Arsenal’s difficult run of form in the Premier League continued. Re-live an entertaining encounter with the best facts and live Opta data in our Arsenal vs Brentford stats page.
Yoane Wissa’s smart finish 16 minutes from time earned Brentford a 1-1 draw at Arsenal, who dropped points for the fifth time in seven Premier League matches to take Liverpool a step closer to the title.
Mikel Arteta’s men claimed a famous 3-0 Champions League win over Real Madrid in midweek and went into Saturday’s game on a high as a result, but they were frustrated and then pegged back by their visitors at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal finally made the breakthrough just past the hour; Declan Rice – the hero against Madrid – again playing a pivotal role as he reached a career-best 16 goal involvements (all comps) for the season when teeing up Thomas Partey.
But Brentford made the most of a rare sight of goal, Wissa taking his Premier League tally for the campaign to 15.
As a result, Arsenal failed to stoke the dying embers of their title hopes, with Liverpool now needing just three more victories to be confirmed as champions.
However, there was always a sense Arteta had one eye on next week’s UCL quarter-final second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu, with the likes of Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard only turned to as substitutes in the second half.
Of course, the Gunners will have expected to come up against stubborn opposition considering Brentford had more away points (15) in the Premier League this calendar year than any other team ahead of this weekend.
But they’ll still likely have been surprised at how little they created in front of their own fans in the first half, with Brentford difficult to break down.
Arsenal did put the ball in the back of the net in the first period, though Kieran Tierney – starting for the first time in the league since May 2023 – saw his header disallowed for straying just offside.
Their only other clear opening fell to Gabriel Martinelli, but his goal-bound effort was crucially blocked by Kristoffer Ajer.
Clearly, the presence of Saka and Gabriel Magalhães was missing for Arsenal, who recorded their most corners (10) in the first half of a Premier League game since March 2012 (11), and yet the famed set-piece specialists didn’t particularly worry Mark Flekken.
They did eventually score from a corner – it just happened to be from one of Brentford’s.
David Raya claimed the delivery and quickly released to Rice, who galloped all the way to the edge of the visitors’ box before slipping a pass into Partey’s path for a fairly straightforward finish.
Given Brentford had mustered just two shots until that point, it should’ve been enough.
But the Bees’ next corner wasn’t cleared quite as well, and when Michael Kayode’s cross was nodded back into the danger area by Nathan Collins, Wissa shifted his body brilliantly before hooking a finish over his shoulder and beyond Raya.
Arsenal’s inability to grab a late winner leaves them 10 points adrift of Liverpool, who face West Ham on Sunday.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Arsenal vs Brentford stats from their Premier League meeting at the Emirates Stadium.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
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