BRIGHTON, England -- Mikel Arteta said he knew Arsenal would be "in trouble" from "the first throw-in" in a 3-0 defeat at Brighton that ended the champions' unbeaten start to the defence of their Premier League title.
Goals from Pascal Gross, Charalampos Kostoulas and Chema Andrés sealed a convincing and deserved victory for the home side, who climbed to third in the table on the back of the win.
It was the first time Arsenal had lost by three goals in the Premier League since Brighton defeated the Gunners 3-0 at the Emirates in May 2023 and Fabian Hurzeler's side were dominant throughout the game.
But after seeing his side drop points for the first time this season, Arteta said Arsenal had no excuses at the Amex.
"I'm extremely disappointed, but first of all, we have to congratulate Brighton for the victory because they deserved it," Arteta said. "They were the better team.
"From our side, there are certain basics that you need to accomplish in the Premier League, but we were very far from [winning] the first duel, the second duel and that put us in a difficult place.
"We made lots of errors, we had no principles of play in situations and we were always on back foot.
"At end of the day, it's a big lesson for us, for all of us."
Brighton coasted to the win despite having 24 hours less recovery time following the midweek Carabao Cup programme. Hurzeler's side won 3-2 at Manchester United on Wednesday while a much-changed Arsenal side beat Ipswich 4-2 at Portman Road on Tuesday.
But despite the advantages in his team's favour, Arteta said that Brighton showed more "bite" and he knew his side would have a bad day "from the first throw-in."
"They [Brighton] knew, we knew, how tough it would be today," Arteta said. "But Brighton overcame us and had another edge that we didn't have.
"Brighton had another bite, their timing was better and when the ball was 50-50, most of the time it was for them.
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"From the first throw-in, it was clear that we would be in trouble. We were extremely poor technically and not respecting the game.
"Credit to Brighton. It doesn't take away from what the team has done the last few weeks.
"But now we have to make sure we learn the lesson because this can happen again."
