Fabian Hurzeler slammed Arsenal's time-wasting against Brighton but their ball in play time is above average this season

Bukayo Saka's early goal proved decisive in a stormy game on the south coast during which Brighton's fans and head coach became incensed over perceived delays by the visitors.

After Brighton were unable to turn their dominance of possession into goals, Hurzeler vented his fury in his press conference, slamming Arsenal's approach, saying "only one side tried to play football" and calling for rules to be introduced around time-wasting.

Hurzeler was not alone in feeling the game was an unattractive spectacle. Few would argue otherwise. But Arsenal's average percentage of ball in play time of 55.6 per cent this season is actually above the Premier League average, and only slightly lower than Brighton's 56.1 per cent. What else do the numbers tell us?

Hurzeler had raised the issue of time-wasting before the game, accusing Arsenal of taking more than a minute to prepare for corners in games when they are in front.

That complaint was justified, with the Gunners have taken the longest over corners on average of all Premier League clubs this season, according to Opta, at 44.5 seconds.

At the Amex Stadium, though, factoring corners, free-kicks and throws, Arsenal's average restart time was 31.4 seconds.

Opta say that across 285 Premier League games this season, there have been 195 instances of teams taking longer over their restarts.

Arsenal's 31.4 second average against Brighton sits only just above their season average of 30.2 seconds per delay.

There are five Premier League sides who take longer over their restarts on average than Arsenal in Leeds, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Sunderland. Brighton, meanwhile, rank as the second-quickest to restart play at 26.5 seconds.

Game state is an important factor, given a team leading is more likely to try to slow the tempo than a team needing a goal.

Arsenal, who were in front from the ninth minute at the Amex Stadium, have spent 45.4 per cent of the time leading in the Premier League this season, second only to Manchester City. Brighton, by contrast, have only been leading for 23.8 per cent of the time.

While Arsenal's average delay time was not especially high during their win over Brighton, the volume of delays certainly made for a stop-start encounter which suited the visitors as they sought to protect their lead following Saka's goal.

Opta say Arsenal's total of 59 delays was the eighth-highest by any side in a Premier League game this season. Their total time delay of 30 minutes and 51 seconds was the 22nd highest.

Hurzeler singled out Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya over time-wasting. "I ask one question, did you see in a Premier League game a goalkeeper going down three times?" he said.