Piero Hincapie enhanced his growing cult hero status with Arsenal fans by shushing Fabian Hurzerler during last night’s fractious win over Brighton.
The Gunners cemented their position at the top of the Premier League table by claiming all three points on the south coast following a scrappy 1-0 victory.
Bukayo Saka’s deflected ninth minute strike was, ultimately, all that separated the two teams as Mikel Arteta’s battle-hardened crew ground out a 10th win by a one-goal margin this season.
The finer points of a resolute defensive display were, however, lost on Hurzerler who began his Arsenal related complaints in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Brighton’s German boss was clearly in no mood to give up his agenda last night as Arsenal’s delaying tactics frustrated the home side and prompted the Seagulls’ manager to complain to the fourth official on numerous occasions.
Hurzeler was in the ear of the official early in the first half and began pestering Hincapie while the Arsenal defender was preparing to take a throw.
The Ecuador international had no time for Hurzeler’s complaints and put his finger to his lips while the opposition manager was offering some pointed advice.
Hincapie started last night’s match at left-back and excelled in that role before he shifted to centre-half following the introduction of Riccardo Calafiori with Arteta opting to withdraw Cristian Mosquera who had been standing in for the injured William Saliba.
The 23-year-old, currently on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, is fast establishing himself as a vital component of the defensive unit that appears hellbent on powering Arsenal to the title.
Whether their conservative style of play may end up yielding the trophies they crave, they clearly haven’t won a fan in Hurzeler who continued his diatribe after the game.
‘I think there was only one team who tried to play football today,’ said Hurzeler, ‘And therefore I’m proud of how they did it.
‘I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way. I want to do well. I want my players to keep improving, keep playing football on the pitch.
‘In the end, of course, every team will manage and waste time, but I think there has to be a limit, and the limit has to be set by the Premier League.
‘The limit has to be set by the referees, at the moment they just do what they want.
‘If I would ask now everyone in the room if he really enjoyed this football game I’m sure maybe one raises his arm because he is a big Arsenal fan but besides that, no chance.’
Arteta, meanwhile, was quick to dismiss the complaints of his Brighton counterpart and focus on the finer points of a victory that helped establish a seven point lead at the Premier League summit.
‘I loved it,’ he said. ‘It was a really tough one, we knew that.
‘We played so many games with very, very high intensity and demands, and you could see in certain moments that we lacked freshness, especially with the ball, to have more composure, for the heart rate to be a little bit lower to make better decisions and be a bit more precise.
‘So when you don’t do that, you have to do a lot of very good things. You want to win in this league, especially here at Brighton, and the team showed an incredible desire, determination and attitude to win the game.’