Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 Arsenal: result and report

Report

Brighton & Hove Albion beat Arsenal 3-0, a result that went firmly against expectation. Arsenal arrived as the side expected to win, yet Brighton were three goals up before the hour. They deserved the win, even though the margin overstates the gap in chance quality.

Pascal Groß opened the scoring on 31 minutes from Charalampos Kostoulas's pass. Kostoulas then scored himself on 45 minutes, set up by Diego Gómez, so Arsenal went into the break two down.

Groß supplied Chema Andrés for the third on 57 minutes, which left Arsenal with too much to do. Groß was named player of the match with a goal and an assist, because he had a direct hand in two of the three goals.

Shots against chance quality

Brighton won the shot count by a distance, while the quality of the chances was far closer. They had 12 shots to Arsenal's 3, and 5 on target to 2. Brighton also hit the woodwork once, so the scoreline could have been heavier still.

Despite that, xG finished almost level at 1.60 to 1.48. Arsenal's few shots were good ones, and they created two big chances to Brighton's three. Arsenal missed both of theirs. Brighton missed two of their three but still scored three times, because they turned lesser openings into goals as well.

Arsenal: plenty of the ball, little end product

Arsenal had 60% of the possession, yet managed only three shots. Brighton sustained more attacking pressure across the afternoon despite having less of the ball, and they also made more key passes, 10 to 8.

That makes this a jolt for Arsenal's defence. David Raya had conceded only once in his four starts before this match, while keeping three clean sheets, but he was beaten three times here.