Bukayo Saka’s first-half goal earned the Gunners a narrow 1-0 victory at the Amex Stadium, extending their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.
Although it was far from a polished performance, it could be a pivotal night in the title race. Mikel Arteta’s side were sluggish in possession, inaccurate in attack and too willing to allow Brighton to dominate the midfield.
Arsenal were unable to impose themselves and instead dug deep and held out for long periods against what appeared to be a more cohesive and commanding side. And Hürzeler felt his opponent was resorting to dark arts to get over the line.
“I think the statistics never lie. We conceded one shot on goal. We created a lot of chances, but we weren’t very effective,” the German told reporters afterwards.
“Also, in the last third we could have been calmer, more collected and made better decisions.
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Hürzeler: Premier League needs to ‘find rules’ to eradicate ‘waste of time’
Video credit: TNT Sports
“We could have created more chances, but overall, as you said, in the end we lost, so we’re all disappointed for the performance.
“I love the effort of my boys. I loved the way they played soccer. I think there was only one team that tried to play soccer today, so I’m proud of how they played.”
Brighton dominated for long stretches of the game, to the roar of a frenzied home crowd who became increasingly furious at Arsenal’s efforts to delay the restart and disrupt the tempo at every opportunity.
Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter both had chances, but Arsenal absorbed all of Brighton’s attacks in the absence of William Saliba.
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Mikel Arteta uses breaks in play to send message to players
Image credit: Getty Images
Martin Zvimendi twisted his ankle late in the first half and required long-term treatment, but the midfielder played through the pain.
Hürzeler criticized Arsenal’s time-wasting tactics involving goalkeeper David Raya, who was treated three times.
The Brighton manager told TNT Sport: “I have one question: Did you see the goalkeeper go down three times in the Premier League game? No? So I don’t think we should waste too many words about that tonight. We should focus on ourselves. We should focus on our performance. You can’t control things like this.”
“The Premier League has to find the rules and that’s not my job. I make my case before the game and stick to it. At the end of the day, we’re football coaches and other football coaches can’t manage the game to help the team win. So that’s the focus.”
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Bukayo Saka holds his foot and aims for further stoppage against Brighton
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“There are different ways to win, so if they win the Premier League, no one will ask how they win the Premier League. I think you can feel that they are doing everything they can right now to win this game. And in the end it’s about the rules.”
“In the Premier League, it’s difficult for referees to give everything away, but then they make their own rules. At the moment, it feels like Arsenal are making their own rules, no matter how they’re playing. That’s why I think it’s difficult to judge.”
“Overall, I will never be the kind of manager who tries to win in that way. I want to do well and I want the players to continue to develop and continue to play football on the pitch.”
“Of course, in the end every team will manage and waste their time, but I think there should be a limit and that limit has to be set by the Premier League, the limit has to be set by the referees. At the moment they just have to do what they want to do.”
‘I love my players’ – Arteta defends team as Hürzeler calls for rule changes
“What a surprise,” Mikel Arteta reacted dismissively when told of his opponent’s comments.
“Just go back to previous games and you’ll find a lot of comments,” the Gunners boss added.
“I love the players. That’s the highlight. I love the players, we love the players, we love the way we compete.
“I think they (our rivals) love our players, and every time they talk about our players, I think they’re the most loved players in this country.”
Arteta was asked if he cares what other managers think about their players and how Arsenal are preparing to win games.
He said, “Do you care? It depends.”
Asked if that meant it was up to the manager in question, Arteta said: “Yes, the comments. And the purpose.”
In his pre-match press conference, Hürzeler criticized Arsenal for being slow to restart from a corner, but he was not yet finished evaluating the league leaders and felt further gamesmanship was a step in the wrong direction.
Asked by reporters whether it would be bad for the Premier League if Arsenal were crowned champions, Hürzeler replied: “They are champions, but I think it’s always about the way we talked about it, how we win, how we choose to do it.”
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Martin Zubimedi appeared to have injured his ankle but managed to continue playing.
Image credit: Getty Images
“And if they win, I said, no one will ask how they won, then they deserve to win.”
“But ultimately we have to create the limits, or the Premier League has to create the limits. Where does this go in the future? That’s my question: Where does this go?”
“At some point, if you play 60 minutes in a game and you play 50 minutes against Arsenal, the difference is 10 minutes. So are the supporters paying for this? You know what I mean?”
