Perfect Arsenal start ends after disastrous afternoon at Brighton
Arsenal’s perfect start to the season came to a bruising end as Brighton & Hove Albion produced an outstanding performance to beat the Premier League champions 3-0 at the Amex Stadium.
Goals from Pascal Gross, Charalampos Kostoulas and Chema Andres condemned Arsenal to their first defeat of 2026-27 after seven consecutive victories across all competitions.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had warned about Brighton’s attacking threat beforehand, and his side quickly discovered why the Seagulls entered the weekend as the Premier League’s leading scorers.
Kostoulas caused problems with Brighton’s aggressive pressing from the opening stages, forcing David Raya into an early save as Arsenal struggled to establish their usual control.
Bruno Guimaraes found the side-netting at the other end, but Brighton increasingly looked the more dangerous team as the first half progressed.
Their pressure finally told after 31 minutes when Arsenal failed to close down Gross outside the penalty area, allowing the midfielder to curl a superb finish beyond Raya and into the corner.
Bukayo Saka was presented with Arsenal’s clearest opportunity to respond before half-time but could only direct his effort at Bart Verbruggen.
That miss became even more costly moments later.
Kostoulas was afforded too much space outside the Arsenal box and punished the champions with an excellent long-range strike to send Brighton into the interval two goals ahead.
Any hopes of another Arsenal second-half response were effectively extinguished 12 minutes after the restart.
Gross delivered an inviting corner into the area and Andres powered his header beyond Raya, exposing Arsenal from the type of set-piece situation they have so often exploited themselves.
Arteta turned to his substitutes in search of a response, eventually introducing 16-year-old Max Dowman following his two-goal performance against Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup.
Viktor Gyokeres also created a late opening for Kai Havertz, but Verbruggen denied the German to preserve Brighton’s clean sheet.
Raya prevented the margin becoming even more damaging with an excellent late save as Brighton continued pushing for a fourth.
The result ends Arsenal’s nine-match Premier League winning streak stretching back to last season and leaves them second in the table, while Brighton climb to third.
After seven straight victories, Arsenal finally encountered an opponent they could not overcome, with Brighton ruthlessly exposing an unusually vulnerable performance from the champions.
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