A first defeat of the season was a bad and bruising one for Arsenal. The 3-0 loss at Brighton on Saturday was the first time Arsenal lost a game by three goals since May 2023. You have to go back to November 2023 for the last time Arsenal even trailed by three goals – that one was against West Ham in the League Cup and ended 3-1 – and October 2024 for the last time Arsenal lost by two in the Premier League. That day, at Bournemouth, they played an hour with 10 men, following William Saliba’s red card. In the 72 Premier League games that followed, Arsenal were never two goals down. Not even once. Until Saturday. A poor start at Brighton set the tone, and if you were to watch the first 15 minutes of the game, then skip to half-time, you wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Arsenal two down. However, if you’d missed the opening quarter of an hour – no images, no commentary, no social media reactions – before managing to tune in, you’d have felt that Brighton took the lead completely against the run of play. Yeah, really. Arsenal had been trapped in their own half throughout the game’s introductory stanza: they had more of the ball, but almost half of their touches had been taken by their three most defensive players. The Gunners attempted just 6 passes ending in the final third of the pitch (to Brighton’s 31) and had not managed a shot, nor a touch in the opposition box. And then things changed: With a bit more joy playing through the thirds – with some more long passing to help – the Brighton press was quelled and Arsenal gained not just a foothold, but an upper hand. By the time the game was half an hour old, Arsenal had attempted as many final third passes as Brighton and had managed 13 touches in the hosts’ penalty area to Brighton’s six in Arsenal’s box. This was by no means a stellar recovery. Arsenal still had just one shot in that period, but the Pascal Gross goal from range came against the run of play. One perfectly hit strike from distance turned the tide. Arsenal could’ve defended better, for sure, but it’s not like they gave Brighton a clear sight at goal. The same was true when Charalampos Kostoulas doubled the gap between the sides on the stroke of half-time, seconds after Arsenal had squandered the best opportunity either side created in the first half. For more analysis on this game: how Arsenal struggled in the opening stages, the defending that let Mikel Arteta’s side down, plus Arsenal’s wasteful counter-attacking and issues creating chances, check out our YouTube video below, and please subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already! The post Tactics Column: Why defeat at Brighton was deceiving appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.