Brighton Head Coach, Fabian Hürzeler believes that his Seagulls earned a “fair” 1-1 draw at Arsenal.
Kai Havertz had put Arsenal into a half-time lead with a 38th minute lobbed shot, but Declan Rice was red carded for dissent in the 48th minute which allowed Brighton to rescue a 1-1 draw through Joao Pedro’s equaliser ten minutes later.
Post-match, Hürzeler initially was critical of his team’s start despite positive pressing and possession amidst poor defending of Havertz’s goal.
“I thought it was a tough start for us and we suffered in the first 10-15 minutes, but afterwards we were better in the game. We had good pressing moments. We also controlled the game better in possession.
The goal from Arsenal happened out of nowhere. We have to be honest; it was bad defending from our side. It was just a long ball. We didn’t win the second ball, so that was bad.”
Hürzeler proceeded to reflect on the importance of Rice’s red card and lack of consistency in their counter-press despite Pedro’s equaliser, which left him happy with a draw to continue his unbeaten start as Brighton boss.
“We dominated the game completely from that moment.
“We created chances. We made one-v-ones and we had chances for the second goal, but on the other side we also have to be honest that that we could concede a second goal to Arsenal because we were not consistent in our counter-pressing and not consistent enough in the rest defence.”
“So in the end it feels a little bit like a disappointment because of course we wanted to win the game. I think we should be satisfied with the point because it’s a fair result.”
The 31 year-old also addressed the absence of new signing, Ferdi Kadioglu who missed this game with a “small” muscle injury, but Hürzeler believes that “… it’s nothing big and we will use the international break to get him fit.”
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