Brighton delivered a statement performance on their club's 125th anniversary, tearing apart Premier League champions Arsenal 3-0 at the Amex Stadium to halt the visitors' perfect start to the season.
Fabian Hürzeler's side, dressed in a special deep-blue anniversary kit inspired by their debut season in Southern League Division Two back in 1901, produced a display far more memorable than the shirt itself. The limited-edition strip, which had stirred some fan frustration after being sold for £150 with a signed letter of authenticity from owner Tony Bloom and an accompanying keyring, will now be remembered as a collector's item worn during one of Brighton's finest results in years.
Arsenal traveled to the south coast chasing a piece of history, hoping to win eight consecutive matches to open a season for the first time since 1903, when the club were still known as Woolwich Arsenal. Those hopes were dismantled inside the opening 45 minutes.
Brighton's veteran stand-in captain Pascal Gross opened the scoring after 31 minutes, curling a fine strike from 20 yards that beat David Raya at his near post after Gabriel Magalhães and Riccardo Calafiori failed to close him down. Moments before halftime, teenage sensation Charalampos Kostoulas doubled the lead, cutting inside before firing an unstoppable low shot from 22 yards past the Arsenal goalkeeper.
The champions, who had already been made to work early on after Bruno Guimarães — playing his first Premier League start for the club — gave the ball away inside the opening ten minutes, allowing Kostoulas an early sighter that Raya did well to parry. It proved a sign of things to come, as Arsenal struggled to cope with Brighton's intense pressing and sharp attacking transitions throughout the first half.
Mikel Arteta rushed to the dressing room at the interval in search of answers, but Brighton picked up where they left off. Just after the hour mark, new signing Chema Andrés rose unmarked at the back post to head home from a precise Gross corner, extending the lead to 3-0 and sending the home fans into raptures. Some in the crowd were even heard mockingly chanting references to Tottenham given the scale of Arsenal's capitulation.
Brighton continued to press for more, with Pascal Struijk's header from another corner narrowly missing the target. At the other end, Kai Havertz had a late opportunity to reduce the deficit but was denied by goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen in a rare Arsenal chance of note. Substitute Matt O'Riley also came close to adding a fourth for the hosts before the final whistle, but Raya kept the score respectable.
The result was particularly striking given Brighton's ongoing injury problems in attack, with several first-choice forwards sidelined and last season's leading scorer, Danny Welbeck, having departed for Chelsea over the summer. Georginio Rutter appeared as a substitute, but by the time he entered the game, the outcome had already been settled by Gross and Kostoulas.
For Arsenal, the defeat marked their first three-goal concession since December 2023 and cost them top spot in the Premier League table on goal difference. Arteta now faces a three-week international break to reflect on his side's performance, having fielded a strong lineup that looked uncharacteristically disjointed throughout, with Jurriën Timber appearing short of match sharpness and Guimarães struggling to adapt in his new surroundings.
Brighton's win lifts them to third in the standings, just two points behind Arsenal, and comes on the back of an impressive Carabao Cup comeback victory over Manchester United days earlier — continuing what has been a remarkable start to Hürzeler's tenure at the club.
Based on reporting from The Guardian and The Standard.