When Arsenal suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of their archnemesis Manchester United FC, many wondered if they had the football guile to overcome a Brentford side that defeated Mikel Arteta’s men 2-0 at home in the previous campaign.
With Brazilian players such as Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhães all getting snubbed from national duty, many fans wondered if that in itself was going to provide them with the motivation needed to even perform better for further consideration by Brazilian coach Tite.
Brentford forward Toney was undoubtedly in a state of delirium after getting a call-up to the Three Lions squad due to his scintillating form that has seen him score 6 times and assist on two occasions for the Bees.
Arsenal’s dominance in the early stages of the game was evident and the Brentford defence did brilliantly to keep Arteta’s men at bay, but they would eventually get their reward in the 17th minute when William Saliba headed the ball in the back of the net when Saka delivered a delicious ball in the box through a corner to give the Gunners the lead.
Brentford continued getting into attacking positions through Toney and Mbeumo but chances on goal were very few and far between for the Bees who couldn’t quite find an open space in Arsenal’s defence.
Gabriel Jesus would soon get his fourth of the season when he latched on to pinpoint Granit Xhaka cross as Arsenal extended their lead to two goals.
There is no doubt that African Giant Thomas Partey is an essential ingredient in Arsenal’s recipe for success and that’s why his absence from the team due to injuries tends to affect the team’s shape, his presence most certainly made the difference as they headed into the break with a two nil lead.
The Gunners picked up the pieces and just simply continued where they left off as they took their tally to 3 goals when Fabio Vieira who came into the starting lineup to replace the injured Martin Odegaard in his first full debut in the Premier League scored a stunning goal from distance.
Perhaps one of the biggest moments of the game happened in the 90th minute when Mikel Arteta brought on Ethan Nwaneri as he became the youngest ever Premier League player in history.
The English player of Nigerian descent achieved this fate at 15 years, 181 days old, perhaps it’s worth noting that Bakayo Saka was already in school at the time of his birth in 2007, what an enormous day for the young lad.
Arteta in an interview said “It was a pure gut feeling. I met the boy, I really liked what I saw. He trained with us a couple of times. I had that feeling yesterday that if the opportunity could come, I would do it. He deserves it.”
Arsenal have only lost one Premier League match this season when they suffered a 3-1 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford at the beginning of September, but they have won all their six other matches to go top of the table with 18 points above defending Champions Manchester City who are sitting second with 17 points after round 7.
