Christian Fuchs has backed Arsenal to retain the title despite their damning 3-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Gunners’ blistering start to the season came to a shuddering halt at the Amex Stadium, courtesy of goals from Pascal Gross, Charalampos Kostoulas and Chema.
Mikel Arteta’s side were toothless in attack, although they could have scored a consolation goal if Bart Verbruggen wasn’t alive to stop Kai Havertz from point-blank range.
Not only did Brighton walk through a previously impenetrable defence, but Arsenal had also conceded three goals just twice in almost three years before rocking up to the Amex.
Arteta described his team’s performance and the result as ‘really disappointing’ and now has the next three weeks to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
That defeat has raised questions about Arsenal’s ability to defend the Premier League title, but Fuchs isn’t jumping on that bandwagon just yet.
The former Premier League defender who won the league with Leicester City has backed Arsenal to bounce back from the disappointing defeat.
“I can guarantee you one thing – every other team that will come up to play Arsenal will now study their game very particularly,” Fuchs said on Sky Sports.
“Is that the key in every game? I’m not sure, because Arsenal will also know that other teams are looking at the Brighton game to know what they did, and Arteta will set up his team accordingly.
“It could be a fluke because I would expect Arsenal to make the right decisions. But they played absolutely right into Brighton’s hands.
Despite crediting Brighton’s intensity and brevity for taking the game to the champions, Fuchs believes the defeat was only a warning sign for Arsenal.
“As far as I know is that Arsenal, up until now, were really flying,” he added. “It really depends on what the response is. If it happens again, then there might be a warning sign right there.
“I believe that actually was just a warning sign and that he’ll [Arteta] be ready for the next game.”
