Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler believes rule changes are required to stop Arsenal's time-wasting tactics from set-pieces.

Arsenal's reliance on set-pieces has become a hot topic again in recent days, after they ground out a 2-1 victory over Chelsea in which all three goals came from corners.

The Gunners' 16 goals from corners this season are the joint-most by any team in a single Premier League campaign, alongside Oldham Athletic in 1992-93, West Brom in 2016-17 and Arsenal themselves in 2023-24.

During the Arsenal-Chelsea game, several instances of players holding one another in the box, rather than concentrating on the ball, were highlighted by pundits.

Mikel Arteta's side have also been criticised for how long they take over restarts, with the ball only being in play for 52 minutes and 59 seconds during their meeting with Chelsea, despite the match lasting 101 minutes. 

The average Premier League game this season has featured 55 minutes and 28 seconds of ball-in-play time.

Hurzeler will be the next head coach confronted with the Gunners' methods, as Brighton host the Premier League leaders on Wednesday. 

And while Arteta has shrugged off negative comments about his style, Hurzeler believes lawmakers must restore order from dead balls, both in terms of holding and delays.

3 - There were more goals scored from corners in Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea (3) than there were in every Premier League meeting between Guardiola's Man City and Klopp's Liverpool combined (2 in 16 games). 43 of the 46 non-penalty goals in those games were from open play. Halcyon. pic.twitter.com/UUREaLnsJ6

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 3, 2026

"Some of the blocking or the way teams are blocking... I think there's no clear rule. Sometimes the referee whistles, and it's a foul, sometimes he doesn't," Hurzeler said of Arsenal's tendency to keep their opponents close from set-pieces. 

"I think that's why we have this topic at the moment, but for me, the main topic is to make a clear rule how much time you can waste for a corner, for a throw-in, for a free-kick.

"When Arsenal have a corner, and they are leading, sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner.

"Therefore, I think we just have to make clear rules, because in the end, we have a game time of 50 minutes sometimes, instead of 65 minutes. 

"The game is changing so much. We analyse it, and the difference is massive. I have the opinion that every supporter who pays a lot of money to go to the stadium and watch our game should see the same game time.

"They want to see a football event, and they don't want to see 50 minutes where the ball is in the game and 40 minutes where the game is not running."

Arsenal lost two of their first three Premier League trips to Brighton (one draw), but they have not lost on any of their last five visits since 2020-21 (three wins, two draws).

Indeed, Brighton have won two of their last 11 Premier League games against Arsenal (three draws, six losses), with both victories coming at the Emirates Stadium in April 2022 (2-1) and May 2023 (3-0).