Alan Shearer shares why Mikel Arteta would be ‘very very alarmed’ by Brighton showing

Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton was their heaviest loss in over three years.

It was their most concerning performance in a long time under Mikel Arteta. Was it just a bad day at the office against a difficult opponent? Possibly. But the manner of the defeat was alarming. They were second best from the first minute to the last.

Alan Shearer, speaking on The Rest Is Football, gave his thoughts on Arsenal’s display and how disappointed Arteta would have been.

“He would have been very, very alarmed at how easily they folded,” the former Newcastle striker said. “Brighton battered Arsenal, didn’t they? Not for 30 minutes or the first half or so — it was the complete game.

“They went after them from the first minute. They had a game plan. The game plan worked to perfection. They looked fitter, they looked stronger, they looked better in every department. So yeah, Brighton were amazing.”

Mikel Arteta will be fuming with the manner of the Brighton defeat

Arsenal have had off days before, of course, but so rarely have they been dominated so comprehensively for such a sustained period. Arteta himself said “you could sense it” immediately from the first throw-in.

And Brighton are no pushovers — they never are. The Seagulls have now beaten the reigning Premier League champions at home in three consecutive seasons. Fabian Hurzeler’s side are the Premier League’s highest scorers and its most intense pressers, and together, against a fatigued Arsenal side playing their fourth away game in ten days, proved devastating.

There is maybe some mitigation there with Arsenal’s schedule and the defensive injury problems leaving options thin at the back. But Arteta was having none of it. ‘There are certain basics that you need to accomplish in football that we were very far from,’ he said after the game.

The international break may have come at the right time, albeit a frustrating one for Arteta, who now has three weeks to stew on a terrible performance. The hope is that the champions can bounce back swiftly when they return to face Leeds at the Emirates Stadium.