Arsenal lose to Brighton: Mikel Arteta claims Gunners lost "respect" as first Premier League loss of the season fuels concern

Mikel Arteta accused his Arsenal players of lacking respect during their 3-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove on Saturday.

The Gunners will head into the international break on the back of a damaging loss at the Amex, and Manchester City now have the opportunity to move three points ahead of them in the Premier League.

Fans were alarmed by the performance given Arsenal have rarely been troubled defensively since the start of 2025-26, but Brighton were comfortably the better team on Saturday.

Arteta insisted that his players did not respect the level of effort that was required, telling reporters after the match: "Full credit to Brighton in the manner they performed and went about the game. They were another gear from us in the basics of the game.

"They were always first in the first duel, in the second actions, second balls, and they started to play from there. On top of that, when we had the ball, especially in our own half, we were extremely poor technically, not respecting the game and the game principles you have to apply against a team that want to press you man to man.

"That never gives you the option to dominate and control the game in the manner you want, and then when we had big chances, we didn't put them away. We have to make sure we learn the lesson because this can't happen again."

The Gunners now have 12 points from 15, and City can cement their place in first tomorrow against Sunderland.

Brighton 3-0 Arsenal: What went wrong for Arsenal at the Amex?

Arsenal suffered their heaviest defeat in three years, and the comprehensive nature of the scoreline was surprising considering the only starter missing was William Saliba.

Brighton's aggressive approach caused numerous issues for the Gunners throughout, with their pressing forcing the likes of Ezri Konsa and Gabriel Magalhaes into making mistakes.

Arsenal have often faced deep defences, so perhaps they were caught off guard by an opponent that was willing to leave spaces in behind.

In terms of the final third, the limitations of the Gunners' frontline were apparent, with Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Christos Tzolis all failing to stretch Brighton's high line.

Many fans thought that the failure to bring in a marquee forward would be costly, and the loss at the Amex was perhaps the first example of that this season.

Can Arsenal and Mikel Arteta recover in the Premier League?

Everyone associated with Arsenal will have three weeks to digest the result before domestic football returns, with the club set to take on Leeds United at home on October 10.

There is a possibility that the defeat could have a positive long-term impact if the club use the loss as a reminder of what happens if standards drop.

It will be important for the players to not dwell too much on the negatives of the game, but it would be unwise to simply forget about the match aganist Brighton.