Brighton 3-0 Arsenal: Seagulls soar to see off champions in style

premier league,
Round 5

Brighton
BRI

arsenal
ARS

American Express Stadium

Darren England

Pascal Large 31′
Charalampos Kostoulas 45′
Chema Andrés 57′

Champions of the Premier League arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season as they were comfortably beaten 3-0 Brighton at the Amex Stadium.

Pascal Gross and Charalampos Kostoulas gave the hosts a two-goal lead at the break before Chema Andres added a third to lift Mikel Arteta’s side, who were under pressure from the start, on a miserable afternoon on the south coast.

The result moves the Seagulls up to third in the table, while the Gunners sit second, level on points with rivals Manchester City but having played a game more.

Brighton took an early lead

The hosts, who started the day as the league’s top scorers, got off to a strong start, with Charalampos Kostoulas forcing an early save from David Raya after Bruno Guimaraes’ mistake.

The champions struggled to get out of their half in the opening stages, with Raya looking uncharacteristically shaky between the sticks.

Arteta’s side finally found their feet, but just as the Gunners looked to be about to assert their dominance, they fell behind when Gross curled home a strike from outside the box.

The goal only gave more confidence to the home side, who took less than 15 minutes to double their lead.

On the stroke of half-time, Kostoulas was given too much space on the edge of the box and the Greece international struck a stunning shot.

More misery for the Gunners

Despite the challenge they faced, Arteta opted to make no changes at the break, hoping his starting eleven could dig themselves out of a hole in the second period.

But it was Brighton who looked more likely to extend their lead after the restart – Kostoulas was again in the thick of the action when the teenager steered an effort wide of the post.

And sure enough, the hosts found a third soon after when an unmarked Andres headed home on his first Premier League start to add more sparkle to Brighton’s day.

The seagulls were hungry for more. Pascal Struijk nodded agonizingly from a corner after more shaky defending from Arsenal, who were staring down the barrel of just a second defeat by more than one goal in more than a season.

Arteta called the changes but had little influence on the result. Kai Havertz was denied by Bart Verbruggen earlier, at the other end Matt O’Riley came close to making it four but Raya equalized with the midfielder’s header.

In the end, the champions could have few complaints. Brighton were superb and made a statement of intent to the rest of the top flight.

Premier League table

Upcoming matches of Brighton and Arsenal