damaging.