BRENTFORD 1-1 ARSENAL: Gunners come unstuck in west London as Mikel Arteta’s side are held to a draw and fail to respond to Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Fulham
Arsenal could not restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League table as they were held to a draw by Brentford. The Gunners have seen their cushion on Manchester City cut to four points after a bruising encounter in west London.
In a tight first half the best chance fell to Igor Thiago, but his header was kept out by a diving David Raya. Arsenal managed a solitary shot in the first 45 minutes, but improved after the break.
Noni Madueke gave them the lead when he climbed highest to nod Piero Hincapie’s cross into the corner. Keane Lewis-Potter spurned a great chance to make it 1-1 with a header from a deep corner, but made amends soon after as Brentford’s long throw-ins came up trumps.
Michael Kayode’s throw was flicked on by Sepp van den Berg and Lewis-Potter beat Martin Odegaard to the ball to send a diving header into the net. It could have been even worse, had Cristian Mosquera not summoned a perfectly-timed last-ditch tackle to deny Thiago late on and the Brazilian not blasted over another chance in injury time.
In a dramatic end-to-end conclusion, Caoimhin Kelleher had to fly off his line to deny Gabriel Martinelli. Here are the talking points from a pulsating and potentially consequential match.
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1. Raya keeps old side out
Brentford had a dominant spell in the first half and looked odds-on to take the lead, only for their former goalkeeper to deny them. Raya was actually guilty of setting up Brentford’s best chance in the first half when his attempted roll out to Declan Rice presented the ball to Mathias Jenson.
Jenson’s cross was perfect for Thiago, whose header appeared certain to ripple the net. Yet Raya read the flight of the ball and flung himself to the left to paw away the Brazilian striker’s header. “My first thought is ‘can be do better?’ But you have to credit Raya for an unbelievable save,” said Peter Crouch on TNT Sports at half-time.
2. Eze flops
Eberechi Eze was handed a huge opportunity in west London. Barring the hat-trick against Tottenham in November, he has struggled to make an impact in the Premier League, more often than not finding himself on the substitutes’ bench.
Handed a first start in nine weeks, since a 2-1 win over Wolves on December 13, he failed to take his chance, with his most notable involvement to pull back Dango Ouattara to halt a possible Brentford break. Arteta didn’t waste time, hauling his summer signing off at half-time to bring on Martin Odegaard.
3. Madueke finds a way
Madueke is not a consistent goalscorer. His first of the Premier League season came when the Premier League intervened to overturn their original decision to award an own goal for Karl Darlow from his inswinging corner. And not many people would have predicted his second would come from a towering header.
But unlike Eze, Madueke took his opportunity. Just as Bukayo Saka was being readied on the Arsenal bench, the England winger produced a timely leap to loop a header into the corner past a helpless Kelleher.
4. Set piece FC
Arsenal are the undisputed best at attacking set pieces, but there is no doubt that in Kayode, Brentford have the best long throw-in taker in the Premier League. While some players struggle to reach into the box with the right trajectory, the Bees right-back is consistently threatening with his delivery.
It was his throw that Van den Berg got on the end of to send the ball dropping perfectly for Lewis-Potter on the edge of the six-yard box. Brentford head coach Keith Andrews is a former set piece coach and his replacement, Stephen Rice, has continued the lineage which has also included Nicolas Jover, who is now at Arsenal.
5. Title race heats up
This was always going to be a difficult assignment for Arsenal, with Brentford strong at home and in decent form. It also didn’t help that Manchester City’s mid-week game came before Arsenal’s – and their most comfortable of win over Fulham turned the screw on Arteta’s side.
They didn’t capitulate against an aggressive and well-organised Brentford, but in the circumstances this was still a slip-up.
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