Brighton's impressive display was led by first-half goals from veteran stand-in captain Pascal Gross and exciting teenager Charalampos Kostoulas. The home side's top scorers, who have racked up 16 goals in five games, were almost completely without their first-choice attack due to injury, while last year's top scorer Danny Welbeck was sold to Chelsea in the summer.

New signing Chema Andres made the points safe from a corner 12 minutes into the second half. Arsenal, who were attempting to record an eighth successive victory in all competitions to start the new campaign for the first time since 1903, conceded three goals for the first time since December 2023 in all competitions.

Jurrien Timber looked leggy on his first start since March and Bruno Guimarães was disappointing on his first Premier League start for Arsenal. The Gunners will be concerned that it could easily have been more against the division's top scorers.