Well, I do t think anyone really saw that coming.

Brighton was never going to be an easy game. It was probably our hardest game of last season and we were lucky to escape with a 1-nil win. This time we were not so lucky.

3-nil is a crushing defeat. Brighton played brilliantly, pressing us aggressively and we’re fully deserved of their win.-

Another day and we might have seen a different result. The opening goal was a perfectly placed shot by Pascal Gross. In off the post, and inch to the right and it would have hit the post and gone out, an inch to the left and David Raya would have saved it.

Had we got to half time at 1-nil, we would have been in with a shot. The 2nd goal killed our hopes and after that we played like a team just wanting to keep the score down.

This was our 4th away game in 10 days. That is a big work load for any team – even the Champions with the squad depth we have. It is a lot of travel, and not much time to prepare or rest between games.

The biggest concern for me is how poor the midfield was. Arguably our best area in the pitch, we have one of the best midfields in the world. But Declan Rice, Bruno and Martin Odegaard crumbled under the pressure Brighton midfielders put them under. The result was attackers starved of the ball, and our defence struggling to ply the ball out.

This was the first time Rice, Bruno and Odegaard had started together. The tactic seemed to be to have Rice and Bruno rotating as the deepest midfielder. It did not really work and we certainly missed having Martin Zubimendi or Myles Lewis Skelly as the deepest midfielder, picking that ball up off the defence.

Rice is always better suited to plying a bit more advanced. His only real weakness is picking up the ball off the defence with his back to play. He does not really have that hip swivel to give himself the space to get his head up and ply a forward pass.

And likewise I always feel Bruno needs to before advanced, getting around the pitch and influencing play.

It is too early to say Arteta’s new midfield did not work. It was, remember, their first game together. But this is something Arteta will need to work on and resolve.

Does he commit to this rotating midfield, dos he tell Bruno he has stay back, or does he revert to either Zubimendi or Lewis Skelly and start jut one of Rice or Bruno?

With plenty of games, there can be more than enough rotating to keep everyone fresh and happy. Arteta just needs to find a formula that works and stick with it.

We should not take anything away from Brighton today. It was as much them making our midfield look poor as it was the poor performances.

They are 3rd in the league and deserve to be there. Their only defeat was the 4-3 against Chelsea. They’ve already beaten Aston Villa 4-nil at home, thrashed Coventry 5-nil away, and had that brilliant League Cup comeback win against Man U mid week. They look a very well put together side.

As we all know, winning the league is not easy. Some will be bandwagon jumping today, saying this shows Arsenal are a poor team. But Brighton will take more points off “top” teams at the Amex. And if it is not Brighton, other teams will snatch victories against Man City and Liverpool.

It will be a tough season again, and a team that beat City we may steamroll. And likewise a team that does us may lay down and be tickled by City.

What won us the league last season is how we bounced back from disappointing results.

We now go into an international break. The next game is not until Leeds on 10 October. That is a nice game to come back to. 3 points will get us back on track and likely put us top of the league again.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Keenos