Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Rice, Jorginho, Ødegaard, Saka, Trossard, Havertz
Subs: Hein, Cedric, Zinchenko, Partey, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Jesus, Nketiah
A huge night for Arsenal as they fought hard to beat a resilient Brentford side and go top of the Premier League, at least until the big game between Liverpool and Man City on Sunday.
Declan Rice’s headed opener was cancelled out by a nightmarish error for the returning Aaron Ramsdale, whose kick was blocked into his own net by Wissa. But Kai Havertz showed strikers instincts late on to grab a last minute winner and secure an oh so important three points for the Gunners.
Pre Match
Arsenal were keen to keep momentum rolling as they welcomed Brentford to the Emirates. Last season’s meeting in north London was overshadowed by poor officiating and inexplicable negligence from the VAR room, so it was reassuring to know that Paul Tierney, who made an error in the Nottingham Forest v Liverpool match last weekend, would be serving his punishment by, er, taking the reigns on VAR for this one.
In terms of team news, Arteta was forced into one change in attack, with Martinelli still recovering from a cut foot, whilst Ramsdale started in place of the ineligible Raya.
First Half
Arsenal started brightly, with an early attack leading to a corner, which the home faithful welcome *almost* as warmly as penalties these days, but Kiwior just failed to make contact with a sumptuous Rice delivery.
Ten minutes in, Gabriel saw his man get goal side so briefly pulled his shirt, the referee deemed it worthy of a yellow.
Ramsdale announced his return to the side with a ridiculously good throw, which clocked well over half the pitch, to feed Trossard in behind but Brentford’s defenders scrambled and the attack petered out.
Just before the 20 minute mark, Arsenal broke the deadlock thru the always reliable and ever-more mercurial Declan Rice. White delivered a brilliant cross from the right of the penalty box and Rice was head and shoulders above his man to head home. 1-0 to The Arsenal.
Following the opener, the Gunners really started to purr. Ødegaard smooth operator in-chief, working brilliantly in small spaces to find room: notably providing a shooting opportunities for himself and Havertz, but both were relatively tame in the end.
Havertz came very, very close to bagging Arsenal’s second on 35 mins after being put in behind by Jorginho, but the German just clipped his effort wide. Alas, the flag went up afterwards anyway.
Havertz joined Gabriel in the book when his flailing arm caught Ajer in the face, in what was a pretty normal motion of competing for a header.
Then just before half time, the unthinkable (or predictable) happened to Aaron Ramsdale as his attempted clearance was blocked by Wissa and deflected into the open net. The stuff of nightmares for the now deputy keeper, and a mistake that could condemn his Arsenal future once and for all. 1-1.
Second Half
Arsenal came out swinging, immediately penning a very organised Brentford back. Saka wound up for a long range effort from outside the box, but blazed over the bar.
A scary moment on 55 mins as Toney thrashed the ball from near the half way line and his swerving effort nearly caught Ramsdale out, but he managed to reach the ball and tip it behind. A good save.
At the other end, a barrage of Arsenal corners led to Gabriel having a shout for a penalty and then a header saved in an eventful few passages of play for the Brazilian.
Then it was Trossard who was brought down in the area, clearly pulled back over his shoulder. The referee didn’t see it, then VAR checked but somehow deemed it no penalty. A timely reminder that it was Paul Tierney on VAR, serving his ‘punishment’ for an error made last weekend.
Arsenal’s first substitution of the evening came in the 69th minute when Jesus replaced Jorginho. Just after the former finished jogging onto the pitch, he saw Ramsdale make a brilliant save to deny Brentford a potential winner – doing all he could to redeem himself.
Declan Rice couldn’t have come closer to a second if he tried when Ødegaard laid it back to him following a corner, but his wonderful, curling, long range effort was denied by the angle of post and crossbar.
Just as it looked as if the fire in Arsenal’s belly was waning, on 87 minutes, Kai Havertz came up clutch and sent the Emirates into pandemonium by grabbing a late, late goal. His header flew home after another fantastic ball from Ben White. 2-1.
Roller coaster
Breathtakingly awesome ³ points!
We needed this type of tough, resilient, testing win. We. Weren’t at our best even if we were controlled the game. Now we know what we are made off.
Havertz secured 6 points against Brentford.
Can we have a pole, who’s the bigger shot, Toney or Maupay?
Havertz you beauty!
Ben White you double beauty!
Declan you beauty!
Best £105m and £65m signings of the summer! Let’s enjoy this moment at the top of the league!
nice kick about with the boys
Kai Havertz going from shanking every volley in a pre-season friendly challenge to slapping Gabriel’s ass in the 97th minute of a match he scored the winner in is the kind of character development I can get behind
I loved that the audio of that spank was caught by the mics. Havertz made real good contact with that one.
If that’s not worth 65mil, I wonder what is
Mason Mount
Gabriel had a hand mark on his ass for days after that. Perfect contact made!!
Wow, talk about a throwback.
Take a bow, Mr. Ben White!
Benjamin White, that is.
I’ll say it again. Fuck off, cosmopolitan Stoke
Frustrating game and the 2-1 will do. Dirty Brentford, shit biased ref but onwards we march!
Clear and obvious error my arse!
The ref had a good game, at least from a TV perspective
Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh!!!!!!!
Fack
60 million down the fucking drain, mate.
Love this team.
Waka Waka
Benny Blanco spreading the love today, the Bronzed Brit at again.
I like White Rice
Ramsdale:
Handling: ✅
Kicking: ✅
Awareness: ✅
Reflexes: ✅
Positioning: ✅
Distribution: ✅
Ball at his feet: (Nobody gives a fuck)
Tears in my eyes: ✅
Rating: 9/10
You need some help
I bet the Ramsdale tattoo speaks to him …
bit harsh
You’re right, especially coming from one who should be a moderator of free opinion from all of us.
Every positive thing I’ve said on here about Ramsdale has been removed or ridiculed. I’m confused what the guy ever did to get the crp he does.
Sad he didn’t get a clean sheet in his last ever game. I wish him the best, and I also wish we don’t sign Raya.
He didn’t get a clean sheet purely because he messed up. I love Rambo and he is a great shot stopper but he is way too emotional and his distribution was crap today. Raya is a much better keeper and there is no room for sentiment if you want to be champions. He’s served us well but it’s time to move on.
Also… he’s not going to shag you.
Where is the LOVE THIS button.
Hello Aaron.
So happy for Havertz. I’m a bit sad for Ramsdale, but we got the victory.
Two saves to keep us at 1-1. Happy for him
Honestly judging from the reaction it doesn’t look like it fazed him too much. Like don’t get me wrong I’m sure it hurt, but we know there’s an acceptance that there is an element of risk with this system of playing where sometimes goalkeepers (particularly ones who haven’t played in a while) are going to make mistakes. He got over it quickly, made a series of great saves, bantered the Brentford fans when we scored, and looked pretty relaxed and happy come full time. I almost wonder whether we as fans attribute more embarrassment to goalkeeping mistakes than goalkeepers themselves… Read more »
He showed awesome character and made some good saves. On the day, overall positive, but a tight one!
Brentford are Cunts
Toney is the worst of the lot
The last fucking player I’d like to see at Arsenal. Him and that rat faced cunt Maupay.
I feel the same.
But I also thought that about Jorginho, and now I’m hoping we can extend his contract.
Funny. I think he’s a dick AND I wouldn’t mind seeing him in red and white. Better in the tent pissing outwards etc.
Hope we don’t sign him.
If he spent as much time trying to score as he did trying to get Gabby sent off……
Screw the 6 Nations. Saliba vs Toney was much more physical. Schooled him.
Ramsdale is understandably rusty but that’s the kind of mistake that could have cost us the title. Sayonara. Thks fr th mmrs
And the kind of saves that could win us the league.
Making a couple of good saves is literally his job. Doing his job doesn’t redeem him for literally gifting them a goal.
Raya made similar mistakes early on. The way we ask a GK to play is like an outfield player and coming in cold is as difficult as it would be anywhere else on the pitch, just with much higher stakes. Ramsdale is an excellent player who loves the club and is loved by everyone connected with the club who has their head screwed on. At the same time, Raya is rightly our number 1.
Can I agree and disagree with this 😂
Raya is not good enough to be Arsenal no1, his mistakes were worse and more frequent.
Raya cost us the game against Porto 2 weeks ago. Just sayin.
🙄🙄🙄🙄
Partey was a rusted old ship at the bottom off the Atlantic Ocean compared to Ramsdale …
A thoroughly enjoyable Saturday evening’s entertainment.
Ramsdale showed the good and the bad side of his game, while Havertz showed us why we were all wrong about him.
It should have been easier: ref/VAR complete c**ts for not giving us two clear penalties. But who cares: we got there in the end.
Havertz MOTM for me.
while Havertz showed us why we were all wrong about him.
oh no you don’t, he showed you mate, a few others too, but not all of us were wrong about him
Hopefully it showed people it to judge so quickly. He has literally created chances the entire season just was missing them at first. Assists and goals
Sorry, that’s bollocks. He was fkn shit first half of the season. He’s been better since Dubai and it’s now apparent he’s best played up front in this team. He’s not great in the #8 role. For 65mil I still say we over-spent.
Shut up, you tart!!
Consistently wrong and consistently obnoxious, what a combination.
I’m never wrong!!! It’s just sometimes I’m not completely right!!
😂😂
By the way: if you are going to criticise me then at least have the decency to punctuate your post properly! Where are the capitals and quotation marks?
I mean, you literally called someone a tart. Lol
I don’t really approve of name calling, but that was quite funny, come on!
In London the word “tart” means something completely different -especially if you say it to a man.
Watch a bit of British television if you don’t believe me.
I’ve recently become addicted to Morrisons jam tarts (lemon curd variety specifically).
Are you serious? 😅
We all judged him on his price tag. Quite clearly wrongly.
Title race? I’m ready to be hurt again! Come on you gunners
Brentford are a shit stoke. VAR are definitely trying to cost arsenal the title. Those shirt pulls and wrestling moves Brentford were trying on set pieces were all fucking penalties. Glad they lost and hope they get relegated next season. Get in Arsenal. Fantastic character and Rammers made up for his mistake with some big saves and some solid distribution in the second half when he could have shrunk.
What do you expect with that rat-faced corrupt Tierney in charge of VAR.
Liverpool would get those two penalties at Anfied
all day long!
We are going to have to play a lot, lot, better than that if we’re gonna get past Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday. Porto are a much better side than Brentford and they will employ exactly the same tactics.
feel like we have a massive task ahead of us with that game, need our absolute sharpest and most comitted performance to get past them. Don’t fancy penalties there either, let’s score 2 and then give them a taste of their own medicine
Luckily we have been playing much better than that in most recent games. Porto will be a hard match but you can’t read too much into this.
Phew!!! That was close!!! Havertz MOTM👏🏼. Amazing how Ramsdale and Havertz’ performances today somewhat proved Arteta right on the 2 most controversial decisions he made at the start of the season – bring in havertz and raya. Incredible result!
But hey ! A massive middle finger to u the cunt of a ref, VAR Paul Tierney, toney and maupay!!! And if Porto tries to rehash a Brentford on Tuesday, then fuck them too!!!
With Raya we would have probably lost the game 3:2. He wouldn’t have stopped those 3 attempts on goals, which Aaron kept out by his finger tips.
How about Raya not making the happening in the first place?
Yes, goalkeepers duties are to save shots and goals. But how about a goalkeeper who prevents the shots from happening in the first place?
Prevention is better than cure, you know?
I believe with Raya in the side today, Brentford would have had 0 shots on targets. So no need for him to save anything.
Eh?? So how would Raya have prevented Toney taking that shot?
That’s just random .. Raya doesn’t concede that goal and the psychology of the game is completely different ..
This one’s for the anti-Raya brigade. Were Raya starting today: 1. He would’ve earned yet another clean sheet. 2. We would’ve won by a more comfortable margin. 3. The post-match reports would all claim he had “nothing to do”. Raya has been excellent for Arsenal recently. He has has more clean sheets than any other keeper in the league this season. He’s going to continue to get better, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Delusional online screechers will ceaselessly demand Arteta dump key players in a winning team just to shoehorn in their personal favourites. It doesn’t matter… Read more »
the odds in betting platforms were extremely one sided for us, which i found weird. anyone who knows arsenal, anyone who knows brentford, anyone who watches the premier league knew this was a match we could definitely lose. and a few years ago it was a match we definitely would. after so long, we finally have big cojones!!!! coyg
Take note, Deeney Troy(I hope I spelt that right).😀
Bookmakers’ odds are not mathematical probabilities. They are calculated to make profits regardless of results. Bookmakers know Arsenal and Brentford and the Premier League really well.
Declan and Kai have to be the signings of the season.
Very unpredictable ref. Brutal var as well.
2 pullbacks in the box…. Nothing.
Same kinda thing by Gabriel….. foul and a yellow.
Scary officiating
I think Rice is a decent footballer.
He and the others did play a bit today right?
Today is a good day to Kai
Arteta snuck our 100m striker through the back door
60 million down the drain
Humble pie for me again
Well you can’t win them all by 4 or 5 goals.
You can. #ArtetaOut. And no goals from set pieces today. Unacceptable. #JoverOut.
Well when you put it like that….. maybe they should give that Villa manager a try? He looks the real deal.
Should have been a 2bd yellow for Kai for diving most likely. But seeing Brentford getting away with anything in their own box I think not giving a second yellow is fair
Should have been two penalties to us anyway.
He didn’t dive, there was contact and he fell over. The Brentford manager trying to deflect from his own bunch of dirty cheating cunts by latching on to some supposed injustice, a typical Dyche tactic. Don’t fall for it. We should’ve had two clear penalties.
Bows to Edu/Arteta, masterclass signings I even doubted price tag on Declan rice. Loved that Kai Havertz was mad at himself for missing that first half chance, could tell he still put the next one away. Premier league or not, we are matching forward.
Only 2 measly goals? Arteta out! And take that “65m-down-the-drain” Harvertz with you.
#ArtetaOut
that was interesting. Its been a while since we had to worry about a result, but even then, it was more a matter of when we’d get the winner not if.
Havertz is a nightmare for opposing teams, his movement off the ball is unbelievably good.
He usually looks so sluggish and tired but really comes alive when chasing a ball. It’s almost as if he’s faking the weak and tired demeanor.
It’s just his gait, he works hard on and off the ball. He’s just a bit unusual for a player of that size, his skill set is very unusual for a tall player.
The team was a bit arrogant. The passing did not float so effortlessly as in the last matches. Old sins were back – people wanting to do genial things or do it by themselves.
Also, our left was pretty much dead without Martinelli. Trossard was very silent and should have beeb substituted at half time.
Agree that the passing was not as effortless as we’ve gotten used to seeing from this Arsenal team. But the reason is not arrogance from Arsenal, it’s the tactics Brentford applied. They broke up the game literally every 2 minutes by fouling or their players going down at the slightest contact in a way as if they’ve suffered a season ending injury. Plus they were assisted by the refereeing. I think a bit of arrogance (in game play as a team and not in individual character) is actually needed to play on a consistent basis the kind of imperious football… Read more »
Please let’s have at least 9/10 rating for Ben White. His 2 superb assists won us 3 points today
Always felt like that was gonna be a nervy game. Not sure I can take 10 more of these
There’s going to be a few more twists and turns before it’s all over. Better to be in the thick of it than battling for a champions league spot. The Manchester city game is going to be nerve-wracking.
Rammers knew we needed some practice under pressure for Wednesday night! Bright it on!!
Did Havertz dive? Could only listen to the game. Not that I care that much! Get in, top of the league!!!
What is the point of diving in the VAR era? You know you’re only gonna get booked. He fell over.
Just interested as that’s all we’re gonna hear about
You must be joking–players dive all the time. What the VAR era has stopped is violent conduct off the ball where neither the referee not the assistant are watching. Well, unless the VAR doesn’t understand the laws (as distinct from simply making a different judgment). See, Guimares, Bruno,
Martinelli’s absence was highly felt today… Thumbs up to Ramsdale for a redeeming second half performance
Felt bad for Ramsdale because he is very good but these errors are just infuriating because it ruins what would have been a pretty seamless game from him. and they are easy errors. People talking about being rusty and he hasn’t had games. The man is a professional and is capable with his feet. Saliba was 5 yards away under no pressure. Liked that we had to earn the win and fight through some injustices as its only going to get worse from now. Havertz continues to be some weird hybrid of Giroud, Muller and Ozil and im loving it.… Read more »
Amazing, looks like I’ll be spending another 10 hours with Arsenal podcasts in the next three days.
Paul Tierney should never be allowed to officiate in any capacity, utter dross!!! As clear a penalty as you could ask for, he obviously has a love in with liverpoo
If that was Ramsdale‘s last game, I’m not sure it could gone better for a fan. For me at least. A significant error that assuages my angst about Raya, coupled with some incredible saves and smiles that will assure I always love him.
A gutsy win. We really had to work for that. Those saying the mistake spells the end for Ramsdale’s Arsenal career, it might but Raya made some huge clangers when he first came in too. He more than made up for it with a couple of fantastic saves. Also props to Havertz again who has again shown us all what character is. I hate to gloat but I did say he just needed time. The guy is an incredible talent as evidenced by his Leverkusen days. And Ben White. Talk about consistency. He and Rice just show up every match.… Read more »
That wasn’t rustiness from Ramsdale, that was just shyte. Gotta feel for him, but he redeemed himself with those saves.
Ben White was man of that match. Top player, he makes so few mistakes. I love the way he surreptitiously scares the fuck out of the opposition.
3 goals in a row either scored or assisted by Ben White, what a man