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Brighton inflicted the first loss of the season on visiting Arsenal, the English Premier League football title holder, after defeating them 3-0, Saturday, at the "Falmer" Stadium, within the fifth round of the competition.
Brighton thus ended Arsenal's perfect start, which had won its first four league matches, before falling to the home team with a clean sweep.
With this result, Arsenal's score froze at 12 points, dropping to second place by goal difference behind Manchester City, which faces Sunderland on Sunday, while Brighton raised its score to 10 points and temporarily climbed to third place.
Brighton imposed its superiority from the start of the match, and succeeded in opening the scoring in the 31st minute through German Pascal Gross, who launched a powerful shot from outside the penalty area that hit the bottom of the post before entering the net, benefiting from a pass by Greek Charalambos Kostolas.
Before the end of the first half, Brighton increased their lead with a second goal scored by Kostolas in the 45th minute, after launching a wonderful shot from outside the penalty area that the Spanish David Raya failed to stop.
The home team continued their dominance after the break, and completed their hat-trick in the 57th minute through Spanish Chema Andres, who headed a ball from a corner kick taken by Gross into the net.
Arsenal did not provide the expected reaction, while German Kai Havertz missed the most prominent opportunity to reduce the difference, while Brighton continued to threaten the visitors' goal in the last minutes, maintaining their lead and securing the three points.
In another match, Everton defeated visiting Ipswich Town 1-0, scored by French-Senegalese Thierno Barry in the 11th minute, keeping the "Toffees" on their unbeaten record for the fifth consecutive match, with two wins and three draws.
Newcastle United also achieved a valuable victory over visiting Hull City with a 2-1 result, after Joe Willock and Lewis Hall scored the home team's goals in the 3rd and 7th minutes, before French Mohamed Ali Chou reduced the difference for Hull in the 67th minute.
Newcastle had missed a penalty in the last minute of the first half, executed by Congolese Youri Tielemans, which was saved by goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis, but they maintained their lead until the final whistle to collect the three match points.
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