Jamie Carragher says 'furious' Mikel Arteta will be hurt by one thing after Arsenal loss

Arsenal suffered a shock heavy defeat at Brighton on Saturday (Picture: REUTERS)

Mikel Arteta will be ‘furious’ and will be hurting as his Arsenal players leave for international duty after a shock 3-0 loss to Brighton, believes Jamie Carragher .

The Gunners won their first four league games this season but that run came to am abrupt end at the Amex.

Pascal Gross, Charalampos Kostoulas and Chema Andres scored the goals as the Seagulls soared to a stunning win and into third in the early-season table.

Arteta was very critical of his own players after the game, saying: ‘Extremely disappointed. But first of all, we have to congratulate Brighton; they deserved it.

‘They were the better team, and from our side, there were certain basics in football that you need to accomplish in football, especially in the Premier League that we didn’t.

‘In the first duel. Winning the first ball, especially with how direct they were. They put us in a really difficult place.

‘In our own half, the amount of technical errors. We didn’t respect any principle of play that you have to get out of that man to man situation and that put us on the back foot so it was very difficult to control the game.’

Mikel Arteta suffered his first setback of the season against the Seagulls (Picture: Getty Images)

Carragher still expects Arsenal to be challenging for the Premier League title again this season, but Arteta will be hurt by the result, especially as there is now a lengthy international break, running into next month.

‘I think Arsenal will be fine, I think it’s more about what it does for the other teams. I think everyone raises their belief, thinking that if Brighton can do it, why can’t we do it?’ Carragher said on his Sky Sports podcast.

‘What will hurt Mikel Arteta is the fact that it’s the game before the international break. He’ll be so desperate to have his players on the training pitch, have a team meeting, go through the game. He’ll have to wait three weeks for that now and maybe by that time his anger will have subsided, because I’m sure he’ll be furious.

‘We can’t expect the best teams to perform every single week. It was a real bad one for them, but how consistent Arsenal have been for so long, I’m sure they’ll get back on track.’

Manchester City are now clear at the top of the table (Picture:Getty Images)

Carragher sees the Premier League title race as between Arsenal and Manchester City this season, seeing his doubts over City already dispelled by their midfield signings of Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi.

‘I didn’t see them winning the league without Rodr i, but I must say Elliot Anderson has started brilliantly,’ said the Liverpool legend. ‘Enzo coming in as well from Chelsea, he’s a good player. Whether people like him or not doesn’t matter. They’ve got two really good midfield players there.