Midway through the first of [Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Brighton](https://arseblog.news/2026/03/report-brighton-0-1-arsenal-inc-goal-2/) this evening, the television cameras panned to the sideline to show a heated exchange between Mikel Arteta and Fabian Hurzeler.
The Arsenal boss jabbed his finger towards his opposite number, clearly unhappy with something the Brighton manager had said (probably repeatedly), and it seems clear there is no love lost between the two.
Before the game, Hurzeler complained about how much time Arsenal spend taking corners, despite the fact his own side has one of the lowest ‘ball in play’ times in the Premier League this season.
And afterwards, the losing manager pulled no punches in his post-game press conference, suggesting only one team tried to play football, and accusing the Gunners of persistent time-wasting.
“At the moment I have the feeling they are doing their own rules no matter how they are playing so that’s why I think it’s difficult to judge that,” said Hurzeler whose team lost the game of football they played.
“Overall, like I said, I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way. I ask one question. Did you see in a Premier League game a goalkeeper going down three times? No?
“We need to find a way to find solutions against these kind of teams and that’s our responsibility so we have to keep working.
“Complaining doesn’t help so that’s why focus is on us,” he complained.
His comments were then relayed to Arteta for his press conference, who reacted by saying, “What a surprise!”
When asked to expand on that, he continued, “No. You just go back to the previous games and you’ll find a lot of comments like this always \[from him\].”
He was then asked if he cared about what other managers say, and replied, “Care? Depends on the manager.
“And the comments, and the purpose of them.”
Anyone who has watched Arteta in charge of Arsenal for 6 years now will recognise how this is a bit of a departure. He never creates controversy and always plays things down, but I guess when you have suffer 90+ minutes on the sideline with some annoying little prick prattling on and complaining about everything, there’s a breaking point for even the coolest heads.
Anyway, Arsenal take three points back to North London, and Hurzeler cements his status as the most irritating manager in the Premier League.
Congrats to him, I suppose.