Arteta faces tactical test after Arsenal thumped 3-0 by Brighton before international break
Arsenal lost 3-0 to Brighton in the Premier League before the international break, a defeat Mikel Arteta acknowledged by saying: "Brighton were really good." The result ended a run in which Arsenal had won every game earlier this season and has prompted questions about how Arteta will adapt.
Arteta has repeatedly remodelled Arsenal since taking charge in 2019, winning the FA Cup in his first season while deploying a defensive back five. The side later adopted a free-flowing attacking approach around 2022 before evolving into a team that prioritised control, reduced match variance and became physically demanding for opponents. That progression culminated in a Premier League title last season, when Arsenal finished seven points above second-placed Manchester City.
Freed by the title, Arteta has experimented more this season, taking greater personnel and tactical risks that can increase the scale of both victories and defeats. Brighton’s 3-0 win, overseen by Fabian Hurzeler who "defiantly opted against a pragmatic approach," was an example of Arsenal being comprehensively outplayed — a rare occurrence for the club that has nevertheless left concerns ahead of the restart. Arteta admitted the visitors’ performance posed clear problems for his team.
On the ball this season Arsenal have frequently operated in a 3-1-6 possession shape, with Declan Rice dropping to form a back three alongside Ezri Konsa and Gabriel Magalhaes and Myles Lewis-Skelly occupying the lone pivot. Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White and Martin Odegaard rotate into deeper positions to create a fifth base player at moments, shifting the team into a 3-2 or 4-1 base that seeks numerical advantages in build-up. Arteta continued to rely on Lewis-Skelly after the 20-year-old’s surprise deployment in the role late last season helped the team finish strongly.
Individual attributes underpin that system: the article notes Rice’s combination of passing and carrying, Konsa’s capability as a ball-playing centre-back in William Saliba’s absence, and Lewis-Skelly’s calmness under pressure, hold-up strength, dribbling one-v-one and willingness to take risks. For England, "it has been Elliot Anderson taking up the 'Declan Rice role' in the back three." During the international break Lewis-Skelly "played in the same lone pivot role as he has for Arsenal. England's other holding midfielder, Elliott Anderson, moved into the first line to form the 3-1 shape."
Brighton’s approach combined intensity on and off the ball with well-timed man-to-man press triggers that unsettled Arsenal, a tactic Fabian Hurzeler drilled into his players. The report describes a sequence from the first throw-in in which Arsenal were forced long, two Brighton players won the first and second balls and three players then converged, setting the tone for the match. Arteta said: "You could see from the first throw-in, it was so clear. We put ourselves in trouble one, two, three times," and added: "We need to get out much quicker than that, and that's one of the biggest lessons we have to take from the game today." The analysis also notes Bruno Guimaraes occupying the holding midfield role instead of Lewis-Skelly as a factor in Arsenal’s difficulties.
The piece recalls a previous tactical adjustment Arsenal struggled with: Pep Guardiola’s zonal 4-2-4 in last season’s FA Cup final that blocked access through the middle, and how Enzo Maresca redeployed a similar idea against Arsenal in the Community Shield this season without success. Arsenal had developed multiple responses to that zonal tweak by preparing with technical, versatile build-up options, and the report concludes that Arteta will be working to identify ways to reduce the effectiveness of Brighton-style man-to-man pressure.
Arteta’s immediate opportunity to respond comes when Arsenal host Leeds on Saturday at 12:30 BST, a fixture the club will use to test adjustments and countermeasures developed during the international break.
