Fabian Hurzeler savages Arsenal and Mikel Arteta in rant after Brighton loss | Football | Sport

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian Hurzeler launched a scathing attack on Arsenal, having been left incensed at their time-wasting tactics during their 1-0 victory away at the Amex Stadium. Bukayo Saka netted the goal that defeated the Seagulls on Wednesday evening with a deflected strike early in the first half.

The result moves Mikel Arteta‘s side seven points clear at the summit of the table following Manchester City‘s failure to beat Nottingham Forest. And whilst there were celebrations in the Arsenal dressing room, Seagulls manager Hurzeler was incensed. The German unleashed during his post-match press conference, accusing Arsenal of failing to play football due to the time that they wasted. Spanish goalkeeper David Raya required treatment on numerous occasions, whilst match-winner Saka was also pulled up from the turf by Joel Veltman having also gone down.

Speaking post-match, Hurzeler said: “There was only one team that tried to play football today. I ask one question – do you ever see in a Premier League game the goalkeeper going down three times. We should focus on our performance, we cannot control these types of things.

“I made my point before the game. We shouldn’t concentrate on these things… let’s talk about us. The Premier League needs to look at the rules. There were so many [periods of time wasting].”

Whilst Hurzeler wasn’t particularly impressed with the tactics utilised by Arsenal on the south coast, he insinuated that the rule-makers were more to blame. However, he subtly criticised Mikel Arteta, stating that he would not instruct his players to waste time.

Hurzeler remarked: “If they win the Premier League, no one will ask how they won it. Ultimately, it’s about the rules. If the referee permits everything, at present they are creating their own rules. It’s challenging to evaluate that. I will never be that type of manager who attempts to win in that manner.”

Arsenal are striving to make more progress towards silverware this weekend as they face Mansfield Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup. This is then followed by a Champions League last-16 encounter with German team Bayer Leverkusen.

Arsenal’s next Premier League match sees them take on Everton at home in 10 days’ time, while City face Newcastle in the FA Cup, Real Madrid in the Champions League and West Ham in the Premier League over the same stretch of time.