Brighton beat Arsenal 3-0 on south coast as Arteta calls defeat 'a big lesson'

Brighton beat Arsenal 3-0 on the south coast on Saturday in a Premier League match, handing the defending champions their first league defeat this season. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said the result could prove "a big lesson" for his side.

Arsenal had started the campaign strongly, with an impressive seven-match winning start in all competitions and nine successive league wins dating back to April, prompting many to tip the champions to retain the title they won last season for the first time in 22 years. Brighton's victory was described in the report as a comfortable 3-0 win that moved the Seagulls to third in the table. The article noted that 15 Arsenal players had been at the World Cup and that a large part of the squad joined pre-season later than their team-mates.

Arteta admitted he was "extremely disappointed" and said his team were "very far" from doing the basics he expected, citing uncertainty in defence, a loss of midfield control and a lack of attacking creativity. The manner of the defeat was called Arsenal's heaviest in a season where they were the reigning top-flight champions since 1989, and the report said the Gunners had not lost by more than a single goal in the top flight last term.

Explaining why Arsenal were below par, Arteta said: "Well, the first one because Brighton they were really good, and they had another bite, and at the times it was better. "There are a lot of moments when the ball is 50-50 and it changes hands and most of the time it was for them. "Sometimes there were some technical errors very much involved that opened us up in a really difficult way, but that's something to learn."

The piece highlighted Brighton as the Premier League's top scorers with 16 goals, "hitting eight of them in the past week", and suggested they could have scored more against an Arsenal side noted for keeping clean sheets. On BBC Radio 5 Live, former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer said: "It should have been more, the chances Brighton created, they were that good. "They absolutely battered Arsenal. How many times have we said that recently? From start to finish today Brighton were magnificent, every single one of them played their part."

Arsenal were 2-0 down at the break and, the report added, have not recovered to win from such a position in a league game since March 2008 at Bolton. Shearer continued: "Every time Brighton chased down the ball, they got it absolutely spot on. They did it as a team, they didn't do it individually. "They thought, 'we respect Arsenal but we're not going to give them any space to play'. "The organisation was great and that just doesn't happen on it's own and you've got to give [manager] Fabian Hurzeler credit for that." Former Premier League defender Curtis Davies described the display as "a really shocking performance" and said: "Their form this season has so far been good, this has been a really shocking performance. "That defence today was nowhere near what it's used to being. The disappointment will be a set-piece goal conceded, Arsenal will have a real long look at themselves. "They didn't lay a glove on Brighton, and didn't make anything of their attacking situations."

The article noted Arsenal spent around £200m in the summer transfer window and recorded Arteta's comments when asked if the side needed reminding how tough the Premier League can be: "I think they knew, I think we knew how tough it was going to be today, and the first thing that we had discussed was about the first part. "If you don't get out of that first part as winners, it will be extremely difficult to dominate the game and to have any probability of winning the game. "We knew that, but that's again credit to them for what they've done because they've overcome us and they had another edge than we did. "And that's something that at this level it's extremely important to respect and to understand before anything else."

The result elevated Brighton to third in the Premier League table and comes as Arsenal head into the international break.