Premier League champions, Arsenal, lost their 100% record for the season in dramatic fashion as they were routed 3-0 at Brighton and Hove Albion.
First-half strikes from Pascal Gross and Charalampos Kostoulas put the home side in control at the break, before summer signing Chema Andrés added a third from a corner on his full home debut.
The Spaniard’s header meant that Arsenal — which had been defensively excellent this season — conceded as many goals on Saturday as they had done in the rest of the season combined.
After a cagey opening on the south coast, the game sparked into life on the half-hour mark when the in-form Gross found himself with time and space on the edge of the box.
Arsenal center backs Gabriel and Ezri Konsa failed to close him down and the German took full advantage, seeing his driven effort crash off David Raya’s near post and into the net for Gross’ fourth goal in the last five games.
Chema Andrés scored on his full home debut for Brighton.
Gabriel and Konsa, normally so solid, made the same mistake again on the stroke of halftime as Kostoulas collected a pass from Diego Gómez, found himself in a similar amount of space and hit a low driven shot between the Arsenal center backs and into the bottom left corner.
Just under 10 minutes into the second half, and just as Arsenal looked like they might be able to mount an unlikely comeback, Brighton put the result beyond all doubt.
Gross was involved again, sending a corner to the back post where Andrés jumped highest to head the ball beyond his compatriot Raya and spark further celebrations at the Amex Stadium.
Arsenal turned to their bench as Mikel Arteta sent on the likes of Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyökeres, but it was Kai Havertz who had the best chance to grab a consolation when he raced clean through on goal only to see his low effort saved by the feet of Bart Verbruggen.
It meant that Arsenal lost by three or more goals for the first time since May 2023, when they were beaten 3-0 by none other than Brighton.
Brighton’s best win of an already impressive season sees them rise to third in the Premier League table, while Manchester City can go three points clear of Arsenal at the top if they defeat Sunderland on Sunday.
*Culled from ESPN
