Fabian Hurzeler, Mikel Arteta and the Text Message to Settle Mini Feud

There were pointed accusations made after Brighton’s recent clash with Arsenal.

Fabian Hürzeler (left) and Mikel Arteta shed some light on a private conversation. | Shaun Brooks-CameraSport/Getty Images

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian Hürzeler revealed that he reached out to Mikel Arteta via text to justify his scathing criticism of Arsenal’s time-wasting which had made him emotional earlier this month.

Hürzeler’s initial comments sparked a tidal wave of ill-will towards the Premier League leaders. Having fretted over Arsenal’s rough corner tactics in the buildup to Brighton’s top-flight clash with the Gunners, the German coach railed against the dark arts he perceived to have been deployed on the south coast. “Only one team tried to play football,” he fumed after a 1–0 loss.

Arteta had little time for Hürzeler’s complaints, dismissing it as typical fare from his Brighton counterpart. “You just go back to the previous games [between Brighton and Arsenal] and you’ll find a lot of comments like this always,” he sniffed.

However, the young tactician has now come out to profess his grand admiration for Arteta—while also sticking by his “principles.”

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Hürzeler: Arteta Is a Role Model

Mikel Arteta wants Arsenal to go to the next level. | Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Hürzeler was keen to stress two different but not mutually exclusive points. Arteta is a laudable figure even if some of Arsenal’s tactics remain questionable.

“I texted him and I said the same thing to him as well, that I have huge respect for everyone from Arsenal,” the 33-year-old head coach told assembled media on Friday.

“It’s very important to say one thing about that, and I said it in the press conference before the game, that I really admire what Arsenal have achieved so far in this season. I really admire seeing Mikel Arteta and his team, his players and all the staff, how they work, and I will be the first one who will congratulate them if they win the Premier League.”

“I didn’t want to upset anyone from Arsenal, I didn’t want to upset the staff or the players,” Hürzeler insisted, “but on the other side, I will stick to my words. Some things I wasn’t happy about that night, and I think all the numbers, they gave me the confirmation about what I was saying afterwards regarding time-wasting. I think we just need to find clear rules about that.”

The numbers told the story you wanted them to. As Opta pointed out after the match, Arsenal completed just 71% of their passes and took 30 minutes and 51 seconds to restart play against Brighton, both team-highs for the season. However, the same outlet reported that the Gunners took an average of 31.4 seconds over each delay—at the time of that fixture, there had been 195 instances of a team taking longer.

Strong words from Fabian Hürzeler on Arsenal after tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/g9c5xKQ0e1

— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) March 4, 2026

Hürzeler was keen to quash any lingering sense of bad blood. “Arteta is, for me, one of the best managers in the world,” he enthused, “I see him as a role model.”

“I love to see them [Arsenal] playing,” Hürzeler concluded, “and I also admire a lot of elements of what they are doing, and therefore I texted him and said the same thing to him as well.”

Arteta was typically more coy about this private back and forth. “That’s a personal conversation,” he mused when Hürzeler’s statement was put to him. “He’s made public now certain comments he made before and that says a lot of positive things about him as a person.

“I appreciate that and the rest. I think he’s a fantastic coach, the job he’s doing at Brighton is really, really good and that’s fine.”

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Arteta Receives Premier League Backing

David Moyes had Mikel Arteta as a player at Everton. | Paul Bonser/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

“If there’s this thing out there where everybody has to play the beautiful game and everything has to be perfect, well if we all do that then it would be boring. Football would be boring.

Moyes on Arsenal criticism.

If Hürzeler remains uncertain about some of aspects of Arteta’s approach, Everton’s David Moyes is firmly behind his former player.

It was put to the Scottish coach who made Arteta Everton captain that Arsenal were “physical” and “do well at set pieces.” “What’s up with any of those things you say?” Moyes snapped back.

“You are making it sound as if that’s a problem because they are good at set pieces and they are a strong, physical side. I don’t see any problem with any of that. It’s part of the game.

“Part of the reason you people are talking about it is because it might be slightly different from what we have seen for a few years. It’s giving you something to talk about, but I would hate to be going to football matches all the time and seeing football only played the one way. I want teams to play different styles and in different ways.

“We have got some unbelievable managers, and Mikel is one of them.”

The admiration was clearly mutual. Arteta hailed Moyes as “one of the greatest Premier League managers.”

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