Arsenal secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium, with Bukayo Saka's early deflected goal proving decisive. The win, coupled with Manchester City's 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest, extended Arsenal's Premier League lead to seven points despite playing one more game. Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler accused Arsenal of time-wasting, while Arsenal's defense held firm.
The Premier League match on March 4, 2026, saw league leaders Arsenal claim a narrow 1-0 win at Brighton's Amex Stadium. In the ninth minute—his 100th Premier League appearance—Jurrien Timber advanced down the right and found Bukayo Saka, whose low shot deflected off Carlos Baleba, wrong-footing goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen and slipping into the net.
Arsenal survived an early scare when David Raya gifted possession to Baleba inside three minutes; Baleba's lob was headed away by Gabriel Magalhães over his own bar. Gabriel, named player of the match, anchored a resilient defense featuring Piero Hincapié in place of the injured William Saliba. Brighton dominated with 60% possession and 0.8 expected goals (xG) to Arsenal's season-low 0.43, but failed to score despite threats from Georginio Rutter, Diego Gomez, Kaoru Mitoma, Yankuba Minteh (subbed on), and Jack Hinshelwood. Arsenal managed just seven shots, no first-half corners, and a 70.9% pass completion rate—their lowest in a league game since August 2021. Kai Havertz was denied by Verbruggen late on.
Opta data highlighted the controversy: Arsenal took 30 minutes and 51 seconds to restart play (their highest this season), with 59 delays (eighth-highest in the league) and 1,851 seconds total delay time (22nd-ranked), averaging 31.4 seconds per restart. Raya went down three times, drawing ire from the home crowd.
Post-match, Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler lambasted Arsenal: "I think there was only one team who tried to play football today... The Premier League has to find a rule because that was not football." He questioned, "Did you see in a Premier League game a goalkeeper going down three times?" while praising his team's chances created.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta dismissed the complaints with "What a surprise," adding, "I love my players, we love our players and I love the way we compete." This marked Arsenal's 10th one-goal victory after 30 games, the most since 2011-12.
