Brighton have beaten Arsenal 3-0, sit third in the Premier League, beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the first round of the League Cup and eased through to the Conference League phase. And yet, and yet, The Independent has called them “the Premier League’s SCARIEST team”. Exactly like that, with the superlative in small caps, to give the description as much emphasis as possible – which is saying something, because it is already emphatic enough. Obviously, the question is what “scary” actually means here: in this case, it is the pressing that defines Fabian Hürzeler’s team, the German coach who arrived in England in 2025 after taking St. Pauli back to the Bundesliga.
In fact, watching Brighton’s videos, particularly those from the game against Arsenal, it is not hard to see why the word fits. The aggression and intensity with which the Seagulls go at their opponents – there is no better way of putting it – are genuinely striking. It is not simply a matter of how many players push into the opposition half to contest possession, or how quickly they press: it is the force of it, the organised aggression, the tactical approach becoming physical instinct. And, in turn, a transfer strategy: Hürzeler, unsurprisingly, has a squad with an average age of 25.3 and only five players, out of 28, under 1.80 metres tall. In short, Brighton have been built to overwhelm the teams they face, and they really do look capable of it:
🔵⚪️ Brighton’s relentless press gave Arsenal absolutely no room to breathe. 🥵🔋pic.twitter.com/20Pn34oall
— Tekkers Foot (@tekkersfoot) September 19, 2026
The Independent have published a long, detailed tactical video analysis of Brighton’s wild pressing. Or, if you’re still not convinced, you can go back to what Hürzeler said after the win over Arsenal: “The game plan we had prepared might sound simple, but it isn’t: we focused on the idea of winning the small battles on the pitch: the duels, the challenges, the ricochets, the contested balls. That builds the players’ confidence and self-belief, making it easier to create clear-cut chances.” It is clear that a defensive system this ambitious, this intense and this sophisticated goes beyond those words; there is a huge amount of tactical and physical work behind it. But even in a short video like the one above, Brighton come across as a team built around the high press, around the idea of suffocating their opponents. Until they overwhelm them, and beat them, even when the opponent is Arsenal.