Neal Maupay scored in stoppage time to help Brighton & Hove Albion come from behind to earn a 2-1 win over Arsenal. It was the first win since 28 December 2019 for the Seagulls.
It was a feisty fixture which nearly came to blows at full-time – with fake boos mixed into the crowd noise to hammer home the misery.
Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno was stretchered off after suffering a potentially serious injury during the first half.
Leno screamed in pain after sliding awkwardly when he came to collect the ball just inside his own penalty area.
The German seemed to twist his knee and was given oxygen during several minutes of treatment on the pitch before being taken off.
Leno appeared frustrated with would-be-match winner Maupay, shouting and pointing a finger at him while being stretchered to the tunnel. Maupay had been the Brighton player challenging Leno for the ball when he fell.
The defeat puts another dent in the Gunners’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
In the first full weekend of English top-flight matches since the coronavirus shutdown in March, Arsenal’s faint chances of finishing in the top four faded further.
Nicolas Pepe put Arsenal ahead in the 68th minute with a superb strike, the Ivory Coast winger cutting in from the right and curling into the far corner from the edge of the area.
But Arsenal’s defensive frailties were exposed seven minutes later when Brighton defender Lewis Dunk stabbed home from close-range after Rob Holding’s attempted clearance bounced off him.
Adding insult to injury for Arsenal, deep into stoppage-time Aaron Connolly helped the ball on to Maupay and he kept his head for a fine finish.
Maupay said afterwards: “Some of their players need to learn what is humility, especially one of them. He was talking all game, he was saying bad things.
“I don’t want to say because I could be in trouble. I just said that this is what happens when you talk too much on the pitch.”
That was after it all came to a boil (and nearly to blows) at full time with Arsenal players getting into a rather physical confrontation with the forward.
But neutrals found some humour in the goings-on. The sound engineer responsible for the crowd sound piped into the broadcast, added fake boo sounds to the broadcast audio, much to the delight of social media.
How the Premier League crowd noise works
The broadcasters have partnered with EA Sports FIFA to produce the ?bespoke and team-specific? crowd noises and chants. But there is still a person who has to make the decision on which button to press.
In the most simplistic terms: there’s basically a crowd-noise DJ making decisions on which bits of crowd noise fits the situation. That’s then piped in through the broadcast. Some broadcasters allow fans to turn the crowd noise down completely.
Listen: Fake boos at the end of Brighton vs Arsenal in the English Premier League
And if you have a sound engineer who is taking the job seriously, you get some very appropriate sound bite selections.