Arsenal just won a narrow 1-0 victory over Brighton, and just a few seconds later, news of the draw between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest spread, helping the "Gunners" widen the gap to 7 points and get closer to the Premier League title. Optimism surged in the hearts of the fans present in the away stands, and when they left, they sang together "now you will believe us, we will win the league".
Time will tell, but such a turning point could create a memorable mark in a match that is inherently quite forgettable. Bukayo Saka scored the only goal for Arsenal right from the 9th minute with a light finish, the ball touched Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba, changed direction and went into the net. However, this is also difficult to excuse the indecisive handling of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
After the goal, Arsenal played quite passively, satisfied with slowing down the pace of the match, saving energy and maintaining ball control, to the point of making Brighton feel uncomfortable from the beginning.
Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler somewhat warmed up the atmosphere before the match with comments emphasizing that Arsenal took too much time to bring the ball back into play after set pieces. The home fans quickly grasped that message. They constantly booed when Arsenal players were slow to take the ball up, corner kick or free kick - in other words, whenever the ball left the field.
Goalkeeper David Raya lay on the field many times, and at one point, referee Chris Kavanagh had to warn him about his time-wasting behavior. Hurzeler also expressed dissatisfaction outside the box. He reacted to fourth referee David Webb and even had tense verbal exchanges with Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta in the first half.
Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie seemed to signal silence towards Hurzeler when he made a throw-in near Brighton's technical area right before halftime.
The tension continued to escalate when Brighton began to regain the game in the second half, being motivated after Yankuba Minteh came on.
However, Arteta previously emphasized the need to improve The Gunners' match management ability after a series of unstable performances in the second half recently. And it must be admitted that they controlled well the last 20 minutes of the match.
There are many ways to win. If they win the Premier League, no one will ask how they did it. You can clearly feel that they did everything to win this match. In the end, it all depends on the rules. If the Premier League and the referees allow it, then everything will be very difficult. They almost set their own rules" - the Brighton captain said.
Hurzeler's criticisms have not stopped. He affirmed that he likes the way his team plays and believes that "only one team is really trying to play football today".
I will never be the type of coach who seeks to win in that way. I want to develop players, want them to improve and continue playing football. Of course, every team will eventually have a time management, but I think everything must have limits.
I'm not sure if I ask everyone in this room if they really like today's match. Perhaps only one person raised their hand, because he is a passionate Arsenal fan. Besides, hardly anyone agrees" - Hurzeler added.
For his part, Arteta declined to respond to the criticisms. When asked about Hurzeler's statement, he only said briefly "very surprised".
Brighton may not be able to stop Arsenal on the road to the championship, but they have contributed to sparking lively debate topics in the near future. Besides previous criticisms of Arsenal's excessive dependence on set pieces, Arteta's team now also faces accusations related to time-wasting habits. This will certainly continue to be exploited by opponents and mocked by away fans.
That only further increases the outside noise, as Arteta described, surrounding Arsenal's journey to find their first championship since 2004.
However, when everything calms down, the "Gunners" will probably look back at this as an important night. They have widened the lead gap and created more pressure on Man City.
And if they have to choose between being loved or winning titles, that is almost not a question to think about for Arsenal.
