For the second time this season, Kai Havertz’s head secured the points against Brentford as Arsenal edged a tight encounter 2-1 at the Emirates.
Declan Rice gave the Gunners a deserved lead on 19 minutes but Mikel Arteta’s side were made to sweat on an afternoon when Aaron Ramsdale marked his return to the side with a horrible mistake that led to Yoane Wissa’s equaliser just before the break.
The victory sends Arsenal top for the evening before all eyes turn to tomorrow’s huge game at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos had to say about a potential pivotal afternoon…
Mikel Arteta on the win…
It felt great, obviously we had to dig in and earn the right to win it, but I’m really pleased with the performance, the maturity, the emotional control that we showed, and how we overcame difficulties. If you want to be up there, you have to win these types of games and the team showed that it has the tools and especially the determination, and the belief to do so.
Source: Post-game press conference
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Thomas Frank on his side’s performance…
It seems to be the story of our season. We put an unbelievable shift in, fantastic fight. I’m extremely proud of the team. We came to the in-form team in the Premier League, the unbelievable Arsenal who have scored over 100 goals in the last seven games, something like that, and we kept them on the minimum. That is almost a defensive masterclass, in so many ways. You could actually argue we probably had the better chances before they scored to go 2-1 up. The players were very angry, they felt they were hard done by with the situation, the penalty shout on Havertz, where he’s clearly diving. The referee and the linesman should have seen it. And then it’s a second yellow [for him], it’s 11 vs 10 and 1-1.
Source: BBC Sport
Arsenal (1.30) 2-1 (1.05) Brentford
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) March 9, 2024
William Saliba on what was said at half time…
We said we have to come back in the second half to win. Everyone makes mistakes. In the last month, I made two mistakes and my team saved me. So we have to be together like this. In the second half he saved us because they had three good chances and he saved us. So that’s a good mentality from the team.
Source: beIN SPORTS
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Vitaly Janelt on Brentford’s habit of letting in late goals…
For me, it’s just disappointing that we always, not always, but quite a few late goals we concede. Especially Chelsea at home, today, against City it was quite late. We fight and play for each other for 90 odd minutes but we come home with one point or nothing. The last season or last two seasons, we got loads of points from the ‘Big Six’ but now we’re a bit unfortunate.
Source: Brentford FC
Arsenal now have two more points from the equivalent 28 fixtures from last season.
3 Sheff Utd A (Leeds) (-)
1 Brentford H (+2)
0 Man City A
1 Luton H (Southampton)
3 Brighton A
3 Aston Villa H— Orbinho (@Orbinho) March 9, 2024
Kai Havertz on a tough examination of Arsenal’s credentials…
It was a tough game. To play against this team is always tough. We believed until the end and turned it around. Sometimes that feeling is very, very good. There are still some games to play, we just want to focus on ourselves. I just try to work hard on the training pitch; I’m happy I scored again today. The whole squad is so important. We all want to reach the same goal so we all have to work hard together.
Source: Premier League Productions
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Arteta on Aaron Ramsdale’s performance…
Really happy, especially because he did exactly what he is, which is a person with a huge personality and courage, very determined. An error is part of football, it’s hard to react about it, especially for the keepers because it’s probably the most difficult position but he did it in an amazing way. I am not surprised because the whole team and whole stadium was behind him. He has that respect and admiration and really wanted to win for him that moment and he really helped us to win the game.
Source: Post-game press conference
Most players with 6+ goal involvements (goals + assists) in Europe’s big 5 leagues this season:
Arsenal – 9 players
Girona – 8
Bayern, Liverpool, PSG, Real Madrid – 7— David Wall (@1DavidWall) March 9, 2024
Martin Keown on Ramsdale going from zero to hero…
Thankfully we’re now talking about Ramsdale maybe being the hero with the two great saves he made. Havertz, really important goal. You can see the relief from Ramsdale and you feel it within the stadium. That’s a significant win for Arsenal.
Source: Premier League Productions
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Jamie Redknapp on the title race…
One of the best, that’s what makes it so enjoyable because we’ve obviously had so many battles with Liverpool and Manchester City over the years and they’ve been incredible. But now we’ve got a strong Arsenal team in the equation, it is genuinely hard to pick a winner. You go through history and you think, well Man City, they know how to do it, they’re going to go on a run because that’s what they do. But Arsenal and Liverpool are such a strong proposition. They’re in a good position. They’re mentally very well. I can’t really pick a winner right now
Source: Sky Sports
The #Arsenal have won 8 consecutive Premier League games while scoring 2+ goals each time for the first time since Jan-March 2004.
And we all know who won the title that year etc
— Tom Ede (@TomEde1) March 9, 2024
Havertz on being serenaded by the Emirates faithful…
As a kid, I think you dream that you’re going to have moments like this in your career and today I had something like this. [The supporters] made it very special to me and I’m very thankful to have this moment. Thank you to all of them.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Arteta on the energy of the crowd…
It was incredible the way the crowd reacted as well; how much they helped us again today, the energy they put in, the enthusiasm and the noise inside the stadium – I had a feeling we were going to score.
Source: Arsenal.com
The ball was in play for less than 50% of tonight's match between Arsenal and Brentford.
Total time: 105:01
Time in play: 49:26— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) March 9, 2024
William Saliba on whether Arsenal can win the title…
Yeah, of course.
Source: beIN SPORTS
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Arteta on enjoying tomorrow’s football…
Tomorrow is going to be a great day to watch some fantastic games of football, because there’s not only the Liverpool-City game, there are many other fantastic games. So, enjoy that and now fully focus on Porto. It’s a joy to be part of this league, to be part of something special that we are trying to achieve. And what we’ve done is done today and [there’s] nothing else tomorrow [to worry about]
Source: BBC Sport
Ya. Gunners. Ya. BIG win. Focused on Tuesday night now. pic.twitter.com/eTYAI5MS9C
— Kai Havertz (@kaihavertz29) March 9, 2024
Felt like one of those, we’ve just blitzed everything in front of us recently, this is an actual contest. I think we actually forgot how difficult every game should be the league. Brentford were very organised and we huffed and puffed. We missed Martinelli’s direct running today.
Hopeful he will be back for Tues vs Porto.
This game feels like the biggest clarification of everything that Arteta was trying to achieve with the summer transfer window; goals for Rice and Havertz whilst being integral to the way we played and then Ramsdale showing why despite his exceptional goal keeping ability just isn’t the right fit for the team we are building. There were points in the game where I could see the defenders avoiding playing it back to him and him spraying the ball long when a shorter option is available to a calm head.
We saw the best and worst of Ramsdale in this game, all the reasons why he’s no longer first choice and all the reasons why he still has a cult following. His shot stopping and reflexes are world class. He’s got a strong leg. He’s clearly been working on his launching from throws and kicks to start counters and made a couple of beautiful throws to Trossard. But he still lacks composure with the ball to feet and that means we cannot control games like this the same way we can with Raya. We conceded 9 shots and 5 on… Read more »
Whatever happens this summer and wherever Ramsdale ends up, someone will have a fantastic keeper on their books.
He would be ideal for Brentford.
Funny you should say that. TV showed Frank and Ramsdale having a conversation on the field. Post game.
It makes sense. They will try to get him on loan with us paying his wages because his salary is more than 2x that of Brentford’s top earner. They’re not about to pay him that AND a transfer fee.
Ramsdale is surely destined for a more competitive club than Brentford.
Who can afford him and need him badly enough to pay a transfer fee in addition to elite GK wages? City, Liverpool, Villa, Tottenham, MU, Newcastle have the money but don’t need keepers. West Ham would be a possibility, maybe Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest if they stay up but it would be a huge splurge for those clubs and they’d have to think hard about it with cheaper continental options available. MAYBE I could see Chelsea doing that since Sanchez didn’t work out. It wound’t be money well spent for them but they’ve shown they don’t care about that. He… Read more »
Swap 🥳
Spot on👊🏾
Did anyone else see the camera angle showing Arteta on the touchline telling him to play that ball long? Clearly part of the game plan for the day, but did it put Rambo in two minds at that point?
I thought Frank the wise, blessed with his wisdom and honesty, would also mention the 2 clear penalty not awarded to us….
Trossard one was ridiculous. What’s the point of VAR?!?!
Tierney has been possessed by Lee Mason … mind u Kai went doon easily. Big ups Rambo bring on Porto …
So did Garnacho in the early game
I think in hindsight this was not a game to play Jorginho and Rice together but one or the other. Rice can be good in the final third as he showed with his header but that’s not his natural game. I wanted him sniffing out Brentford counters and battling with Wissa and Toney instead of playing wall passes in the penalty box. The squad is a little short on options right now but I might have given Eddie a go in the Martinelli role. I keep banging the drum for this. Him and Trossard are not like for like and… Read more »
Look the numbers speak for themselves. We only generated 1.3 xG today. Brentford were really good off the ball but we played the type of game they wanted and almost didn’t win as a result. I’m Mikel’s biggest fan but sometimes he doesn’t get it right and today was one of those days.
Brentford did a pretty good job or replicating the Porto model of just making everything bitty. Never letting Arsenal get much flow/rhythm in the game
Exactly right. They used Porto as their blueprint for this game. It almost worked because the ball was out of play for 50 minutes again and when it was in play and we did have it, it was usually with a center back.
It was just because of the game state today. If we don’t concede before half time we have a very different game. We were comfortably leading the game till that point.
Not buying that. They tried to replicate Porto and almost succeeded. I don’t like when a recipe starts working against my team. Whatever about the stupid goal we conceded, it’s the lack of cutting edge up front that worries me because it means games can be decided by moments like that Ramsdale miscue.
“Lack of cutting edge upfront”? Are you for real? 2 goals yesterday, following god knows how many in the past couple of months. The last thing this team is missing is potency infront of goal.
Frank is just like Dyche but with a perm. His team are the dirtiest, cheatiest cunts in the league but he always deflects by finding some imaginary injustice that his poor brave underdogs have had to endure, never mind that half of them should’ve been sent off and the referee was a total bottle job. I hate them and wish they’d get relegated
Dyche u can understand hasn’t anything better to play with , Frank the Lidli or aldi klopp , he’s a wank .
Keep away from Toney , he s a wank too and nothing more to him , he’s a poor man’s striker . Watch real v rb the last night , their strikers are lite, either of them have serious hold up play and pace .
Sesko is like a new RVP and openda is bad ass asprilla , pace skills but lacking the polished finish, maybe even reminded me.of wiltord
Ivan Toney is not an Arteta player. I will eat my shirt if we sign that guy.
I think Toney would eat his shirt if that happened lol or if a lucrative bet was on!!!
Sesko could be a monster. Over 60 goals at 20 years old, physically huge – but surely there’ll be a big money fight for his signature with the usual chequebook clubs circling with silly money offers.
True but why buy a cheap version if anything hasn’t Rice shown if you invest in the top you get the immediate results and impact .
He be some long term investment too
I normally quite like Frank, but moaning about Havertz for diving when most of his team spent the entire second half going to ground in an attempt to win free kicks and waste time is (Frankly) ridiculous, and actually pretty shameful.
Havertz sought out and exaggerated contact in the penalty box. That is simulation but it’s a part of the game and not a bookable offense if real contact occurred. It’s going down when there was a lack of contact at all that usually gets booked. So Frank is not just bitter but wrong too.
That said, I was a little nervous about the incident because it’s VAR and we are Arsenal.
After that answer, I hope Saliba spiked the microphone into the ground, strapped on a jetpack, and blasted off to the moon.
Had to get all the way to the bottom to find the post to make me laugh out loud. Well played!
Can’t believe Ian Wright didn’t make more of Kia’s joke of a yellow card and Trossard being hauled to the ground in the box – stonewall penalty that!!! Brentford can count themselves lucky to have been in the game for so long – he their cheat been sent off for the haul on Trossard I think we’d have won 4-1
I have now sadly realized why Ramsdale is no longer our first choice. We have to trust that Raya is our first choice. All keepers make mistakes but if we didn’t win today it would have been a massive 2 points dropped and mentally a blow to the confidence of the team going forward.
“The ball was in play for less than 50% of tonight’s match between Arsenal and Brentford.”
Entirely deliberate by Brentford. They didn’t just play anti-football, they played no-football. Their loss was well deserved.
Well put. I don’t begrudge a team using whatever tactics they want to maximise their chances but let’s have less of the plucky underdog undone by a late goal nonsense. Only one team deserved to win that yesterday.
Thomas Frank`s players were absolutely classless in how they played. Brentford showed themselves to be dickheads, as is Thomas Frank.
For those still moaning about the Havertz ‘dive’, it would’ve been unnecessary IF the ref had given the penalty for the foul against Trossard. Probably would never have happened cuz we’d have wiped the floor with their jerseys already.
Seen so much guff written about Ramsdale this morning and had to remind myself how much guff was written about Raya when he was making mistakes. Journalists seem form their opinions around narratives. Luckily Arteta will ignore all the guff. I think he means exactly what he says, he sees Ramsey has the balls to play a passing game and knows he would refine it. May not be enough to knock Raya of the top spot but I actually think Ramsdale passed his audition yesterday
Mikel Arteta: He (Ramsdale’s) has that respect and admiration and (the team) really wanted to win for him that moment and he really helped us to win the game.
Martin Keown: Havertz, really important goal. You can see the relief from Ramsdale and you feel it within the stadium. That’s a significant win for Arsenal
A team with heart go far and a win like this makes us stronger!