A furious Fabian Hurzeler launched a sensational attack on Arsenal and Mikel Arteta after Brighton’s defeat by the Gunners on Wednesday.
In extraordinary comments following their 1-0 loss, Hurzeler told Arteta he would ‘never be the kind of manager who tries to win that way’, accused the Premier League leaders of ‘making their own rules’, and criticised their time wasting in a 15-minute rant.
Bukayo Saka’s deflected strike was enough for Arsenal to earn a vital victory that extended their lead at the top to seven points after Manchester City were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Nottingham Forest.
And Hurzeler, who had clashed with Arteta on the touchline in the first half, could not contain his anger as he tore into Arsenal and reignited his war of words with the Spaniard.
‘There was only one team who tried to play football today,’ said Hurzeler.
‘There was so many actions (of time-wasting). In the end, it’s about the rules. If the Premier League, the referee, allows everything, then it is difficult. They (Arsenal) make their own rules. At the moment I have a feeling that they do their own rules, no matter how they are playing.
Fabian Hurzeler accused Arsenal of time-wasting in their 1-0 win at the Amex
‘Overall, I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way. I want to develop players, I want my players to keep improving and playing football on the pitch.’
Arteta suggested in response that the Seagulls manager was always complaining.
‘What a surprise,’ the Gunners boss sarcastically quipped.
Pressed further, he said: ‘You just go back to the previous games and you’ll find a lot of comments like this always.
‘I love my players. That’s the highlight. I love my players, we love our players and I love the way we compete.’
Shortly before those comments Hurzeler, 33, had told TNT Sports that his side should have had a penalty towards the end of the first half but added: ‘I think in the end we have to accept the decision, it’s more about for me that the referee handles the other things better.
‘The Premier League needs to find a rule because i think that’s not football what Arsenal did there and therefore that’s more the point I made to him.
‘I think everyone saw it and everyone has to make their own opinion. I said it before the game.
When asked how the referees can deal with those other things, Hurzeler said: ‘Giving more yellow cards for time-wasting. I can ask you… do you ever see the goalkeeper go down three times in a game?’
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya went down on several occasions with injury during the match, while Brighton’s Joel Veltman hauled Saka up off the pitch after growing frustrated at the Gunners star.
The post-match comments mark the latest installment of a growing feud between Hurzeler and Arteta after the German publicly criticised Arsenal in his pre-match press conference.
Hurzeler was critical of Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya for ‘going down three times’
Joel Veltman physically lifted match-winner Bukayo Saka off the floor after he had gone down
‘When Arsenal has a corner and they are leading, sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner,’ he said.
‘Therefore I think we just have to make clear rules, because in the end we have game time of 50 minutes instead of sometimes 65 minutes. The game is changing so much. We analyse it and the difference is massive.’
The pair had been involved in a tense exchange on the touchline early in the first half, seemingly sparked by Hurzeler’s complaints about perceived time-wasting to fourth official David Webb.
It was the Gunners boss who had the last laugh as Saka’s strike cannoned off Carlos Baleba and beat Bart Verbruggen in the Brighton goal to move Arteta’s men another step closer to the title.
