Lewis Dunk stirs Arsenal pot by revealing Brighton knew Gunners fans would turn against team

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Brighton captain Lewis Dunk said he knew his team could get the Arsenal crowd to turn against their own side last night as the club slumped to their worst run of form since 1977.

Goals from Adam Webster and Neal Maupay, either side of Alexandre Lacazette’s 50th-minute strike, consigned Arsenal to a 2-1 home defeat and stretched their winless run to nine matches.

They are now 10th in the Premier League — just five points above the relegation places and 10 off Chelsea in fourth. The match was interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg’s first game in charge at the Emirates Stadium and he saw his team booed off at half-time and at the final whistle.

Dunk said: “I think if we put them under pressure and got into them early like we did, it was going to be tough for them. 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.

“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 even they could come back into it. We gave them a little chance, but we came back at the end.”

The defeat continues the gloom at Arsenal, who have failed to kick on since Unai Emery was sacked last Friday.

They drew 2-2 at Norwich last weekend in Ljungberg’s opening game.

The former midfielder, who won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups during his time as a player at the club, admitted the crowd were impacting his team as they struggle to regain their confidence.

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“It’s obvious that nervousness from a crowd can affect footballers, it doesn’t matter what quality you have,” said Ljungberg (right).

“They’re human beings like everyone else, they want to do well and they feel the pressure. That’s something we need to work on and I feel like if we just dig out a win, we can get there. They showed it in the second half.

“They look very short on confidence. In the first half they were scared to get the ball and a bit scared to move, they were just standing still.

“That’s something we need to talk about. They need to have a win and get them some confidence.”

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