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'Brighton has everything for the Premier League'

Sunday’s game will be our first meeting with Brighton in the Premier League and Arsene Wenger is looking forward to locking horns with Chris Hughton.

The boss has huge respect for his managerial counterpart, and believes that the Seagulls will provide a big test for his in-form side.

This is what he said:

on Chris Hughton…

I believe that he will be focused on the quality of his team and try to organise them, which he does very well. He has done an exceptional job with Brighton.

on Brighton…

I think it will be difficult to break them down because they are very well organised, they are very disciplined as well. Their team keeps the ball well and from what I’ve seen they have a good technical quality, they try to play everywhere and it is a different challenge for us. But we came back from a good experience away from home. We have done very well at home until now, so we know that it is absolutely vital for us.

on Brighton being in the top flight…

I remember we played some cup games a few years ago there and they had a new stadium and you drive home and you think this club is absolutely everything needed to play in the Premier League. They fought every year and just fell off at the last moment and you think they deserved [promotion] because they were on a consistent way always. They were always present in the fight to get up to the Premier League and finally they made it. They have all the structures and that means as well the club has quality people because when you have consistency, that means you have quality people always.

on our strong record against newly-promoted teams…

I don’t look at that. When you play a football game in the Premier League today, you can win, lose or draw. Just before the game you prepare the team to focus on that test and to have a good performance and to win the game.

on Arsenal for Everyone…

We are highly involved in social work and for our club it’s something that is very important. Arsenal for Everyone means that we take care of our social responsibilities and that’s a day that we want to show it.