Fabian Hürzeler accused Arsenal of playing by their own rules in a void left by weak Premier League refereeing in a furious broadside at their approach. The Brighton manager boiled over after his team lost 1-0 at home to them on Wednesday night, Bukayo Saka’s early goal moving Arsenal seven points clear at the top of the table.
Hürzeler had called out Mikel Arteta for Arsenal’s time-wasting beforehand and he did not hold back after witnessing a game in which he said there was “only one team who tried to play football”. He raged about how the Arsenal goalkeeper, David Raya, went down injured three times and insisted the authorities had to have stronger rules to help referees or the future of the game would be undermined.
Arteta was keener to focus on a vital victory, which looked even better after Manchester City could only draw 2-2 at home against Nottingham Forest. But he did make a number of terse replies to Hürzeler’s criticisms.
“I ask you one question,” Hürzeler said. “Did you see in a Premier League game a goalkeeper going down three times? You can’t control these kind of things … therefore the Premier League has to find a rule. I made my point before the game and I stick to it. In the end I think [against] these kind of opponents, you can only punish [them] by winning so today I have no arguments on my side. If I would have a 2-1 win, a deserved 2-1 win, I could speak differently.”
Hürzeler was asked whether the ends justified the means for Arsenal. “But that’s what I mean … [it is] a different kind of winning,” he said. “If they win the Premier League, no one will ask how they win the Premier League. You can really feel that they do everything now to win and, in the end, it’s about the rules. So if the Premier League, if the referee, allows everything, then it’s difficult. Then, they make their own rules. At the moment, I have the feeling they are doing their own rules, no matter how they are playing.
“I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way. Of course, every team will manage and waste time but there has to be a limit and the limit has to be set by the Premier League. The limit has to be set by the referees. At the moment, they [Arsenal] just do what they want.
“Where will this go in the future? That’s my question. In one game, you play 60 minutes net and then when you play against Arsenal it’s only 50 minutes. It’s 10 minutes different and this is what the supporters are paying for. If I would ask everyone in the room: ‘Did you really enjoy this football game?’ I’m sure maybe one raises his arm because he’s a big Arsenal fan but, besides that, no chance.”
Hürzeler’s comments were put to Arteta. “What a surprise,” the Arsenal manager said. “You just go back to the previous games [between Brighton and Arsenal] and you’ll find a lot of comments like this always.” Arteta was asked whether he cared about what other managers said about him. “Yeah … depends,” he said. “On the manager? Yeah. And the comments. And the purpose of that.”
