Arsenal vs Brighton and Hove Albion Timeline & H2H Stats

In terms of London teams, there is a bizarre rivalry in place between Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace. The same cannot be said about Arsenal, with the two sides not having faced each much in an historical sense. There is also the fact that the two teams pushes for success have never really coincided. Brighton played in the FA Cup final in the 1982-1983 season, for example, but it was against Manchester United, drawing the first tie and then losing the replay 4-0. They have rarely troubled the top of the table in top-flight football, meaning that Arsenal’s games against them haven’t really been about title fights.

Instead, there is something of a mutual respect between the two teams. Historically speaking, they rarely faced each other often enough to mean that any sort of genuine enmity grew between the two sets of fans, with neither side truly demolishing the other in a way that could be seen as humiliating. That being said, the first two First Division meetings between the sides ended up in a 7-0 aggregate win for the London club, winning 4-0 away from home in the August of 1979 and then 3-0 at Highbury in the November. Add in a 4-0 League Cup win for the Gunners ten days after that Highbury game and you could forgive Brighton not being lovers of them.

Facing Off in the Cups

In the first six meetings that Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion shared, there were more cup games than league ones. The sides first met on the 12th of January 1935 when they were drawn to face one another in the FA Cup. Arsenal won that meeting 2-0 in Brighton, but didn’t go on to win the cup. They did the following season, however, so maybe that gave them the sort of experience that they needed. The two teams didn’t meet up again for more than 40 years, with a First Division tie in the August of 1979 being followed up a couple of months later with a League Cup tie that originally ended 0-0 before that 4-0 win for Arsenal in the replay.

Although Brighton were still in the First Division in 1980-1981, the first time that the sides met that season was back in the FA Cup. Another cup competition, another win for Arsenal, this time to the tune of 2-0. Brighton were relegated at the end of the 1982-1983 season, with the two sides meeting in the FA Cup three times before the Seagulls returned to top-flight football. Arsenal won all three encounters by a single goal, winning 2-1 in 1988, 3-2 in 2013 and 3-2 again in 2-15, all at Brighton’s home ground. The only defeat suffered by Arsenal in the cups during that time came in the May of 2023 when Brighton won 3-1 in the League Cup.

Arsenal’s Full Match History Against Brighton