04/12/2025 – Arsenal 2- 0 Brentford “Not Vintage but Vital: Arsenal See Off Brentford”

We got the job done last night, not a vintage performance by any means but you must win these games if you have any intentions of winning the league. Brentford thankfully rested four of their best players in Thiago, Damsgaard, Henderson and Collins, had they of started, I feel it could’ve gone a different way. There were just the two changes for Arsenal with Saka and Timber getting a rest. Well, we assumed Timber would get the whole game to rest but yet another injury, this time Mosquera meant he had to step in earlier than expected.

We started the game brilliantly having lots of possession and putting Brentford under pressure, Madueke was electric in the first half linking up perfectly with White not only for the first goal but in general too. Ben White put in a man of the match performance that I feel he really needed, his appearances this season have been limited and unimpressive but last night he stood out and made a real difference. A very honourable mention though to Mikel Merino yet again popping up with a great goal and a perfect assist for Saka’s goal. He played a few different positions similarly to against Chelsea and he ran his socks off all game. In the first half we created enough opportunities to blow Brentford away but unfortunately it was just 1-0 at the break.

When we came out for the second half we looked like a different team, the intensity dropped as well as the desire to retain the ball and play attacking football. With respect to Brentford, I thought they played well in the second half, they had much more possession and kept the pressure on us. It had the feeling that we would be walking away with a draw, rueing the missed chances in the first half. Arteta needed to rely on Saka off the bench to make a difference and he injected some energy into the game. Eze though came off the bench onto the left wing, and I thought he had a shocker, he didn’t manage to beat his man once and his ball retention was awful. Timber needing to be subbed on in the first half created some sub difficulties later in the game as we were left with one substitution break after bringing Saka and Eze on. I thought we spent the last 25 minutes of the game on the back foot and we looked very leggy. Rice looked like he might collapse long before he eventually got taken off. Despite not being at our best though a 2-0 win is a perfect result, we relied heavily on our defence, but they stood firm and gave us the opportunity to draw Brentford onto us, leaving the space for Merino to play a beautiful ball to Saka who finished the game off.

Overall, we were mediocre but got the result we needed heading to Villa Park for the 12:30 KO on Saturday. Just on that note we have the right to feel hard done by being the early game on Saturday with just two full days rest for the players before travelling up to Birmingham. Villa have been a bogey team for us for a few seasons now and I expect the same this weekend. I would take a draw now if I were offered one, Villa are six points behind us with the opportunity to cut that to three. They are on a good run having won their last four league games and with Watkins getting his first two goals of the season at the weekend, he has hit the back at the net at a perfect time for them. I am definitely not confident, especially with Timber and Hincapie being our centre back partnership but let’s see what happens. Once we are past Villa, we have another midweek trip away to Club Brugge before we face bottom of the table Wolves on the 13^th of December.

COYG!!

The Northbank Blogger.

Match Ratings:

Raya 8/10

White 9/10

Mosquera N/A

Hincapie 7/10

Califiori 8/10

Zubimendi 7/10

Rice 7/10

Odegaard 7.5/10

Madueke 7.5/10

Merino 8.5/10

Martinelli 6/10

Subs:

Saka 8/10                        Timber 7/10

Eze 5/10                          Gyokores N/A

Predicted Lineup:

Raya

White

Timber

Hincapie

Califiori

Zubimendi

Rice

Odegaard

Saka

Merino

Eze