Arsenal had 59.8 per cent of the ball at the American Express Stadium and put two shots on target. Brighton had seventeen shots, scored twice from outside the box and won by three.
Two from distance before the break
Pascal Gross opened it on 31, right footed from outside the box to the centre of the goal, assisted by Charalampos Kostoulas. Kostoulas scored the second on 45, right footed from outside the box to the bottom left corner, assisted by Diego Gómez following a fast break.
Both were struck from outside the area, which is the part David Raya could do least about. He made two saves in the match and picked the ball out of his net three times.
The third came from a corner
Chema Andrés headed in from very close range on 57, from a Gross cross following a corner. Three goals, three different routes, and none of them from Arsenal losing the ball cheaply in their own third.
Arsenal had the ball and nothing to do with it
Eleven shots, two on target, in ninety minutes with the majority of possession. Bukayo Saka had two shots and Kai Havertz two, one each on target. Martin Ødegaard had one.
Mikel Arteta had made four changes by 81, Martín Zubimendi and Mikel Merino on the hour, Viktor Gyökeres and Eberechi Eze on 73, Max Dowman for Saka on 81. Gyökeres had seventeen minutes and did not have a shot.
Arsenal won six corners to Brighton's five and completed 425 passes to 258. None of it arrived anywhere.
Brighton were the sharper side, not the luckier one
Seventeen shots to eleven, five on target to two, eleven interceptions to six. Brighton took four bookings and committed thirteen fouls, so this was not a passive defensive display that happened to catch Arsenal on the break.
What it leaves
Arsenal have 12 points from five and their first defeat of the season. Manchester City have the same 12 points from four, so Arsenal end the weekend second with a match more played.
Brighton are third on ten points from five, with sixteen scored and five conceded, the best attacking record of the three.
