Arsenal secured a 2-0 victory over Brentford in the Premier League this evening, a result shaped by a goal and an assist from Mikel Merino. After the draw at Chelsea, Arsenal required a return to winning form, and this match provided an important opportunity to regain momentum. Several adjustments were made to the starting XI, and the team approached the contest with clear intent.
Early Breakthrough and First Half Developments
Brentford are one of the trickiest sides to face in the league, so an early goal was essential. Arsenal achieved this when Merino found the net, rewarding the manager’s decision to keep him in the team despite Viktor Gyokeres’ return to fitness. The goal forced Brentford out of their defensive structure, and they soon created problems for Arsenal, with David Raya producing an excellent save to preserve the lead. Arsenal appeared prepared for Brentford’s reaction and maintained strong defensive organisation while dominating possession.
Towards the end of the first half, Jurrien Timber, who had initially been rested, was required to enter the match following an injury to Cristhian Mosquera. Arsenal’s ongoing misfortune with injuries resurfaced, yet the team stayed focused and continued to push for control of the game.
Second Half Control and Decisive Finish
After the interval, Arsenal resumed with the same level of authority, working hard to find a second goal. The breakthrough did not arrive immediately, and Brentford responded by making several substitutions in an attempt to shift the momentum. Arsenal also made changes, and the team appeared even stronger than in the opening period, displaying improved cohesion and attacking sharpness.
The decisive moment came late in the match when Bukayo Saka scored the second goal, finishing a move created by a superb assist from Merino. His influence at both ends of the pitch ensured Arsenal collected a well-deserved victory and restored confidence following their previous draw.
Saka too selfish. Gyokeres was best placed to score that was why Gyo was right not to join Saka in the celebration.
The cowardly approach of Arteta v Chelsea is exposed tonight as Leeds continue to pummel them.
Villa in the best shape of their life. Hopefully Arteta goes there to draw and draw and draw.
Are you seriously an Arsenal fan? Always complaining on here !
In case you didn’t notice we won and are top of both thr Premier and Champions league
Chelsea were ar home against us and away at Leeds so completely different also . They were up for the match against us and complacent against Leeds
This was our 4th game in. 10 days !
Ambachew is one of many trolls on here. Ignore him.
Haha
Coming from someone on their 4th account ,mind boggles
Haha
Coming from Mr Conspiracy, mind boggles!
What is it today? The Earth is flat, the Government can be trusted?
I wish Admin had rules about stalking. You’re obsessed with commenting on anything I say, although you never actually debunk me though. That’s because I don’t lie I guess!
Like I said nut job .
Haha. and then you revert to personal abuse. It’s amazing that someone who is abusive as much as you are, never actually gets banned!
Oh well, can’t wait for the next conspiracy. Masks with holes in them hahaha!!
Only 2 fans I’ve ever known on here that have asked for other posters to get banned ,one was Thirdman (oh wait )and the other ,”well least said the better “.
Wrong on every thing you say.
1. Gyokeres Joined Saka in the celebrations .
2 . Yes Saka was selfish but players and especially Forwards understands this.
3. Leeds didn’t expose anything because Chelsea weren’t at full strength, the Leeds players were committed to all the tackles, foul plays, and physical 1v1 challenges because the ref allowed the game to flow and didn’t give any cards to Leeds players in the 5th minute, or 3 yellow cards in the first 20 minutes thereby making the Leeds players not walk on egg shells to avoid a sending off.
3. Even if we draw villa which I doubt because they are not as good as their results is making them out to be, it won’t be the end of the world because Bournemouth will still beat Chelsea and Mancity is an Erling Haaland injury away from capitulation.
You will do well to go support Manchester United as Arteta is going to be around for a Very Long time
ኧረ አምባቸው ትው! How is Arteta’s approach V chelsea Cowardly? Chelsea though they were world beaters and setup like a UCL final…
Agree with your first point, as Gyokeres was unmarked and the ball really just rolled over the line.
Apart from that your wrong, as Gyokeres celebrated, we matched chelsea at their ground, had to cope with early yellow cards, had two centre backs playing for the first time together in the PL and your saying we should go to villa and play for a draw after saying Arteta was cowardly!!
Reply to Ambachew
I suppose it happens and obviously not only to Arsenal. We seem to have lost a bit of spark BUT we drew against Chelsea when we were mediocre and won tonight, playing strangely poor football again. We did/haven’t een beaten so, no harm done. Players are dropping like flies and they look absolutely shot. I don’t know why because we are rotating and giving rests to people. We looked poor against a 10 man Chelsea team, who tonight are struggling against a poor Leeds team. A long way to go and we are in command. I hope we can get back to playing more fluently quickly. A win is a win and a welcome 3 points. Well done White, he played well. And a great save from Raya to save our skin.
Happy for White mate
He had a good game, Arteta should at least increase his game time.
Our midfield doesn’t have the depth we have in other positions , that’s why they look shot. Especially rice and zubi they’ve played too many minutes lately. But they’ve held it together well.
It wasn’t especially them?
Given the intensity and frequency of the games we’ve had over the last few weeks it’s really no wonder players are starting to slow down a bit. Same is probably true for Chelsea, though I generally ignore them so don’t really now what’s up over there, haha.
It’s lucky we have some great players like Øde and White coming back in at just the right moment… Benny was excellent. Looks back to his old self. Saliba should be back for Villa too.
No midfield depth because all our signed midfielders do poorly there and get made a striker instead!
PJ, he will probably have to play with his buddy, if Rice is out. Ready made midfield from Spain?
Or our other midfielder Norgard and Zubimendi with Merino still the striker. We still have options.
Good 3 points. Now we move to one of the biggest game of the season for us against Aston Villa in great form.
I’m scared that we might drop points there on Saturday.
The injuries might just be our downfall.
Mosquera has gotten injured.
Hopefully we can still get some cover up that will play well and give us wins.
@SJ
All Arteta probably need to do is play a pragmatic game until second half when dust is settled l. Play Merino+Zubimendi+Rice in midfield to make life difficult for Villa. They can also protect of make shift CB
How about Zubimendi, Eze, Ødegard midfield?
Salina likely back on Saturday
Gyo had a good runout
Jesus close to coming back also
No idea why everyone is complaining about the toughest league in the world ? In what other league do teams Sunderland draw at Anfield , Leeds beat Chelsea and Fulham amost draw with City after being 4-1 down?
We are unbeaten in 18 matches!
Our squad depth is helping us despite sp many injuries yet constant criticism on here. I really don’t understand it !
100%. We’re doing well.
I also don’t understand why some people are consistently negative about the team/manager. They’re lucky they’re not Liverpool fans or they would have had multiple aneurysms by now, haha.
They wouldn’t be that pissed if they were Liverpool fans as they won the league just last season
Neither do I
At this rate, we are running out of our squad dept as well. Hard earned 3points and Leeds making us look silly. They pressed Chelsea had even when 2-0 up. No let off, they just kept going.
Heading to villa and expecting a physical game and more injuries I guess.
Don’t we have significantly less injured players now than a month ago?
I thought our bench looked strong last night. We still have very good options. Rice is irreplaceable as like for like but we have options.
Well Leeds didn’t have to play Chelsea after two high intensity games against Tottenham and Bayern. They don’t play every three days like us and they were at home. And they played a Chelsea side that have had their own issues in addition to playing three times in 8 days. Not a fair comparison at all.
Correct
Arsenal may not have looked silly, if Anthony Taylor and one of his linesmen had not turned a blind eye to Chelsea theatrics in pursuit of a red card or a penalty against Arsenal.
This match was rigged against Arsenall.
So the ref and his linesman made Arsenal play poorly? Interesting!!!!!!! NOT
And I got crap over the weekend for saying Chelsea’s the type of team to draw against us and lose against wolves. Leeds a level up but predictable from Chelsea. Up next is Villa and have to say, if we play like we did today it’ll be brutal. Let’s hope Saliba is back because now we’re picking up defensive injuries. Trossard also badly needed
That was you? Lol, I was looking for you. You called it mate!
Next to Villa which will be another very tough away game.
Hope Saliba and Trossard are fully fit to play by then. Can’t afford to drop points with City closing in desperately
Is, Gyorkes the most boring striker Arsenal have had in my nearly sixty years as an Arsenal fan? So slow, can’t dribble, rarely good positions. Way behind Merino as a goal scoring striker. Nothing more than a battering ram who will probably slow our play down even further. I guess we have to turn him into a cult hero because he is big and strong and oh he cost us a lot of money.
Gyok has been disappointing so far, it’s true. I was sceptical of his fit for the Prem from the start, but I’m willing to be proven wrong, and I hope he is able to tick up his numbers in the New Year.
Additional shout out here though to Mikel Merino, our Spanish conquistador.
30 G/A for club and country in 2025 so far.
What a capture he was.
Joe. S, I take it you never saw Chapman, Hawley or Rankin play for The Arsenal. Terrible strikers for us. I think the big Swede will come good for us.
Herr Drier,
You just sent shudders down my spine, naming Chapman, and Hawley.
The only thing I liked about Chapman was his wife, Lesley Ash.😂🤣👍
Her Drier those names ring a bell and fortunately the two seasons that79 -80 that I could way Arsenal games at Highbury we had Stapleton and Sunderland. After returning to Australia until cable my experience my knowledge of Arsenal players was from highlights on Match of the Day . I’m still hoping Gyorkes will show more., particularly after he retains match fitness, . However from what I have seen I doubt that he can replace Merino as the one who bags those so important goals.
Have you people forgotten that he is just coming back from injury?
Remember he scored in the last game he played before getting injured. And again how many minutes has he played now. It’s damn not fair!
“Hard earned 3 points and Leeds making us look silly”. True!
After seeing City v Leeds at Etihad, Chelsea definitely know Leeds are not push overs and can’t come to Elland Road with a silly attitude of underestimating Leeds. But Leeds courageously executed what we couldn’t even having a numerical advantage.
Who says the gaffer doesn’t read JA, said before the game Ben has to Start in this one, and he has live up to the bill, the Englishman played a blinder against the bee’s.
A keep saying Ben White was outstanding at right center back before Saliba came in.
But the way Ben White bumps forward on the overlap, he’s telling the gaffer he’s ready again.
That was a HARD game! We still got the result but another worrying injury. Yes, our performances have dropped sharply but with Chelsea getting pummelled it’s clear it’s a workload issue. The games are coming too many, too fast. We have done really well all things considered. Probably it’s time for Norgaard now to play and Rice for a few games. A difficult decision but he won’t last much longer if he continues to play every game. Good job boys!
meant rest Rice, damn it!
Tough game ,good 3 points ,results tonight went for us ,onto the next
Merino is truly an underrated player his versitility is a great asset to us and he might just be the guy to get us over the line, same can be said about Timber who slotted perfectly into that central defence position.
Some “fans” on here saying the Leeds victory over Chelsea showed how poor Arteta is are actually poor at analysing games, they probably didn’t even watch the Chelsea Vs Leeds game but are just pissed they couldn’t banter Chelsea fans . First of all the Chelsea Leeds faced was not the Chelsea we faced. No Caicedo, no fofana, no Reece James , Chalobah was playing RB as Maresca used Badashile and Tosin (whose error caused the third goal).
Leeds matched Chelsea’s physical style and weren’t worried about a red card hanging over Thier shoulders because the ref let the kicks and hard tackles flow without flinching an eye or giving anyone yellow card, unlike ours where 3 of our players were already booked in the first 20 minutes, with zoob getting his in the first 5.
Back to arsenal…
I think we played well in the first half and we should thank Raya and lady luck for that tip on the bar save he did , we tried to control the game but our madueke and martinelli are not on the level of Saka and Trossard. Merino shows again that he is actually our main guy, a beautiful assist and a good goal. The second half was a bit poor because All the players looked tired so those Arteta subs came at the right time . Hope rice and Mosqera are ok and just have impact knocks and not long term injuries.
The club brugge game is the game Arteta needs to use in resting most the players , even if we lose and some of the fans moan about losing to club brugge , he should pay no attention to them and consider the bigger picture.
Mancity is crawling up behind us , but I believe they are one Haaland injury away from slowing down to a halt.
We beat villa on Saturday, I have no doubt about it because I saw them play G.A eagles and the last Europa league games and trust me, they are not all that .
COYG.
I really liked your analysis
👍.
I try my best to stay positive and look at the half full cup.
Emperor Augustus,
Talking of half full cup.
I upset a friend the other day, I said to her do you want to share a drink with me. She said yes, so she said for me to drink my half first, so I did. But I drank the whole glass, she said what did I do that for, I said well my half was at the bottom. 😂🤣
Oh the oldens are the best.🤣😂👍
Gyokeres.
Eze. Odegaard. Saka.
Merino. Zubimendi.
Calafiori. Hincapie. Timber. White.
Raya.
Not sure why some so called fans are unhappy with last night win.
League titles are easiest lost in November, December due to simple slips. We as fans should know because we have been there on many occasions in the past. Looking up and no chance of clawing our way back in to winning it.
Ladies and gentlemen take a breath. We are looking down at all the teams and still in it. We just won last night and some so called supporters are trying to dish it out and say we were lucky .
Enjoy the moment people
Top, Top in both leagues
A long way to go before we can finally say champions 🏆
Onwards and upwards
Well said Alanball08 👏 👏👍
Sensible comments AB.Since they gained promotion to the PL, Brentford have proved to be a very resiliant side who are rarely outclassed by teams with substantially bigger budgets.Under their new Manager they have maintained their mid table credentials and i suspect they will continue to upset a number of more glamorous teams throughout the season.In essence a 2-0 home win against them is entirely satisfactory as far as i am concerned.
Ken 1945 a former referee, it would be very interesting to here his take on Chelsea vs Arsenal game.
Why does the quality of officiating games swings like a pendulum from game to game, this Brentford game was a sharp contrast to the many transgressions of Anthony Taylor’s Chelsea game.
The German coach and now England head coachThomas Touchel, publicly calls for Anthony Taylor non involvement in all Chelsea games, certainly did played a part in influencing the Englishman decisions at the Bridge
GS
just seen different angles of there goal
Offside
Where was VAR for goal check
Was there one as I don’t remember seeing one
Onwards and upwards
😂 oh dear .
Don’t laugh about it
Comment on it
If you believe it should have stood then day it
Or
It should habe been ruled out for off side
As I understand it, a player can be offside if they
1) Prevent an opponent from being able to play the ball
2) Challenge an opponent for the ball.
3) Make an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball
In my opinion VAR is not being used correctly, POGMOL needs help.
But the game itself was a disgrace
Yet we got the rub of the green and couldn’t beat 10 men ,like I said 😂.
Do you think we shouldn’t have had a red ourselves (maybe 2 )?
This whole ref (vAR )excuse situation is just that .
Sorry Alan ,did t realise you was allowed to respond to some like me
And my Musings!
Might get bannned 🫢
No need to apologise
I am always happy to have a constructive debate with you
I think it would have been harsh but
On another night we could have picked up 2 yellows and seen red and no o e could argue with that
I thought a point was a far reflection on how the game went and far play to chelski they never looked like they were a man down
But as we have just seen on the last round of matches they just got done and we picked up 3 points and the gap has now widened
Rub of the green is always needed if we are intent on keeping top spot until the end of the season
If they had kept 11 on the pitch and they way they set about the game then 1 point could have easily been zero so a point in my mind. Was pretty decent
As for the offside. Just asking for consistency even if goes against us.
And ps
Do hope you are keeping well
Onwards and upwards
Good win last night for the boys. The first half performance was good, especially down the right side. Madueke and white were a constant thorn in Brentford’s side.
Hopefully that will show Arteta that we now have suitable cover for Saka. The second half was a bit of a non-event really. The levels dropped, which is to be expected I suppose.
But at 1-0, you always fear the opposition only needs one chance. But fare play to the boys, they finally got the second killer goal. Although, Saka got a bit lucky. Had that ball not gone in, there would have been more made of the fact he should have squared it to Gyokeres for a tap in.
As for the injury’s as big as the squad is, I hope that we can soon have a period where we are injury free. It seems for every player we get back, we then lose two. That will eventually catch up with us, big squad or no big squad.
But once again, good result boys. You’ll need to raise your levels against Villa though. 👍
Havertz
Gabriel
Trossard
Saliba
Mosquera
Rice
Currently these 6 solid players are a doubt for Saturday against Aston Villa.
The squad depth is helping a bit, but we just need some luck with the injuries that they all recover fast and we don’t get any further injuries from now till the end of the season.
Hopefully our injuries are coming now and we will have a full squad for 2nd half when City can get some injuries and see how they cope!
Great win
Away at Villa next
That will be even tougher
The other day I posted Arteta will surely give us many more important trophies starting from this seasson and possibly eclipses the achievements of our former legendary managers. I was battered for saying that. And now I’m seeing that pinpointing some shortfalls of Arteta also offends some quarters of Gooners. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinions. Unity in diversity! After all no one here can alter the decisions of MA.
ken1945,
Thanks. Lots of draws against teams up in the table in City, Sunderland, Chelsea and losing to Pool still makes me suspect that Arteta goes to these places designing to carve out draws. Against City we woke up in the 2nd half. Against Chelsea with a man plus at least we should have surpassed Chelsea in goal attempts. Arsenal’s place is the envy of all teams both in EPL & UCL despite injuries though we squandered chances to distance ourselves from City who are really my nightmares.
Why would you think Arteta would go to a newly.pro.oted side hp8ng for a draw
Do you.know his record against promoted.teams ?
Neil,
Sunderland are a promoted team just in theory. Only Burnley and Leeds are promoted teams that in fact are in survival battle. Sunderland are real deals investing heavily and vying to win European places. When they played us I think they were 4th or 5th. If Afcon will not affect them, Sunderland guided by our Xhaka are good to at least earn Conference. Sometimes Arteta has to beat teams up in the table starting this Saturday v Emery’s Villa. We don’t have problems with the bottom table teams.
Ambachew,
There’s no theory regards Sunderland being a promoted team. Starting the season well as they clearly have, doesn’t change the fact, that they were indeed promoted last season, That’s a fact. 👍🤷♂️