Arsenal moved to the top of the Premier League this evening after a hard-fought victory against a resilient Brentford side. The win puts them one point clear of second place Liverpool, who play the Champions Manchester City tomorrow afternoon.
The game started in ordinary fashion, with Arsenal dominating much of the ball and Brentford sitting deep and looking to hit the hosts on the counter. It only took Arsenal 19 minutes to break the deadlock however, and it looked as if they were heading, with ease, to another victory in the Premier League. Declan Rice met a Ben White cross and powered a header past Flekken to give the Gunners a deserved lead. It was the Englishman’s 6th Premier League goals of the season, and he looks very good value for his £100 million transfer fee. Arsenal looked comfortable for the rest of the half, that was until just before half-time, when a blunder from Aaron Ramsdale handed Brentford an unlikely lifeline. The Englishman, who has seen his position as a starter handed to David Raya this season, had an attempted pass intercepted by Yoane Wissa on the goal line. The forward was given a gift of a goal and the teams went into half-time level.
The second half continued as the first had ended, with Arsenal in complete control of possession. However, Brentford were even more compact and deep, since they had a point to play for again. Their back five were defending for the most part on the edge of their own box, and were using every opportunity to waste time and run the clock down. Tensions were rising in the stands of the Emirates, as fans grew more and more agitated at the tactics of the away side. Every throw in, set piece and injury was elongated and dramatised, and a frustrating evening seemed to be on the cards for Arsenal. Mikel Arteta’s men pushed to regain their lead, but were lucky to still have 11 men in the 65th minute, when an already-cautioned Kai Havertz seemed to dive in the box. The £65 million man went down after an altercation with defender Jorgensen, but there was little to no contact made. Brentford were furious, and perhaps rightly so. The Bees continue to defend admirably, and it looked like they might gain a valuable, if slighlty fortuitous point away from home. But players and fans were left incensed in the 86th minute, when a certain Kai Havertz headed a winner for Arsenal. The German met another Ben White cross and made no mistake in firing past Mark Flekken. Thomas Frank and his players had every right to feel hard done by, especially considering both the referee and VAR had the chance to view the incident. Despite all this, it was a huge goal for Arsenal in their fight for the Premier League title. The importance of the goal could be felt in the atmosphere inside the Emirates, and it was Arsenal who looked to defend for their lives to protect the three points. There was a slight scare during injury time, when VAR checked for a possible Brentford penalty, but nothing came from it and the full-time whistle was blown. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal picked up their 20th league victory of the season, and added another two to their impressive goal tally. Today’s showing means it is now 70 goals this season for Arsenal, in just 28 games.
It was a massive result in the title race, and puts added pressure on giants Liverpool and Manchester City before their clash tomorrow. Both teams know that if they lose, they will find themselves behind Arsenal. The game kicks off at 3:45, and Mikel Arteta and his team will certainly be keeping a keen eye on proceedings at Anfield.
