**Mikel Arteta** reflected on a 3-0 loss for **Arsenal** against **Brighton**.
Since their **Community Shield** success, the _Gunners_ have been immaculate in terms of their form.
They defeated **Coventry City** 3-0, **Aston Villa** 1-0, **Chelsea** 2-1, **Napoli** 1-0, **Sunderland** 2-0 and **Ipswich Town** 2-1 before the last game in their first block of fixtures as **Premier League** champions.
**·‘There were certain basics you need to accomplish’**
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But the team fell far below the level at the **Amex Stadium** against an aggressive press, while their chances for **Bukayo Saka**, **Christos Tzolis** and **Kai Havertz** were wasted in critical moments.
_“Extremely disappointed. But first, I think we have to congratulate_ **_Brighton_** _for the victory. I think they deserve it; I think they were the better team. From our side, there were certain basics you need to accomplish in football, especially in the_ **_Premier League,_** _that we were very far from._
_“Winning the first duel, the second ball, that put to the game, especially how direct they were in a really difficult place for us._
_“On top of that, especially in our own half, we didn’t respect any of the principles of play to get out of that man-to-man situation. That puts us on the back foot, so it was very difficult to control the game._
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_“When we had moments of dominance and control, we did open them up, but we didn’t finish those actions with the quality that is required to compensate for the things we did wrong. So overall, they deserved to win the game, and it’s a big lesson for us._
_“We tried to change it at half-time, we started the second half, and then we made two or three really difficult decisions that put us under more pressure. By the time we got momentum, it was too late._
_“_**_Brighton_** _were really good; they had another bite and their timing was better. There are a lot of moments when the ball is 50/50, and it changes hands, and most of the time it was for them._
_“From the first throw-in, it was so clear. We put ourselves in trouble one, two, three times. We need to get out much quicker than that, and that’s one of the biggest lessons we have to take from the game._
_“I think we knew how difficult it was going to be today. The first thing we discussed was the first part - if you don’t get out of that first pass as winners, it becomes very difficult to dominate the game and to win the game. That’s the game - credit to them for overcoming us and having another edge to what we did. At this level it’s extremely important to understand that before anything else._
_“That, for us crystal clear \[the league will not be easily won.\] We knew when we talked for two days what we had to do here. We’ve played our fourth away game in a very short space of time, and we know what it takes to win every single match. We know what it has taken to beat_ **_Leeds United_** _when we come back. That’s for sure not a surprise, but it doesn’t take away from the disappointment.”_