Arsenal were held to a 1\u20131 draw by Brentford on Thursday as a worrying lack of creativity hampered the leaders despite moments of control. The Gunners took the lead early in the second half, but Brentford responded well. Ten minutes after falling behind, the Bees equalised when Keane Lewis-Potter converted a header following a flick-on from one of Brentford\u2019s long throws.<\/p>\n
The draw left Arsenal feeling under pressure rather than in command; Brentford\u2019s late spell of pressure will make them view this as two points dropped. The lead atop the Premier League table has been cut from six points to four since the weekend.<\/p>\n
Squad availability further complicated Arsenal\u2019s display. Bukayo Saka and Martin \u00d8degaard both began the game on the bench after late fitness assessments. Kai Havertz was ruled out altogether and Mikel Merino remains out long-term. The absence of sharp creativity was particularly striking given the club\u2019s investment: the Gunners committed around \u00a3120 million to sign Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke last summer. Until Madueke\u2019s unlikely breakthrough header, neither player supplied the attacking spark expected for that level of investment.<\/p>\n
Neither Eze nor Madueke created a single chance in the first half and they combined for 0.05 in expected assists (xA) before half-time, with no shots on or off target. Viktor Gy\u00f6keres was starved of service in open play and finished the game without registering a single shot. Eze was substituted at half-time as Arteta brought on \u00d8degaard; the club captain briefly knitted play together and Arsenal\u2019s improved start to the second half produced the lead. Still, Madueke\u2019s goal may mask an otherwise limited overall impact.<\/p>\n
Player ratings
\nGK: David Raya \u2014 7.9: Needed to be sharp to keep out Igor Thiago\u2019s first-half header.
\nRB: Jurri\u00ebn Timber \u2014 6.6: Saw plenty of the ball but Hincapi\u00e9 on the other side did more with it.
\nCB: Cristhian Mosquera \u2014 7.2: Made several clearances when Brentford started the aerial bombardment in the second half. A brilliant recovery in stoppage time prevented Thiago winning it.
\nCB: Gabriel (c) \u2014 7.6: Made a shaky start to the game with a wayward back pass, then got booked just 20 minutes in for a late tackle. He settled down and led the defence well.
\nLB: Piero Hincapi\u00e9 \u2014 8.1: Strong performance up and down the left flank. Always ready to get forward and had his reward by setting up the breakthrough goal, but defensively strong as well.
\nCM: Mart\u00edn Zubimendi \u2014 6.6: Didn\u2019t have as much control as might be expected. Saw considerably less of the ball than his midfield partner.
\nCM: Declan Rice \u2014 7.8: Found himself locked in a battle with Brentford\u2019s Yehor Yarmolyuk that was fun to watch. As usual, strong on both sides of the ball.
\nRM: Noni Madueke \u2014 7.9: Very hit and miss in his first season as an Arsenal player. It looked like it was going to be the latter until coming out for the second half with a little more about him. Deserves credit for working hard out of possession.
\nAM: Eberechi Eze \u2014 6.0: Fans will be scratching their heads as to how his impact was so limited. Didn\u2019t return for the second half and needs to be doing much more.
\nLM: Leandro Trossard \u2014 7.2: Felt like a more natural threat than any of Arsenal\u2019s other front four.
\nST: Viktor Gy\u00f6keres \u2014 6.4: Didn\u2019t have a lot to feed off. Finished the game without a single shot.
\nSUB: Martin \u00d8degaard (46\u2019 for Eze) \u2014 6.4: On at half time for his first appearance since January. His presence briefly seemed to spark something Arsenal had been missing. Lacking match sharpness?
\nSUB: Bukayo Saka (70\u2019 for Madueke) \u2014 6.0: Hardly involved, which may be a question of fitness.
\nSUB: Riccardo Calafiori (81\u2019 for Hincapi\u00e9) \u2014 N\/A: Like for like swap at left back.
\nSUB: Gabriel Martinelli (81\u2019 for Trossard) \u2014 N\/A: Squandered a late chance with a poor touch
\nSubs not used: Kepa Arrizabalaga (GK), Ben White, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christian N\u00f8rgaard, Gabriel Jesus.<\/p>\n
Match statistics
\nPossession: Brentford 40% \u2014 Arsenal 60%
\nExpected Goals (xG): Brentford 1.34 \u2014 Arsenal 0.60
\nTotal Shots: Brentford 12 \u2014 Arsenal 7
\nShots on Target: Brentford 3 \u2014 Arsenal 2
\nBig Chances: Brentford 3 \u2014 Arsenal 1
\nPassing Accuracy: Brentford 75% \u2014 Arsenal 85%
\nFouls Committed: Brentford 12 \u2014 Arsenal 11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal held 1-1 by Brentford; creativity concerns persist despite Madueke’s crucial header. Ratings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381,728],"tags":[1162,1312,1304],"class_list":["post-6844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal-match-reports","category-brentford","tag-analytics","tag-arsenal-fitness","tag-benching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}