BRIGHTON, England — Arsenal’s lead at the top of the league has now extended to four points, thanks to a 1-1 draw at Brentford on Thursday. However, few rivals can claim a boost in morale from falling further behind in the title race.
Second-placed Manchester City added pressure on Arsenal by defeating Liverpool and comfortably beating Fulham prior to Arsenal’s visit to Gtech Community Stadium.
Despite the need for a strong response, Arsenal’s performance was lackluster and could have easily ended in defeat against a Brentford side continuing to exceed expectations.
A draw against seventh-placed Brentford isn’t disastrous, but with Manchester City closing the gap in the title race, Arsenal is only putting additional pressure on themselves by not securing points in matches like this one.
Declan Rice acknowledged that the draw was a setback in the title race and urged for calmness.
“You can’t be naïve and think this will be easy,” he stated. “We are facing the best teams week in and week out. We must keep striving and believe in ourselves, controlling what we can control.”
“We need to tune out the external chatter. We’ve been good at that. While people discuss the title race and Arsenal, we have a composed group.”
“Brentford are not to be underestimated. They are one of the top teams in the league, as their recent results show. It’s a point gained, but we had our sights on a win.”
Arsenal took the lead through a spectacular aerial effort from winger Noni Madueke, who connected with a cross from Piero Hincapié in the 61st minute. However, instead of building on that momentum, Arsenal found themselves retreating.
Despite having a set-piece coach in Nico Jover — who has a mural outside the Emirates Stadium — Arsenal was ironically reminded of their weaknesses by Brentford’s equalizer.
Brentford’s head coach Keith Andrews, formerly Thomas Frank’s set-piece coach, celebrated as Sepp van den Berg redirected a long throw from Michael Kayode, allowing Keane Lewis-Potter to score with a header past goalkeeper David Raya.
Gabriel Magalhães narrowly escaped a red card after a foul on Dango Ouattara while already on a yellow. Soon after, Igor Thiago came perilously close to scoring, with Rice making a crucial interception as Mikkel Damsgaard aimed for what could have been the winner.
At the other end, substitute Gabriel Martinelli took an extra touch before shooting, allowing Brentford’s goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher to pull off a remarkable save.
However, Arsenal did not play well enough to deserve a victory. Martinelli’s shot was just their second on target, as their attacking play remained disjointed for most of the match, aside from a brief spell at the start of the second half.
Viktor Gyökeres struggled to maintain possession, while Leandro Trossard remained isolated. It seemed Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta considered substituting Madeuke for Bukayo Saka just before the latter scored, but Saka’s later inclusion had no noticeable effect.
The player who bore the brunt of the criticism was Eberechi Eze, who was tasked with stepping up in place of Martin Ødegaard. However, his performance echoed Ødegaard’s style rather than showcasing his top form, leading to noticeable frustration from Arteta along the sideline.
At one point, Eze instructed Martín Zubimendi to advance beyond him to inject more dynamism into the attack, but it became clear with his halftime substitution that the decision was warranted.
“Given their pressing approach, we needed a different profile to create more problems for them in those areas,” Arteta explained post-match.
Still, it would be unjust to place the blame solely on Eze for Arsenal’s lackluster offensive display. This performance can be added to their list of lackluster goalless draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal have only secured two victories in their last six league matches, registering the 11th best shot conversion rate and the 12th highest expected goals figure (3.54) in the league during that time.
Despite managing to score three goals from open play against Sunderland the previous week, their goals have come predominantly when matches open up, and they continue to heavily depend on set pieces to break through against more defensive setups.
When assessing the percentage of goals from open play this season, Arsenal sits in 16th in the Premier League, according to ESPN Global Research.
Typically, Arsenal dominate games, but against Brentford, it was the home team that posed the greater threat. Kayode’s long throws were a constant menace, and Brentford matched Arsenal’s intensity in the box, creating the chaos both teams sought.
“We scored and were in total control of the game, but against them, that alone isn’t sufficient,” Arteta remarked. “A needless foul, a ball in the channel, and suddenly you’re under pressure. They are exceptional at capitalizing on chaos. Defending against their unpredictability is no easy task.”
In the grand scheme, Arsenal needs to take this result in stride. A draw away against a surprising opponent is a reasonable outcome, especially as they maintain their lead at the top.
However, Manchester City is looming closer in the background. Brentford’s fans chanted merrily, “Second again, ole ole,” hinting at the potential for Arsenal to finish as runners-up for the fourth consecutive year.
This is a prospect they must learn to dismiss in the coming months, as Rice emphasized, by continuing to push forward.