Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler was furious after Arsenal’s 1 – 0 win at the Amex, claiming his team were the only ones trying to play real football.
Bukayo Saka’s early goal sealed the victory and pushed Arsenal seven points clear at the top, but Hürzeler wasn’t impressed with how the game was managed.
He pointed directly at Arsenal’s time-wasting, especially goalkeeper David Raya going down injured three times.
According to Hürzeler, weak refereeing in the Premier League allows teams to bend the rules and slow the game whenever they want. He argued that supporters pay to watch football, not to see the clock run down.
Hürzeler admitted that winning changes everything, saying if Brighton had won 2-1 he might be speaking differently.
Still, he insisted he would never coach a team to win in that way and warned that if stricter rules are not introduced, matches will keep losing real playing time.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta didn’t take the criticism too seriously. When asked about Hürzeler’s comments, he simply responded with a sarcastic “What a surprise,” suggesting Brighton have complained about Arsenal before.
For Arsenal fans, though, the only thing that mattered was the result another massive step toward the Premier League title.
