Arsenal allowed Liverpool to edge even closer to the Premier League title after drawing at home to Brentford, and Arne Slot’s Reds now need to just nine more points to secure the club’s 20th league title ahead of entertaining West Ham on Sunday.
The Gunners had made five changes to their starting line-up ahead of the trip to Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek, and they delivered a disjointed performance as a result, although Kieran Tierney saw a first half header disallowed for offside.
Thomas Partey finally made the breakthrough just after the hour mark when he fired home after a driving Declan Rice run, but there were few other efforts at goal from the hosts.
And they were punished for that 16 minutes from time when Yoane Wissa finished cleverly after a corner that Arsenal, who were lacking their usual physical dominance, had failed to clear. Here are the game’s main talking points as the real winners were Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta knew he was creating the first talking point of this game even before it kicked off, with the Arsenal boss making five changes from the Emirates Stadium’s greatest night against Real Madrid in midweek.
No chances can be taken in the Bernabeu – you have seen Real Madrid at home in the Champions League, haven’t you? – but were five changes a few too many? The Gunners aren’t the most creative side from open play at the best of times, and so removing Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka from the starting line-up was hardly going to help with that.
Could Arteta have started a few more of his main men and then taken them off early? Only he knows where they are fitness wise, but there’s no doubt that the teamsheet would have been gratefully received in the Brentford dressing room, and on Merseyside too, and Arsenal’s display for the first hour was hardly inspiring.
Tierney’s last Arsenal goal was in November 2022, but there was a moment when he headed in Ethan Nwaneri’s excellent cross when the Scot thought that drought was over. And it really was just a moment.
Semi-automated offsides have been around for a while in other competitions and so they aren’t really anything new, but there is a refreshing speed to the decisions that we simply weren’t getting before, and that is sure to help with the perception of VAR going forward. It is getting better, honest.
The CIES Football Observatory is a body that pops up every now and again to rank a few things, and they love a bit of controversy. This week their subject was the best goalkeepers in the world over the past year, and when it comes to the Premier League’s top stopper that was apparently… Mark Flekken.
Now the Brentford No.1 is a perfectly serviceable keeper, but the best in the league? His opposite number here has more has more of a claim to that throne, although it isn’t him either. At least David Raya was on hand to start the move which led to the Arsenal goal, as he set Rice galloping free to find Partey, who quite easily beat ‘the Premier League’s best goalkeeper’ as the Dutchman stood curiously still.
Seven Premier League goals in 2021-22, seven in 2022-23, 12 in 2023-24, and now 15 (in just 29 games) in 2024-25. At what point do you go from being underrated to just plain rated, because Wissa is surely there now?
The forward is one of the very best what he does in the division, and his finish here was a perfect example of the predatory instincts he’s shown throughout his time in England. He’s 28 now and so might have missed the boat when it comes to a big move, but you can think of plenty of clubs who could do with him.
It has been a curious season for Gabriel Martinelli. In fact it has been a curious few seasons. At his best the Brazilian can be unstoppable, but we see it all too fleetingly these days, and it seems like several of his opponents find it easy to get the better of him.
It was Kristoffer Ajer’s turn to do that here and he did so impressively both going forward and defensively. Martinelli will surely hold into his place for the Bernabeu, but could Arsenal do with upgrading him soon?
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