Brighton and Hove Albion centre-back Lewis Dunk says his side knew they could exploit the divisions between Arsenal and their supporters after the Emirates Stadium turned on the struggling Gunners in last night's 2-1 defeat.
In interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg's first home game in charge of the Gunners Arsenal were booed off at half-time and full-time as they extended their winless streak to eight matches, their worst run of form since 1977.
Hundreds of supporters streamed out of the Emirates Stadium, which had began the game some way short of capacity, after each of Brighton's goals whilst those that stayed behind turned their fire on a group of players who Ljungberg admitted were affected by the strange atmosphere emanating from the stands.
"I think if we put them under pressure, and got into them early like we did, I think it was going to be tough for them," Dunk told football.london. "They are going through a tough time, and if we got on top of them, the crowd would go against them and we managed that.
"I think it was probably partly our fault that we didn't kill the game off in the first-half. We got into some really good positions, we missed a couple of great chances and if we had come in at half-time leading by more of a gap I don’t think they even come back into it.
"We gave them a little chance, but we came back at the end."
Dunk added: "In the end we won dirty if you look at it in the second-half. They reacted well after us being on top for the whole of the first-half and they showed a good reaction, changed the game and brought on [Nicolas] Pepe.
"He changed it a little bit for them in their favour and we couldn't get a foothold, but in the end we showed great character after to come on and win the game."
Though Brighton were the first side to win a league match at the Emirates this season they were one of a string of teams in recent weeks who have found Arsenal's home to be a happy hunting ground. Southampton, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers have all departed north London with a point in the bag, often wondering if they might have earned more.
Brighton, who had never previously won away against a member of the 'Big Six, were certainly good value for their win, registering 18 shots to Arsenal's 12 and enjoying parity in possession. According to Wyscout the Seagulls had a higher expected goals tally than their hosts to, 1.62 against 1.4.
Little wonder Dunk and his Brighton team-mates were surprised by how easy they found it against Arsenal.
"We were probably expecting more but it was credit to us the way we can play football," he said.
"We have changed a lot and we are showing what we can do, we have got to take credit for the way we performed there and take the positives from it.
"We will go back and look at it, watch it over the week and learn from mistakes we probably should have been better on, keep improving and keep enjoying it."
