Arsenal left it late, but came away from Brentford with three points after an 89th minute Kai Havertz goal secured a 1-0 win for the Gunners.
It was tough going with the home side sitting very deep all night, but shakiness at the back also meant Declan Rice and Oleksandr Zinchenko had to clear off the line in the first and second halves respectively.
Mikel Arteta’s side dominated throughout though, and the goal might be seen as reward for that – one that puts us top of the table too.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Brentford 0-1 Arsenal match report and see the goal here
Brentford 0-1 Arsenal – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Havertz a goid day
What’s wrong with the VAR officials. Reply shows Jesus was on side, the first goal should stand don’t you think?
Trossard was offside, not GJ
To me it looked like (3) Arsenal players were offside when Saka crossed: Zinchenko, Jesus and Trossard
Replies showed that Trossard was ahead of the ball. Hence offside.
Ahead of the player heading the ball. Not the ball.
Both.
“A player is in an offside position if:
. . .
“Good gay”, he is 10 for me.
Some excellent goalkeeping from Rice and Zinchenko.
😂🤣😂
Speaking of which Ramsdale needs two ratings for each half. I can understand the nerves in the first half not with all this media attention but he was back to his calm self second half.
I saw Allison earlier today and he was a wreck. Had VAR to even save him further embarrassment but hey, the slander is only about the Arsenal guys in the sticks
The reason Ramsdale was calmer in the 2nd half was that at half time he’d been instructed not to play out from the back anymore but kick it long each time. Had he continued to play it out from the back it would have cost us a goal.
Proof for me that he’s inferior to Raya with the ball at his feet, Arteta made the right GK decision. This was not just nerves, this was the typical Ramsdale performance where he always gives you one heart stopping moment. Great guy but not the better keeper.
yeah, I’m so pleased Raya hasn’t given us any heart stopping moments…not at all!
You have dressing room access?
It’s actually impressive to come back from that howler he had in the first half to play so well the rest of the game, not easy to stay in the moment and not let that sort of thing get in your head
This is going to get me pelters but he made two mistakes, one massive and one a rick. That’s about the same as Raya in tough games too. The difference I see is Raya’s passing which is particularly important with Rice in and Partey out, to make those overloads to get in behind. Ramsdale has had his confidence shot. I thought he responded well overall but as with Raya, if those mistakes were punished, I would not be so positive about it. He is the goalkeeper that was in the team that should have won the league last season. He… Read more »
Would anyone else be inclined to keep Ramsdale in for Lens and Wolves? Let him feel some love and get some rhythm? It’s not like tossing a game to Turner or something, we know fine that he is a quality keeper. It seems to me that he might need a game or two to get the feeling back.
If Arteta had any serious plans to rotate keepers doing it in mind blocks might be an ok way to do it. Equally it could be the worst way 😂
Zinchenko really saved Ramsdale there, he was all over the place – no idea where his own goal line was and dived backwards into the net.
Zinch saved him AFTER giving the ball away!
Ziiiinch is great going forward but remains a liability on defence – he was totally AWOL 20 yards up the pitch for Mboueueueueuee’s break as well.
ZCD Zinchenko Can’t Defend.
Not really Dave’s point. The situation was the situation and Ramsdale was flapping.
Jeez! My blood pressure!
I demand a bonus rating 😄
I demand Jorginho to be rated! (not being on long enough to rate)
Exactly. Our Captain!
There is one!
I approve 🙌
And the bonus rating is 100% correct! Well done!
And Arseblog delivers 😎
(In case anyone wonders why I made my “demand” there was briefly no bonus rating)
i still cant see it.
The ghost at the feast tucks in at last
Bonus rating- 0/10 for that ref, what a pillock- explain the standards to the players and managers before kickoff, and then enforce those rules during the match, not at every corner.
Yeah that was incredibly frustrating. Also, he was gonna give a free kick against Rice at that corner whatever happened. Ridiculous.
He seemed to be intent on the game being boring and slow and 0-0, perhaps because he couldn’t keep up with the pace of the players (ours, but wissa and mbeumo aren’t exactly slow either), or perhaps he’d gotten his marching orders from the lads down Stokely park
Be fair, maybe not great but this guy was better than any other we’ve had this season.
He did seem intent on making sure every throw-in came from the correct spot. I started laughing–it was like a kids’ game.
Only if every referee followed the game as simple as that, it’s be much better
What we learned today:
1) Ramsdale’s confidence is no longer what is once was. Sad to see. I’d probably feel the same in his position.
2) Havertz is finally finding his groove and can win games for us. The second he came on, Arsenal really pushed for the winner.
3) The team is willing to play uglier football this season in order to win games.
Don’t think it’s a question of being willing to play ugly football to win, rather that we’re managing to impose our will and get results despite not managing to play our beautiful brand of football. That means there’s still lots of room to improve, which is exciting, and I’m sure Arteta will demand improvement on what we saw today.
I agree with everything apart from the Havertz bit. Yes, I’m delighted he’s scored from open play and hope that this helps his confidence grow to become the player we purchased from Chelsea but time for a reality check: it was an unchallenged header from 4 yards
Something Eddie would’ve missed (and has). It’s not as easy as it seems, it could’ve just as well glanced off his head or he could’ve shot in straight into the keeper. Instead, he shot it into the ground where it had a better chance of going in than had he plowed it chest height where Flekken would’ve saved.
So pleased with Aaron Ramsdale after that first 20mins or so. It’s clear he was rusty and low in confidence.. arteta managed to rectify that by stopping the play from the back in the 2nd half. Hope arteta gets the best out of the 2 goalies as what he intended. Big kudos to zinc and rice for that goal line clearance. Ohh and kai havertz….. He send us to the top of the league!!!!!
Im sad to say I think Ramsdale is done at Arsenal. He’d have to keep a clean sheet and score a hat trick for arteta to rate him. I get that Arteta is the manager and as such he gets to choose who plays, but what really grates is that he’s been less than honest about the whole saga/
Arteta has also ensured we get next to nothing for him in transfer fee as well by limiting playing time and destroying his confidence. What if Raya can’t hack it next season? Hein time?? Unlikely.
I don’t think so. I think there are several teams in the Prem that would love to have him.
It’s not a saga. The press made it a saga. What type of honesty is anyone really demanding? What managers would come out and say I’m bench a popular GK who hasn’t done much wrong? Did we ever stop to as what would public demotion would have done to him. There’s no winner in this situation. Everyone should just move on
Precisely – rather stop being click-bait suckers. Rambo ain’t going anywhere – he just needs a few matches to find his groove again. Just remember how young he is for a top-flight keeper… plenty of time to settle and grow.
This whole debacle is all on Arteta’s mismanagement
Ergh Arteta, am I right?! Trying to make our team better, even if it means some players having to let go of their ego. What a dick! Why cant he just be a nice guy who lets everyone play if they want, even if they aren’t right to make us the best we can be. Who cares about winning or being better? Sick of him!
Less than honest with whom? The media? Who cares? The players? I doubt it.
I’m sure arteta would have been delighted if Rambo rose to the challenge. He has a big 4 year deal. Raya is on loan. Arteta had concerns about Rambo ans I think his personality is a big one. I think he sees him as a bit frail ans childlike. Raya looks like an adult by comparison. Saka
Nelli saliba all younger – but never look it. Fact is ramsdales reaction to being challenged says a lot. I think we’ve moved beyond him. Feel same way about ESR. Ans that’s okay. It everyone can come for the ride.
Raya is a level above Ramsdale, it’s so clear.
Don’t agree at all. What he is, is more experienced, which makes him a little calmer and more composed – and yet he still pops in a few howlers!!
Both our keepers have deeply flawed distribution
when raya keeps making mistake in his early games, our manager keeps defending him, while Ramsdale made 2 mistakes, the manager really do nothing to defend Ramsdale
I don’t get this at all. Manager’s are never “honest” with the public and the media… who cares? He said much the same thing when Ramsdale came in for Leno, but we all knew the score. Imagine the media furrore if Arteta said “so basically, I always wanted to sign David Raya and Aaron was a compromise, but the opportunity presented itself and, whilst Aaron is good, I finally have the keeper I wanted”. He chose a line which protected the reputation of both players, and stuck with it, but we all knew the score the moment Raya was signed,… Read more »
What Arteta has done is the exact opposite of what he said he was going to do. He insisted that having two “world class” goalkeepers would push them both to be better. What it has actually done is make them both incredibly nervous any time they have to do literally anything as they are both worried about losing their place. We are one third of the way through the season and I swear I have already seen as many goalkeeping mistakes between the two of them as we usually see in an entire season. He needs to just pick one,… Read more »
Case in point: ten quid to whoever can name City’s backup keeper. Or Liverpool’s backup keeper. Or Sp*rs backup keeper. Or Manchester United’s backup keeper. Or even Newcastle, Brighton, or even Villa’s backup keeper.
The point is…this isn’t the position to fuck around with. You have your main keeper, and your cup keeper. Outfield positional depth is great. Goalkeeping? Apparently not so much.
Plus….can anyone name Man City’s assistant manager?
Absolutely, couldn’t agree more!!! Well said!!! Clearly(perhaps sadly) Arteta has made up his mind. I was quite surprised in post-match he chose not to answer about Ramsdale or even mention him by name when the questions came. Oh well
You’re making the assumption that Arteta says the same things to the English football media as he does the players and that is quite funny tbh
Yeahhh people on here were crying about how Arteta was an idiot because he sent Saliba on loan. Arteta hated Saliba, the player would leave us and stay in France, 100%!
We used to have such a knowledgeable fanbase – now we have fans melting down because we refuse to understand elementary football concepts like “player development” and “competition for places”.
Yeah “the goalkeeping position isn’t the position to fuck with”. How the hell did Ramsdale takeover the no.1 spot from Leno then? Please can we stop acting so fucking dumb.
Tsamina mina, eh, eh
Waka waka, eh, eh
60 Million down the drain
Kai Havertz Scores again
Havartz can’t get a zero when he won us the game!
Mistake – fixed now!
Can you sit in a VAR room for 100 minutes in your spare time?
Wasn’t a classic game to watch – but as far as classic moments go – I hope this is one that will live with us
Just massive today, but I’m not enjoying these games. Thank god the results are top. Chapeau everybody!
“Offside is offside ” unless it’s Newcastle and PGMOL decide they don’t want to draw the lines so it’s not so not
Depends in which millisecond you decide to pause the image. The ball is in contact with Jesus’ head for a few milliseconds and his body moved a few centimetres during that time. When margins are that small you can’t categorically prove he’s on or off, so the onfield decision should count.
Yea, that is a good point and further more which part of the boot do you start drawing the line one? It’s not objective enough, and marginal offside calls should benefit attacking team..that means maybe United would of beat us at emirates (garnacho offside goal), but still…today it’s like…maybe it’s 51% offside 49% onside, who knows, but with the camera angles and stuff it’s not good enough…at least AI should draw the lines.
*on
Since both Jesus and Trossard were ahead of the last defender, then the offside line is the ball itself, regardless of Jesus’ foot position
Three Arsenal players were offside when Saka delivered his cross (Jesus, Trossard and Zinchenko)
You really mean the onfield decision should count when it favours Arsenal
Looks like Bloggs missed Jorgi at the end 😀
this is the more defensively solid arsenal i’ve ever seen (bar the keeper today). a joy to watch tomiyasu, gabriel and willy play together behind rice.
as for the attacking part: we were absolutely dreadful, slow, and predictable. it’s funny how scorelines influence players rating: had we lost the game, there’s no way saka gets a 7. nor anybody upfront for that matter. we’re lacking creativity and it’s been a little bit frequent this season, but given it’s away at brentford, i’ll let it slide.
top of the league baby!
I wondered several times during the game who the home team was. I got the impression of a small team coming to The Emirates and playing for a draw with 11 men behind the ball.
Well, you know, it’s a bit silly to think that clubs like Brentford “should” play open, attacking football because they are home, even if they are playing teams with ten or fifty times their resources. They seem a lot less negative than Dyche’s Burnley or, God help us, West Brom or Stoke with Pulis.
Agreed, I thought they were very restrained and was pleased they didn’t resort to simply hacking at us. Refreshing when most/all other teams spend the whole game trying to take our legs out.
Brentford are a superbly organized, combative counter attacking side who epitomize the idea of the ‘whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts’ They don’t resort to just kicking anyone and deserve more credit for their positive contribution to the league. Please stop patronising and belittling clubs who have proved they are more than capable of beating us.
…? That’s what I was saying, that they weren’t resorting to kicking people…
Who would have thought the match result having an impact on the individual ratings?
Rice is most impactful at the 6, hope we can keep him there and find some productivity at the left from Trossard, Havertz or even Zinchenko.
You have given up on VIerra?
I just have to get this out like therapy, Jesus generally really is a poor finisher! I love him don’t get me wrong, im Brasilian myself and quite similar in style to Jesus but like 20 league levels below. But that header, he should have buried it and it never should been offside simply because he has to bury that one. It was such a poor header, completely free he was 3 meters from goal. Just saying, not sure if we drawed it would have been a subject or not. Or maybe I’m overreacting but I just got frustrated with… Read more »
I’ve scored more direct free kicks than middling prem player James ward prowse but you won’t hear me making comparisons…
I’ve scored nearly as many goals as Richarlison and Maupay combined this season.
I’ve won as many trophies as Harry Kane.
I’m less of a cunt than John Terry.
Completely agree, Eddie wouldn’t get away with that miss here!
In my opinion, Arteta has done more harm than good to Ramsdale’s confidence. He has destroyed the player just because he wants to promote his fellow countryman Raya. That’s really bad management. I expect Ramsdale to leave when the window reopens else he will miss the Euros.
It’s bad management at any job, and it’s going to cost us points or cash or both.
Yeah, I totally agree with you.
You lot totally agree that Raya is No. 1 because he’s Arteta’s “fellow countryman”…
This is just desperate, grasping, idiotic logic, and I think some of you need your heads examined.
I don’t believe for a second that Arteta picks players based on their nationality but the way he has mismanaged this whole situation there is a danger he has jeopardized the international careers of two very talented goalkeepers.
Unless we go and win the league with Raya, in which case the advertisements and sponsorships and prize money will dwarf whatever drop in value Ramsdale sees..? I find it a bit uncomfortable too, and seeing Ramsdale today as a bit of a shell of himself was pretty sad, but let’s not get carried away. Objectively, the headline is ‘manager replaces a player with a player he likes more’. This has happened a million times before, and a million times after. To suggest it’s based on nationality is f**king absurd by the way. It’s quite clear Raya is a different… Read more »
I never suggested it was based on nationality, that was op. Rather I was saying that arteta has damaged the value and confidence of the player through bad management. If your boss treated you in the same way, you’d probably be low on confidence and want to leave
Asked about Ramsdale’s performance on TNT Sports, Arteta said: ‘I’m so happy with the team, with the way they performed, we got the clean sheet and I’m so happy with how everybody played.’ Further asked on if it was understandable Ramsdale would be nervous due to the Brentford fans’ reception, Arteta added: ‘The team was exceptional today.’ ^ That’s shitty, honestly. Even if has lost faith in him, just say something nice like a normal person. Why does he have to fucking bury players who aren’t quite to his taste? No doubt sometime soon we’ll be seeing ‘exclusive insider stories’… Read more »
Low in confidence or not, Ramsadale still found time to wind up the home fans against Brentford. So it’s not as if he’s playing like a basket case.
You know Ramsdale is effectively under contract until 2027 right? He’s not mentioned leaving, we’ve not mentioned selling. He’s 25 and England number 2 (which he will remain as long as Southgate is there). Also we are top of the league with the best defensive record. I can’t see this costing us points or money.
Bullshit. Fight for your place at the highest level. This is Gary Neville’s narrative and he’s a cunt. Hop off that train mate
Ramsdale wasn’t bad. He was infact one of the positives from last season. Arteta hasn’t been honest in dealing with the situation.
True, when Ozil shoots a bouncer into the ground and hits the target he’s a genius, when Ramsdale does it we call it’s a mistake.
It did lead to a dangerous attack for us!
+0.15 xGC I’d argue
The margin for error for an attacker and the margin for error for a keeper are at polar extremes
In my opinion, Ramsdale looked weak the back end of last season, im confused with the ‘he’s done nothing wrong’ narrative, he clearly looked iffy and is clearly not as good at distribution as Raya and that is a massive part of Arteta’s gameplan.
As for ‘he’s ruined his confidence’, well I’m sorry, but that might be part of the problem, you’re a professional elite athlete, playing for one of the top clubs in world football; NO ONE is guaranteed a their place and that’s how it should be.
Agree with both of these points. He was part of why we leaked goals badly last year. His metrics backed it up, and he had his share of wtf moments. For those that want Arteta to be more honest? Frankly I think he’s doing Ramsdale a favor by being vague.
What we saw today was IMO evidence that the way Arteta wants the keeper to play to better our overall setup is difficult, and only Raya has the upside on the ball to play that way truly effectively. At least right now.
Both our keeper’s distribution leave much to be desired at the moment.
I agree with you 200%. It’s always quite funny to hear folks moan that Mikel isn’t treating Ramsdale well.
Harsh on Nketia, I think he did well save for the missed goal. Why we all love Saka, same kind of assist against Chelsea, he will always cook up sth real good. Big ups to Kai, he deserves all the accolades he gets today.
That was a tap in for Saka had Eddie just passed it. I had similar issues against Martinelli 2 seasons ago but now he has evolved that part of his game well. Eddie needs to pass as well if he wants to level himself up.
Troodat – Eddie seems like a really decent lad however he is undeniably ‘less than a team man’ on the field. He does not work for his team mates at anywhere near the required level for this Arsenal squad, and he repeatedly goes for glory (and butchers it!) when he has team mates in better positions to score. I will say it again: nothing against the lad but is he a title winning striker? Does he (will he ever) stand alongside Wrighty, TH14, Bergkamp, Anelka, Giroud, Ljuneberg, Kanu or even Wiltord, JA Reyes, Adebayor? We all know that answer. And… Read more »
He’s pants.
I know it’s not going to go down well with arseblog readers/Iwobi lovers. But I said it once, I said it hounded times – Nketiah is shite. ‘Oh but we have won. no need to talking shit, let’s focus on positives’. B@llocks. He needs go blud, he needs to go.
Iwobi would be great at the left 8 in our current setup.
Both Everton and Fulham have shown us what everyone knew for many years i.e. he is talented but with no end product.
Shite is a bit harch. Hes not good enough to be a starter for sure in a top team but off the bench id have him every day.
Not sure why you even mentioned Iwobi, as nothing you said has anything to do with him. And the saying is “if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times”. Clearly Nketiah is not shit though. He’s not my favourite player but he’s scored some important goals for us. I feel he kind of runs hot and cold. When he’s good, he’s excellent. When he’s not, he’s ineffective or looks disinterested. But we’ve had much worse players than Nketiah before… Yaya Sanogo, Christopher Wreh, Kaba Diawara… He’s ok as a backup. Can we do better? Yes, probably. Is… Read more »
We are going for title, that’s the point. You are comparing nketia with wreh, sanogo, diawara, can you not see
Gabriel Jesus is our number striker!! If there is frustration in our forward play or output it should be heavily on our lead striker. How are we giving so much stick to a backup striker when our 50M striker is barely available or productive. Nketiah kept us at the top for 4 months last year and when Jesus came back what happened?
Massive win today, everyone did what they were supposed to do.
I’d give Aaron a run of game , he was understandably nervous in the first half but then he show great composure.
Declan Rice and Zinchenko were the ones showing great composure
0/10 for Eddie was a bit harsh
Fixed!
But accurate 🤓
Maybe but he’s a championship player at best
That could do Havertz wonders.
We stuck at it against a really tricky team. It’s not easy to come away from Brentford with three points.
I slightly felt that this game put the Ramsdale/Raya debate to bed given Ramsdale’s first half (despite Raya having had many similar iffy moments). Given the way Arteta avoided speaking about him when asked I think we know who’s in goal in the next game.
Arteta has mismanaged this whole goalkeeping situation to the point of slapstick incompetence. I really wouldn’t blame either if Raya and Ramsdale both left the club to be managed by a proper professional
Dreadful game to watch, but Brentford away was not an easy fixture.
Very happy for Kai, hope this goal helps him grow into the team
.
VAR again! Look at the two different stills from different angles of the offside goal. In particular Jesus’ left foot. The angle where the lines are drawn has his foot much further from the six yard box than the other still. It doesn’t matter, we won but how have they made that happen.
It’s crazy, they should implement 40 cameras on each side of the pitch and hook it up to a computer with a sensor on the ball…the richest league in the world and they can’t fix a basic issue like offside
If we hold onto first from today on, even if havartz doesn’t score again this season 65 mill well spent.
Jorginho missed in the rating, he made 2 clearances Andrew!
I find it so sad that Ramsdale is in this position. He was doing great, and a real character. I can’t get behind Raya whilst Aaron is still at the club. It seems so wrong.
Arteta clearly wants Ramsdale out, can’t see him playing again this season, best for all if he moves in January, shame really, hope Arteta knows what he is doing ( clearly more to this than meets the eye).
it’s so funny to keep writing, “Saka not at his best…another goal contribution though” we love this boy!
Credit to Brentford. They nullified the threat of Martinelli and Saka throughout
I have literally been telling y’all since the day we signed him, Havertz is going to come good and we all just need to be patient and let him remember how to play in the midfield after Chelsea fucked him all up. Today was the first shoots of the Havertz tree that is going to grow into a massive player for us.
someone call a tree surgeon
Okay. Havertz-bot engaged. Let us see how he builds on from this.
Arteta created a problem we didn’t have. Sometimes we just make what is simple more complex. Ramsdale’s confidence has been damaged by the manager’s actions.
Good win at a ground where it’s never easy.
The entire Ramsdale situation is a bit blown up. Media started it and a lot of emotions are out there.
I like Rambo, teammates and fans like him. So if I were him, I would happily be at the club and fight for my place. It’s a situation that Reiss Nelson nicely dealt/dealing with.
The thing is.. Rammers is a better keeper; Raya a better passer. Arteta’s the boss.
The media started it? Arteta created a problem entirely of his own invention and turned two very good keepers into two nervous keepers who are both now too terrified to follow their own gut instincts
We are grinding results and are challenging with that problem right? Find some happiness mate…
Reading through the thread below – it’s clear that the ‘what to do about Eddie’ conundrum is polarising us all on here… and elsewhere. So here’s some simple, black ‘n white clarity – a short list of names: Henry Wright Van Persie Bergkamp Giroud Ljuneberg Anelka Kanu and even… Auba, Wiltord, JA Reyes, Adebayor, Alexis, Arshavin and Podolski (who actually got a goal or assist every 100 mins for us!). And an equally simple question: where – honestly – does Eddie rank on that list? The answer, for me, is that he’s a great lad but he is not a… Read more »
10/10: Going top of the league ahead of Villa battering Sp*rs tomorrow.
IT CAME TRUE!!!!!!!!!!