'That's not football' – Brighton boss Hurzeler slams Arsenal's tactics

Fabian Hurzeler blasted Arsenal's tactics during their narrow victory over Brighton, and urged the Premier League to take action, claiming "that's not football".

The Seagulls were beaten 1-0 at the Amex Stadium, with Bukayo Saka's early deflected strike separating the two sides.

After second-place Manchester City could only draw with lowly Nottingham Forest, the Gunners' victory moved them seven points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

However, Hurzeler was left far from happy by several stoppages during the game caused by Arsenal, with goalkeeper David Raya going to ground multiple times before continuing.

“In general, the Premier League needs to find a rule because that's not football – what Arsenal did there," he told reporters during his post-match press conference.

"Have you seen a goalkeeper go down three times in one game? I think that says enough.

"There was only one team that tried to play football today. But the only way to show these teams is to win.

"If they win the Premier League, they won't care how, and you can see they do everything to win the Premier League.

"I will never be the type of manager who tries to win that way. If you ask everyone here in this room: Did they enjoy this game? Maybe one raises their hand, because he's a big Arsenal fan."

Brighton enjoyed just under 60% of possession, and registered an xG of 0.8 compared to their opponents' 0.43.

Pascal Gross praised the hosts' display, but like his manager, the midfielder could not hide his frustration at Arsenal's "time-wasting".

"A good performance, a really good effort," he said. "But in the end, we're disappointed about the result. We found a lot of solutions against them. We created a lot.

"No words needed for that for Arsenal. Everyone can make their own decision, but I'm sure you don't like to watch these football games. Football fans want to see a football game, not time-wasting."

However, taking all delays into account, Arsenal spent an average of 31.4 seconds to get the ball back into play from corners, goal kicks, throws and free-kicks.

There have been 195 instances of a team taking longer than this in a Premier League match in 2025-26.

The Gunners' total of 59 delays, though, was the eighth-highest total by a team in a Premier League match this season, while their total delay time of 1,851 seconds marked the 22nd highest by a side in the competition this season.