£75m Arsenal signing apologises to fans after Brighton thrashing

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Bruno Guimaraes did not hide from it. Hours after Arsenal were beaten 3-0 at the Amex Stadium, the Brazilian described the performance as "not acceptable" and issued an apology to the travelling support.

It was Guimaraes' first Premier League start since his £75million move from Newcastle, and it came on an afternoon when Arsenal's unbeaten start to the campaign was ended in emphatic fashion by Brighton.

"We were not good enough, so far off our level this time," he said. "We are very disappointed, we have to learn from our mistakes because today we were far away from our level.

"We were too sloppy with the ball, didn't win any duels. We cannot accept this while wearing this shirt of a champion and we want to win the game."

Arteta knew from the first throw-in

Mikel Arteta claimed he knew Arsenal were not at the races from the very first throw-in of the contest, and the warning signs quickly became goals. Pascal Gross rifled in off the post before Charalampos Kostoulas flashed a finish past David Raya.

Guimaraes was particularly frustrated by how much time Brighton were afforded in the build-up to both strikes.

"We gave them too much time on the ball, we know the quality that they have," he said. "They were two amazing shots to be fair but we can do better and we have to do better.

"We cannot give them too much space, we cannot lose the ball in a dangerous area and like I said, bad day, I've not been too long here but it feels like we can't accept [this]."

The result ended what had been a strong opening to the season. As Guimaraes noted, Arsenal had won every game prior to the trip to the south coast — including last weekend's 2-0 victory at Sunderland, where the midfielder scored a stunner of his own.

Three weeks to stew on it

The timing is awkward. With the international break now underway, Arsenal must wait three full weeks before they can respond, with Leeds the next opponent on the fixture list.

Guimaraes, speaking to football.london, insisted his own settling-in period is going to plan despite the setback.

"I have to adapt, and I think I've been doing great to be fair but I think today is one to forget for me and the whole team," he said. "Today was a bad day at the office for everyone. I think I'm quite good in terms of adaptation with the club, I'm getting there."

He added: "Now we have to focus on the national teams but when we come back, we have to ensure this does not happen again. We have to learn from our mistakes, wearing this shirt this is not acceptable, this is not the level we want but now we have time to focus on the national team as when we come back, we have to win games.

"We have to forget this and improve, we have to say sorry to the fans because it wasn't good enough."

Arsenal return to Premier League action against Leeds once the international break concludes.