Mikel Arteta insisted Arsenal did not deserve to crash out of the Carabao Cup after their Brighton curse struck again.
Arsenal had won their last 12 home games in all competitions and the last team to beat them at the Emirates was Brighton way back in April.
Brighton ran riot again but Arteta claimed the game was decided by Arsenal being sloppy in their own box and not being ruthless enough at the other end.
Gunners boss Arteta said: “The view is that the result doesn’t reflect what happened on the pitch I think it’s clear. In moments where we clearly on top of the game we didn’t take our opportunities.”
It also exposed Arsenal’s lack of strength in depth as Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson were the only fringe players in a much-changed line-up to do themselves justice.
Arteta hinted he will try to strengthen in January to keep their title push going as they need more back-up options to maintain their impressive start to the campaign.
Arteta added: “That’s a window that is open and we’ll have to discuss the opportunities that we have and be on the market for opportunities.”
Brighton deserved their win but Roberto De Zerbi insisted that his side can play better and were “lucky” to survive an Arsenal onslaught at the start of the second half.
Brighton boss De Zerbi said: “We can play better, we made some stupid mistakes and we were lucky at the start of the second half when Arsenal had two or three chances but I’m happy.”
Arsenal actually took the lead through Nketiah after good work by Nelson but they had no answer to Brighton’s slick counter attacks as De Zerbi is clearly making his mark as they brought the Premier League leaders crashing back down to earth.
Nelson set up Nketiah’s opener with a powerful run and the Arsenal striker curled a perfect shot into the far corner after 20 minutes.
But the lead was short-lived as they were undone by a howler from rookie keeper Karl Hein. Danny Welbeck charged through, Hein rushed out of his goal but slipped and, by the time the keeper got up, it was too late and he brought the Brighton forward down.
Hein got a yellow card and could not stop Arsenal striker Welbeck calmly despatching the penalty.
Nketiah crashed a shot against the post, Nelson saw a header saved as Arsenal started the second half well but were soon undone by Brighton’s slick counter attacks.
Brighton went ahead after 58 minutes when Japan international Mitoma - on as a half-time substitute - raced through before coolly firing home.
If that was not enough, Brighton got a third when Lamptey slotted home from close range after another slick, flowing move.
