"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." Alan Shearer’s verdict on Brighton's 3-0 win over Arsenal at the Amex on 2026-3-0 sets the tone. Pascal Gross opened the scoring, and Chema Andres nodded home from a corner to make it 3-0.

Brighton's control at the Amex

Shearer said the scoreline flattered Arsenal slightly because Brighton created enough to do more damage. "It should have been more, the chances Brighton created, they were that good," he said, adding that "every time they chased down the ball, they got it absolutely spot on." He also praised the structure behind it: "The organisation was great and that just doesn't happen on its own. You've got to give Hurzeler credit for that."

The result looked one-sided because it was one-sided. Brighton scored 3 times, and Shearer argued the margin could have been 6 or 7 on another day. Paul Merson went even further, saying Arsenal broke the press probably twice all day.

Arsenal's warning after the first defeat

The defeat ended Arsenal's start to the season, with the Gunners having won their first seven games across all competitions before this trip to the Amex. Shearer’s warning was plain enough: "But that performance can’t happen too many times, if again." Danny Murphy made the same point from a different angle, saying Arsenal were second best in every department and he had not seen a team do that to them for a long, long time.

There was a separate flashpoint when Declan Rice was shown only a yellow card after kicking out at Malick Yalcouyé. Shearer thought the referee got it right. Keith Hackett disagreed and said the incident should have brought a red card.

Arsenal return to league action with a performance now on record as a rare off day, and Brighton have a result that will sit neatly beside the way they pressed, organised and attacked at the Amex.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →