Fabian Hürzeler sensationally accused Arsenal of “making their own rules” and applying time-wasting tactics when they beat Brighton at the Amex Stadium, but was he justified in his accusations?
Bukayo Saka’s early goal proved decisive in a stormy match on the south coast, with Brighton fans and head coach furious at the visiting team’s perceived delay.
After Brighton failed to convert their dominant possession into goals, Hürzeler fumed in a press conference, slamming Arsenal’s approach, saying “only one team was trying to play football” and calling for time-wasting rules to be introduced.
Hürzeler wasn’t the only one who found the match an unappealing spectacle. Few would argue otherwise. However, Arsenal’s average possession rate of 55.6 per cent of playing time this season is actually above the Premier League average, and only slightly lower than Brighton’s 56.1 per cent. What else can the numbers tell us?
How much time have Arsenal wasted?
Hürzeler raised the issue of wasted time before the game, accusing Arsenal of taking more than a minute to prepare for a corner kick in a game when they were leading.
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Highlights of the Premier League match between Brighton and Arsenal
Opta said the Gunners had the longest average corner over time of any Premier League club this season, at 44.5 seconds, so the complaints were justified.
However, at the Amex Stadium, Arsenal’s average restart time was 31.4 seconds, taking into account corners, free kicks and throws.
According to Opta, out of 285 Premier League games this season, there were 195 instances where teams took longer to restart.
Arsenal’s average of 31.4 seconds against Brighton is just slightly higher than their season average of 30.2 seconds per delay.
There are five Premier League teams that on average take longer to restart than Arsenal: Leeds, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Sunderland. Brighton, on the other hand, were the second fastest to restart play at 26.5 seconds.
The state of the game is an important factor, as teams in the lead are more likely to try to slow the tempo than teams in need of goals.
Arsenal, who took the lead from the ninth minute at the Amex Stadium, have spent 45.4 per cent of their time leading in the Premier League this season, second only to Manchester City. Brighton, by contrast, only led on 23.8 per cent of the time.
While the average delay in Arsenal’s win over Brighton wasn’t particularly long, the amount of delay certainly made for a stop-start fixture that suited the visiting side as they looked to protect their lead through Saka’s goal.
According to Opta, Arsenal’s total of 59 delays was the eighth most of any team in Premier League games this season. The total delay was the 22nd longest at 30 minutes and 51 seconds.
What happened to Raya?
Hürzeler singled out Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya for wasting time. “I have a question, have you ever seen a goalkeeper go down three times in a Premier League game?” he said.
However, when Sky Sports looked back at the match, Raya only went to the ground twice.
The first came in the 37th minute when, ironically, Kaoru Mitoma was penalized for draping his arm around the goalkeeper as he tried to throw quickly to meet Diego Gomez’s cross.
Raya catches Diego Gomez’s cross from the right side.
Raya was deemed to have been fouled as Mitoma made a quick movement to throw the ball to Bukayo Saka.
The delay between taking the ensuing free kick totaled 41 seconds and included a conversation between Raya and referee Chris Kavanagh after the goalkeeper quickly stood up.
Raya went down another in the 58th minute, receiving treatment after a save from Georginio Rutter.
Arsenal already had Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard waiting to play when Raya grounded in for the second time in the 58th minute.
The delay was even longer, totaling 2 minutes and 8 seconds, mainly because Arsenal made two changes, bringing on Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard, who were already waiting to play when Raya went to the ground.
How long was the ball in play?
Hürzeler was also furious with the ball during playing time. “In a game he plays 60 minutes, but against Arsenal he only played 50 minutes, so it’s a 10-minute difference,” he said. “Is this because of the money supporters are paying? You know what I mean?”
No one would argue that Wednesday’s game was easy on the eyes, but Opta says the ball was actually in play for 53 minutes, 58 seconds at Amex Stadium, accounting for 53.5 percent of the 100 minutes and 54 seconds played.
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Watch Murillo’s title-clinching block against Man City, followed by full-time celebrations for Wild Arsenal fans at the Amex
While this figure still seems low, although not as high as Hürzeler suggested, it is worth noting that it is actually less than 2 percentage points below this season’s Premier League average of 55.3 percent.
Of the nine Premier League games played on Tuesday and Wednesday, there were two in which the ball during playing time was actually lower than in Arsenal’s win at Brighton.
In Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Manchester United at St James’ Park, the ball times were 53 seconds and 17 seconds. It took just 52 minutes and 2 seconds for Sunderland to win against Leeds.
Hürzeler’s comments suggest that low balls during playing time are specific to Arsenal, but figures across the Premier League show it is a division-wide problem. According to Opta, this season’s average playing time is the second lowest of any season since the 2006/07 season.
And, as we showed at the beginning of this article, Arsenal have actually had above-average possession of the ball in playing time this season among Premier League clubs, only slightly below Brighton.
Of course, Hürzeler is justified in claiming that Arsenal tried to disrupt the flow of the game on Wednesday night. However, the loss of time and the drop in ball playing time is more pronounced than in any season since 2009/10, both up and down the Premier League.
After a precious victory at the Amex Stadium, the debate will matter little to Arsenal if the season ends in Premier League glory.
