Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler faced the media before travelling to the Emirates to face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup.
The schedule isn’t slowing down anytime soon, with Arsenal preparing for their third game in the space of a week.
Wins against Atletico Madrid and Crystal Palace will give Mikel Arteta confidence heading into the Carabao Cup clash, as will Arsenal’s superpower.
Arsenal are unstoppable from set-pieces, so it was unsurprising to hear Hurzeler speak about the Gunners’ strength from dead-ball situations in his pre-match press conference.
- READ MORE: Forget winning the League Cup, Mikel Arteta has to rest six key Arsenal players against Brighton
Fabian Hurzeler says Gabriel Magalhaes isn’t the only reason why Arsenal’s set-piece threat is so strong
The man of the moment at Arsenal right now is undoubtedly Gabriel Magalhaes.
No one can stop Gabriel from corners, but Hurzeler was eager to shine the spotlight away from the Brazilian.
Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference, Hurzeler made it clear that the centre-back isn’t solely responsible for Arsenal’s efficiency from set plays.
“It is not just Gabriel; they do it very well together and have really good patterns,” the Brighton manager said.
Funnily enough, the defender will actually agree with what Hurzeler said, as Gabriel stressed that set-piece success isn’t ‘all about’ him.
That doesn’t, however, take away from the fact that the Brazil international has three goal contributions in his previous three matches for Arsenal, all stemming from set play.
While the numbers the 27-year-old has been recording are intimidating, Hurzeler insisted that he has full confidence that his players can limit the threat.
“On the other side, we are quite good in defending, and we are quite confident that we are capable of defending against them.”
Hurzeler’s record against Mikel Arteta doesn’t make for good reading
It’s not only Brighton’s confidence in defending set-pieces that will give Hurzeler fuel to get a result against Arsenal on Wednesday night.
In fact, if the Seagulls were to lose against the Gunners, it would be a career first for Hurzeler.
| Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals conceded |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
In his two meetings against Arteta, the 32-year-old coach has secured two draws, one of which was the controversial 1-1 draw between the two sides last season.
Declan Rice was sent off for delaying the restart in one of the most frustrating refereeing decisions in Arsenal’s history.
Arteta will hope for a far less dramatic contest in the Carabao Cup, in what will be a challenge for both sides.
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