Arsenal have dropped points in other matches, but only three times in 2026 have they been outplayed and beaten beyond dispute: the League Cup final against Manchester City, by Bournemouth at the Emirates in April and on Saturday by a rampant Brighton and Hove Albion.
What do those three opponents have in common? A willingness to engage the Premier League champions high up the pitch and put the first phase of their build-up under pressure.
When Arsenal finished a distant second to Liverpool two seasons ago, they drew 14 games. A common refrain was that Mikel Arteta’s team struggled to break down deep-lying, packed defences.
Football will always present frustrating games of that nature, but Arsenal tend to find a way to accumulate wins from this tactical scenario. They did so often enough to finish last season with the Premier League trophy in their hands.
In many respects, Arteta wants Arsenal to play against a low block; it is a sign that the game is going to plan. From there, Arsenal can dominate possession, control the tempo, smother opponents and accumulate waves of attacks and set-pieces.
Napoli camped on the edge of their box against Arsenal and were fortunate to only lose 1-0. Arsenal registered roughly four expected goals and 26 shots, their most in a single Champions League game. Sitting back did not work for Napoli.
A far more mobile Brighton team denied Arsenal their usual control with relentless, man-to-man pressing, with Arteta conceding they were a “different gear” to his team.
So have Brighton shown the rest of the league the blueprint to beat Arsenal? Is it now more of a gamble to sit off Arsenal than step on to them?
What do the numbers say?
Arsenal have played 24 Premier League matches in 2026, as well as a two-legged League Cup semi-final against Chelsea and the final of that competition against City. For the purposes of this exercise, we have ignored FA Cup ties against Portsmouth, Wigan, Mansfield and Southampton, as well as last-week’s low-tariff League Cup win at Ipswich. Given the question is whether other Premier League teams can emulate Brighton, Champions League games have not been considered.
High turnovers against
Brighton won 15 high turnovers against Arsenal, almost double the amount any other team in this sample has forced against the champions. That is a major compliment to Fabian Hürzeler’s team, but also confirms what we already suspected: Arsenal were inaccurate to a highly unusual degree.
Opponents have won seven or more high turnovers against Arsenal in seven matches this year. Of these games, Arsenal have won two, lost three and drawn one. When Arsenal have had six or fewer losses of possession in these areas, they have won 15, drawn three and lost just twice.
So there has been a correlation between how clean Arsenal are with their ball in their own third and their chances of success. But it is no great discovery that teams are more likely to drop points when they do things badly.
Pressed sequences against
A pressed sequence, according to Opta’s definition, is an open-play sequence starting in the in-possession team’s defensive third, that lasts for three passes or fewer and finishes before the halfway line. In other words, the more pressed sequences against Arsenal, the more they are failing to progress play under pressure.
When there have been seven or fewer pressed sequences against Arsenal, they have won 11 and drawn just once. When there have been eight or more pressed sequences against, they have won six, lost five and drawn three.
Start distance against
This is the average distance from their goal that Arsenal’s opponents have started their open-play sequences of play.
No team have pushed Arsenal back like Brighton did at the Amex, with the home team recording an average start distance of 49.1 metres. The third-highest start distance, at 43 metres, was recorded by City in the League Cup final.
When opponents’ start distance has been fewer than 40 metres from their own goal, Arsenal have won 10, drawn three and lost just one of these games.
Is this a symptom or a cause? Teams will spend more time on the back foot in games they fail to win, but this does demonstrate the difficulty opponents have in beating Arsenal by springing from deep.
Passes per defensive action
Passes per defensive action (PPDA) measures pressing intensity. The fewer passes a team allow opponents before a defensive action, the more aggressive their out-of-possession intent.
On this count, the correlation is less strong. Brighton actually recorded a lower PPDA figure in their narrow defeat against Arsenal in March at 8.5, compared to Saturday’s 9.9, which was the third-most aggressive approach Arsenal have faced based on PPDA. Second-most was Tottenham in February, when Arsenal were resounding 4-1 winners, while City and United beat Arsenal while allowing longer sequences of passes.
Arsenal’s lack of pace up front
Pressing like Brighton is a game of risk vs reward. The reward is territorial dominance and the chance to regain the ball in dangerous positions, but the risk is opponents streaming forward into open space should they bypass the pressure.
There is little to find fault with Arsenal’s goalkeeper, defence or midfield options, but they finished the summer transfer window without adding the attacking devastation they sought. There were moments against Brighton when Arsenal did pass through the press successfully, but did not make it pay, and it was the sort of game when a player such as failed summer target Morgan Rogers could have wreaked havoc.
With Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka fit again, in tandem with Christos Tzolis off the left, Arsenal’s attack is technically smoother than last season, but does not possess the raw, athletic power to run away from defences. The quartet has looked best against Coventry and Chelsea at the Emirates, rather than away from home. While Noni Madueke is erratic, his stock could rise given the shortage of speed elsewhere. Arsenal also sold the pacy Gabriel Martinelli this summer.
If opponents do not fear being shredded in the space behind their halfway line, they will feel more emboldened to gamble.
How many teams can realistically play like Brighton?
Brighton, Pep Guardiola’s City and Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth posed a very particular challenge, and not every Premier League team will be capable of executing such a high-octane defensive strategy. Arsenal play Everton, Nottingham Forest and Hull City in the next block of games after the international break, who are likely to sit off in a familiar defensive shape.
The performances of Brentford against Chelsea and Sunderland against City last weekend, though, were yet more evidence of a long-running trend: an increasing number of teams backing themselves to defend man-to-man against the league’s elite. In response, a team such as Arsenal will need to be technically exemplary, or else adopt a more direct approach which makes the game an arm wrestle full of first and second-ball contests.
Arsenal averaged 396.7 completed passes per game last season, the lowest by a Premier League winner since Leicester City in 2015-16. Arne Slot’s Liverpool also signalled a shift the previous season. Establishing control is becoming harder and harder.
It is quite possible that a team visit the Emirates this season hoping to imitate Brighton, only to ship four or five goals with so many players committed up the pitch. With Bruno Guimarães (well below par at Brighton) or Myles Lewis-Skelly, and a fit Martin Odegaard in midfield, Arsenal have the quality to play through a press if they execute well. But more teams will surely chance their arm, following Brighton’s lead.