Arsenal have gone into the international break to reflect after suffering their first defeat of the season, a 3-0 loss at Brighton on Saturday that brought an abrupt end to a perfect start under Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners arrived at the Amex Stadium having won all seven of their opening games across all competitions this season, but goals from Pascal Gross, Charalampos Kostoulas and Chema Andres left the reigning champions well beaten on the south coast.
Gross opened the scoring after 31 minutes with a low strike into the corner, before Kostoulas doubled Brighton’s lead right on the stroke of half-time with a thunderbolt from outside the box.
Andres then headed in from a corner shortly before the hour mark to complete the rout.
It was Arsenal’s heaviest defeat in any competition since April 2023, and the third consecutive season in which the champions have lost at the Amex, following previous defeats there to Liverpool and Manchester City.
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Arteta was candid in his assessment afterwards.
“Brighton deserved to win the game. We didn’t do the basics right for long periods,” he said.
“It’s a big lesson for us to learn. How the team has played and competed in the last six or seven weeks has been exceptional, but today has been a big lesson.”
While the first team regroups during the three-week break, attention at London Colney is also turning to the club’s academy, where a group of second-year scholars are working to secure their long-term futures at Arsenal.
According to Arsenal youth expert Jorge Bird, seven players from the scholarship intake of summer 2025 have already been promoted to professional terms: Marli Salmon, Brando Bailey-Joseph, Callan Hamill, Maalik Hashi, Josiah King, Remi Lupinski and Teshaun Murisa.
That leaves eight scholars from the same group still waiting to discover whether they will be kept on.
Those eight are Gabriel Arteta, Marley Frohock, Abraham Owusu-Gyasi, Bowen Phillips, Saurap Sampang, Patrick Stachow, Josh Tahou and Jack Talbot.
Of that group, Bird rates Sampang as the one with the strongest chance of earning an extended stay.
The versatile midfielder, who can also play at right-back, has already featured for Arsenal’s U21s and U19s this season.
For several of the others, though, the picture is less clear cut, with younger prospects pushing up from below.
Left-back Tahou has been hampered by injuries during his scholarship and has seen first-year scholars Elyon Mbala and Hakeem Abubakar make strong starts to the campaign.
Owusu-Gyasi, capable of playing right-back or centre-back, started the first three games of the season but has since been mostly a substitute for the U18s, with the arrival of Daniel McCarron adding further competition at centre-back.
Stachow, a left-sided centre-back and Poland youth international, has also seen his game time reduced following Mbala’s progress, though Bird believes he still has a chance of being retained.
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Frohock, a forward, has been squeezed by the signings of Mylo Bernard and Vincent Joseph as well as the emergence of schoolboy Jaden Maghoma.
Phillips, who can operate in midfield or out wide, has shown flashes of ability but is not guaranteed a starting place at U18 level, while winger Gabriel Arteta has played just once for the U18s so far this season.
Goalkeeper Jack Talbot began the campaign as first-choice for the U18s before a red card against Brighton. He will look to win back his place once the international break ends.
Bird concludes that it remains too early to make firm judgements on which of the eight will be offered professional deals, though Sampang looks the most likely to stay, with Talbot and Stachow also in with a chance.
The rest will need to force their way into the U18 side quickly if they are to remain at Arsenal beyond this season.