Arsenal have dropped points in many matches in 2026, but only three times they were really overwhelmed by opponents and suffered clear defeats: the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City, the defeat to Bournemouth at the Emirates in April and the 1-3 defeat to Brighton last weekend.
The common point lies in the way these 3 teams chose to face Arsenal. They did not actively retreat deep, give up ball control and wait for mistakes. Instead, they pushed up the squad, pressed right from Arsenal's half and tried to break the first passes.
This is what Mikel Arteta needs to pay attention to. In the previous two seasons, Arsenal had 14 draws when they finished second after Liverpool. At that time, they often had to find ways to penetrate crowded defenses and play low. However, that was never a problem that made Arsenal completely helpless.
Even Arteta had reason to be satisfied when the opponent actively retreated deep. Arsenal had more ball control, pulled the opponent's formation closer to the penalty area and continuously circulated the ball to find space. Set pieces also became an important weapon.
Napoli once chose that way in the Champions League. The Italian team almost built a dense defense in front of the penalty area and still let Arsenal take up to 26 shots, with a xG of about 4 goals. Arsenal only won 1-0, but the game showed that low defense is not necessarily a good way to stop them.
Brighton did not give Arsenal a chance to control the match in a familiar way. Fabian Hurzeler's team continuously pressed, followed and contested right when Arsenal started deploying the ball. Arsenal did not have much time to pass back and forth in their own half, and it was also difficult to pull Brighton into the game they wanted. After the match, Arteta admitted that the opponent played "at a different level".
Looking at what is happening, Premier League teams may have to reconsider how to deal with Arsenal. Retreating deep is still an option, but proactively putting pressure early is showing higher efficiency in matches where the "Gunners" face many difficulties.
Arsenal has trouble losing the ball
Brighton have successfully regained the ball 15 times against Arsenal in dangerous areas. This number is almost double that of any other opponent in the statistical group.
In 2026, Arsenal had 6 matches where opponents stole the ball 7 or more times in dangerous areas. As a result, The Gunners won 2, drew 1 and lost 3.
In the opposite direction, when Arsenal only loses the ball 6 times or less, their record is 15 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats.
It is not difficult to recognize the connection. The better Arsenal controls the ball in their own half, the easier it is for them to bring the match back to its familiar pace. When constantly being pressed and losing the ball early, everything becomes more difficult.
Pressing at the right point Arsenal doesn't want to
According to Opta's definition, "pressed sequence" is a live ball sequence starting from 1/3 of the home field of the team controlling the ball, lasting no more than 3 passes and ending before the midfield line. For Arsenal, the higher this number, the more obstacles they encounter in passing the first pressing line.
When Arsenal faced 7 series of being pressed down, they won 11 and only drew 1 match. When there were 8 series of being pressed down, Arsenal won 6, drew 3 and lost 5 matches.
These statistics do not show that high pressing is a sure formula to defeat Arsenal. But they prove a clear trend: when the opponent does not give Arsenal enough time to deploy the ball from behind, Arteta's team is easily pulled out of the familiar game. And Brighton did it.
