The Gunners had the lead through Ethan Nwaneri before Joao Pedro won and converted a penalty after a disputed foul by William Saliba.
Van Hecke later said: “I am not to be honest (thinking of it like a win). We now have a streak of eight games without a win. Of course it is a good point against one of the best teams in the league but we also need to win games. The first half was not good enough from us and we concede a goal that can’t really happen in my opinion. You saw a different team in the second half.
“All season you have seen parts where we are really strong and good where we can be the best teams in the league then halves or parts in the game we are not and we belong to the worst in the league. Consistency is the word and we need to be better in the future.
“The intensity we played with. We really went toe-to-toe with them and then you see we are very strong. When we score we should maybe score another one. In the end it is a good result."
On Brighton's penalty, he said: “I have not seen it back. It is hard to judge. I think there was small contact. Last week against (Aston) Villa there was small contact and it went against us."
On Pedro, Van Hecke concluded: “I think he was brilliant today. Not only for the penalty but for his work rate. We need that every game from him because he is one of our best players and he can lead us.”