Arsenal fight back at Brentford as Gunners show they’re ready for Premier League title race despite injuries

LONDON — As Bryan Mbeumo drove in at David Raya’s near post, you could be forgiven for thinking that was that as far as Arsenal’s title race went. Nine points off a Liverpool side who are hitting the highest levels in Europe, with a game more played? Whatever Mikel Arteta might have said afterwards, it would have been a hard sell to convince anyone that Arsenal were turning that around.

Fortress G-Tech (is that from a JRPG?) might have been breached by Nottingham Forest before Christmas but Thomas Frank’s men are a fearsome opponent on their home turf, more than capable of adding to their 13th-minute opener. Brentford have spoiled big days for Arsenal before. West London was geeing itself up for the same again.

Much more than that, this just felt like the right sort of moment for Arsenal to run out of steam. Their first real test without Bukayo Saka and they’d have to do without Kai Havertz too, the perfect target for Raya’s press-breaking launches, sidelined with an illness. A few on the pitch looked worse for wear after New Year’s Eve too, Arteta confirming after the game that players “on the pitch and off the pitch” were battling the bug.

The left flank of Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli looked like it needed the reps it hadn’t gotten throughout the season. For half an hour, Gabriel Jesus traipsed across the pitch, his arms in the air in response to yet another duel where he’d been brushed away by Nathan Collins. The relentless churn across the frontline — Ethan Nwaneri in for his first Premier League start on the right flank — meant that their press was utterly neutered.

Take a spell in the 24th minute. A sideways pass along the Brentford backline to Sepp van den Berg and Martin Odegaard calls his troops forward. Nwaneri, sparky on the ball, needed instructions and was a little late to Keane Lewis-Potter. Still, the ball moved back infield, Jesus covering Collins. The slight issue? No one had picked up Christian Norgaard, showing for a straightforward pass from Mark Flekken up the middle of the pitch. In an instant, Brentford were advancing forward.

It felt cruelly appropriate that Odegaard, whose two-month absence in the autumn set Arsenal off course in the first place, should have a part to play in what felt like the end of the road. A rare loose pass was snared by Mikkel Damsgaard, in his frustration with himself the Arsenal captain chased the ball rather than getting back into shape. Calafiori found himself isolated against Mbeumo, the end result inevitable.

“When we went a goal down it became a big mountain to climb,” said Arteta. “The team showed a lot of composure, was very calm emotionally because we needed that in today’s game. They had the right desire as well to keep insisting, to keep attacking them and reading them in a way which is difficult.”

They showed composure in due time, certainly, but not in the immediate aftermath of Brentford’s opener. Had Raya not reacted with such urgency when he threatened to spill Lewis-Potter’s shot into his own net, pawing the ball to safety with a big left glove, then perhaps we would be saying the same about the title race.

“What’s going through my mind? Hopefully, the watch doesn’t vibrate. That’s it,” Arteta said. 

For a moment, the fear seemed to have gotten to Arsenal. Was it the sense that they couldn’t do this without Saka? Were they having flashbacks to Ivan Toney’s mullering of Ben White in the summer of 2021? Whatever it was, for a time the basics seemed to be missing from one of the best teams in England. They were back to that team who can’t do it on a wet, windy Wednesday in Stoke Hounslow.

That, however, is not this team. All they needed was a little push to remind them of that. Seconds after Raya’s save from himself, Gabriel Jesus, enjoying something of a poacher’s renaissance, scrambled home the rebound from Thomas Partey’s shot and Arsenal woke up again.

It took until the second half for their improvements to be meaningfully reflected on the scoreboard, the 11 obdurate Brentford bodies around the box slowing the Arsenal tide. Before too long that many defenders started to become more hindrance than help, Flekken crashing into what looked like half his team in attempting to clear a Nwaneri corner delivered with Saka-like dip into his six-yard box. Merino was on hand to turn home. He might not be the most elegant midfielder Arsenal have ever bought but Arteta didn’t sign him for pretty build-up play. He’s a box crash, bang, walloper, a big body whose mere presence can discombobulate defenders as big as Brentford’s.

“The density that they defend with when they are deep requires people with a lot of threat in the box,” said his manager. “He’s a master of that.” 

Merino came flying into the box once more three minutes later. He didn’t really do much off the latest Nwaneri cross. No matter, the ball deflected right into the path of Martinelli to volley home.

Arsenal had their 3-1 lead. It was more than they needed. It is becoming almost routine to note that this defense is the best there is. What shouldn’t go unremarked is how much better than the rest it might be. After Raya’s flap, Arsenal would give up just two shots in over an hour of football. For the fifth time in six league games, their opposition had shots worth less than 0.3 xG. We’re not at best-defense-in-the-sports levels anymore. This is up there with Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, a level of excellence that you cannot quite convince yourself is sustainable.

Those numbers speak to the sheer belligerence of this side. One goal conceded rarely begets two and in all of 2024 never led to any more. When they slip into moments of doubt, they drag themselves out. They will certainly not believe their league season is over.

Arsenal remain long shots undoubtedly, all the more so with Saka sidelined. Still, you wouldn’t put them yourself in their path. Win at Brighton on Saturday evening and the Gunners will sit just three points off the leaders before they face Manchester United. After that, Liverpool’s lead will be six points with a game in hand, enough to make them strong favorites. The other title rivals, however, know that it might only take an injury to one of those lynchpin players for familiar problems to hit Arne Slot.

It has been Arteta’s misfortune that that has happened twice, first Odegaard and now Saka. In all likelihood, the title would be out of reach for any team whose two best attackers both missed two-plus months. For now, however, Arsenal refuse to accept that reality.