Lewis Dunk surprised by Arsenal performance as Brighton steal three points

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Lewis Dunk has told Amazon Prime’s coverage of Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton on Thursday night that he was surprised by the Gunners’ display – claiming he was expecting a reaction with it being Freddie Ljungberg’s first game at The Emirates.

Dunk, 28, starred at the back for Brighton as the Seagulls produced a somewhat surprising result to beat Ljungberg’s side. Adam Webster gave Brighton the lead, after Arsenal failed to deal with a corner after 35 minutes.

Alexandre Lacazette somewhat fortuitously scored a header from a corner that looped over Mat Ryan, but Neal Maupay secured all three points with a stunning header 10 minutes from time. It sees Arsenal go nine league games without a win.

Brighton captain Dunk spoke after the match, stating that Brighton had expected a reaction from Arsenal given their poor form and a draw against Norwich in Ljungberg’s first game in charge – and that it was Ljungberg’s first game as boss at The Emirates.

“We were expecting a reaction. They’ve changed their manager. They showed one at the start of the second half, and we had to grind out a result. It shows great character from us to get the win,” Dunk said.

TBR’s view – Dunk surprise shows just how bad Arsenal were

Defensively, Arsenal were woeful – again. David Luiz was completely static as Maupay peeled off the Brazilian to get on the end of Aaron Mooy’s cross to head past Bernd Leno into the back of the net. Sokratis was nowhere to be seen.

In attack, Arsenal were lacking in any kind of cutting edge – despite having Nicolas Pepe, Lacazette, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and plenty more attacking talent on the pitch, they could not break down Dunk and the rest of the Brighton defence.

Something needs to change, and quickly.