The Media Review: Champions Arsenal stunned on Albion's 125 Anniversary

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The watching media were full of praise after Albion stunned the Premier League champions at the Amex.

Nick Szczepanik

2026-09-20T10:00+01:00

The perfect result to remember a landmark day. 📸 by James Boardman.

The irresistible force overcame the immovable object as Albion celebrated the club’s 125th anniversary by beating previously invincible champions Arsenal 3-0, and the residents of the Amex press box lapped it up.

In the Sun on Sunday, Charlie Wyett wrote that “On the day Brighton celebrated their 125th anniversary, their brilliant team delivered a performance for the ages.

“The club was formed at the Seven Stars pub in Ship Street and had those businessmen been handed a crystal ball of what was to come in between beers, they would have been pretty pleased with themselves.

“Brighton fans will long talk about this day, which came on the back of a 5-0 thrashing of Coventry and a 3-2 win at Manchester United.

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Pascal Gross, Babis Kostoulas and Chema Andres all found the net in what turned out to be a memorable 3-0 win against Arsenal at the Amex, as Albion marked their 125th anniversary. Club photographers Paul Hazlewood, James Boardman and Simon Roe were on hand to capture all the action and key moments from a momentous afternoon.

“Here was a tap on the shoulder that even if a team drops their levels by five per cent against a dynamic team like Brighton, they will not get beaten but battered.

“However, rather than criticise Arsenal you have to praise Brighton who were excellent. A classic performance from a club whose clever business in the transfer market – in an era when many teams have lost the plot – represents everything that is right about the modern game.”

Sunday Times Football Correspondent Jonathan Northcroft wrote that “They came to the Amex to revel in history and commemorate a club’s 125 years of existence. But a day of looking back merely confirmed that Brighton & Hove Albion are about the opposite. They are the most forward-looking football operation in the Premier League.

“The youngest coach, pretty much the youngest team. And a style of football always based around the next thing: the immediate counterattack after the regain, the quick pass that follows a player receiving the ball, the next sprint, next press, next opportunity to take the game to the opposition.

“Here all that came together to do the almost unthinkable and absolutely shred the composure, control and command of an Arsenal side not even Paris Saint-Germain could not unsettle in the Champions League final.

“For a neutral, it is always thrilling to see youth, togetherness and adventure on the pitch and this day in Sussex-by-the-Sea will live in the memory. Brighton were just too youthfully energetic, too bold on and off the ball and, well, on the day just too good. Their routines were better at set pieces, their transitions were electric.”

Sam Dean agreed in the Sunday Telegraph. “Overpowered and overrun, Arsenal were subjected to the sort of gruelling treatment they usually inflict on their opponents,” he wrote. “Mikel Arteta’s side did not look anything like Premier League champions here, as Brighton produced a stunning performance full of swarming energy and breathless bravery.

“This sort of thing simply does not happen to Arteta’s side. Well, it did not happen. Not before this monstering on the south coast, where the Brighton fans were whipped into a frenzy by the brilliance of Fabian Hurzeler’s players.

📸💫 pic.twitter.com/iUslB0MIQF
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@BHAFC) September 20, 2026

“Brighton were everything that Arsenal are expected to be: aggressive, inventive and dominant across the field. They even scored with a set-piece, as one of Arsenal’s great strengths became a sudden weakness. Everywhere Arteta looked, the foundational truths of his team were being shaken by a Brighton storm. It was their first defeat by a three-goal margin since May 2023, also against Brighton.

“Remarkably, this is now the third consecutive season in which Brighton have beaten the reigning Premier League champions. They are rarely happier than when they are on the hunt against more illustrious opponents, working as a team to snap at heels and then attacking in numbers. They are known as the Seagulls, but they played more like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. The ferocity of their off-the-ball work, especially in the first half, was extraordinary.

“Not for a long time have Arsenal been as rattled as they were here. It was Brighton’s Pascal Gross, rather than Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, who shaped the game in midfield. It was Brighton’s Charalampos Kostoulas, rather than Arsenal’s Kai Havertz, who offered incisive class in attack. By the end, Arsenal were lucky the scoreline was not even more humiliating. Both managers had a similar assessment of the match and how it was won: Brighton did the basics far better than Arsenal.

“It was typical of Brighton that one of their new signings produced an excellent performance in midfield. No-one inside the Amex Stadium was thinking about Carlos Baleba, sold to Manchester United, when Chema Andres made his tackles and won his headers.”

Isaan Khan of the Mail on Sunday agreed. “Timid and shellshocked,” he wrote. “Bullied. Rarely have such words been attributed to Arsenal in recent times. Even those with a liking for Mikel Arteta’s team would struggle to utter more positive terms. By full-time, the Seagulls had pecked holes through each Arsenal player, and Arteta’s tactical sheets, on the club’s 125th anniversary. What an emphatic way to mark it.

“What transpired here on the south coast defied belief. No side is truly unbeatable in this league, even if the hype around Arsenal had reached silly levels because of the sheer frailties of the other big six members.

“Yet, the manner in which Fabian Hurzeler’s relentless Brighton had run straight through the visitors sent a warning to the league. By the end, the Brighton players were queuing for their turn to strike at goal like kids at a half-time football challenge.”

Ed Aarons of The Guardian wrote that “The special edition shirts will end up being collector’s items after the Premier League champions were ripped apart.

“Arsenal conceded three goals for the first time since December 2023 in all competitions and Mikel Arteta will be most concerned that it could easily have been more against the division’s top scorers, 16 in five games.

“What has made Brighton’s goalscoring exploits so impressive is that they have managed it 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.

“From the first whistle, Kostoulas – signed last summer for £30m – led Brighton’s fearsome press that provoked Arsenal into a number of uncharacteristic errors.”

Daniel Orme of the Sunday Mirror picked out Pascal Gross. “The German midfielder picked up the ball just outside of the penalty area. And he let fly with a low effort that beat the Arsenal goalkeeper at his near post.

"It also saw the former Dortmund man extend his recent run of brilliant form, Gross now with four goals in five games in all competitions. Alongside his assist for Andres' goal, he had another hugely impressive afternoon.

“The decision to bring the 35-year-old back to the Amex Stadium looks more and more like a masterstroke each week.”