The defending champions were knocked out cold. Brighton's 3-0 victory over Arsenal was not merely a surprise, it was a brutal tactical lesson whose numbers revealed a secret weapon the Seagulls drew from the rugby pitches to terrify the Gunners' defence and shatter their run of consecutive wins at the start of the season.
Data from the match, played on Saturday at the Amex Stadium and published by the British newspaper "The Sun", revealed that the hero of the emphatic win was not a striker. It was the 24-year-old Dutch goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Linked with a move to Bayern Munich last summer, the goalkeeper refused to build play from the back. He turned instead to direct long passes, exploiting a fatal weak point in Arsenal's defence.
Fabian Hurzeler built his plan around Verbruggen. The coach, who turned the page on his verbal spat with Mikel Arteta last season, asked his players to win the ball back as quickly as possible and close to Arsenal's goal.
The statistics tell the story. The Dutch goalkeeper completed 22 passes, most of them into the final attacking third, and he intimidated Arsenal's centre-backs Gabriel and Ezri Konsa by forcing them into losing aerial battles throughout the match.
The first goal reveals the plan
Brighton's opener, a long-range rocket from Pascal Gross, came after a moment that summed up the entire tactic. Verbruggen took control of the ball then sent it long and direct to the right-hand side, the flank Brighton targeted relentlessly to create a numerical advantage.
Arsenal rank among the Premier League's physically strongest teams in the battle for first and second balls. Even so, Brighton won the ball back quickly thanks to their numerical superiority on the right flank and by pouncing on any imperfect header from the Arsenal defence.
Hurzeler asked his right-back Ferdi Kadioglu to push forward constantly and press Arsenal's players without let-up.
Arteta admits: we were taught a harsh lesson
Mikel Arteta admitted his team fell victim to Brighton's style on the south coast. He said in frustrated comments after the match: "I feel very disappointed, it is a harsh lesson for us, and they deserved the win."
He added: "We have to congratulate them on this victory. There are some essential basics in football, especially in the Premier League, that we were completely far from."
You can discuss the topics and news in greater depth in the Kooora forums
He continued: "The problem was the many technical errors we made, and our failure to adhere to any of the principles of play that we must follow, but this will not diminish the players' achievements over the past six or seven weeks since the World Cup."