Arsenal were unable to reproduce their midweek form against Real Madrid as they were held to a disappointing draw by Brentford.
Manager Mikel Arteta rotated heavily, with Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jurrien Timber among the players left on the bench.
Arsenal created little in a drab first half — Kieran Tierney had a goal ruled out for offside — but were more of a threat after the break and opened the scoring when Thomas Partey finished off a rapid counter-attack.
That was the signal for those four rested players to enter the action, but they could not help their side hold onto their lead, with Yoane Wissa prodding in after good approach play by Bryan Mbeumo.
Saka had an excellent chance to score the winner after Mark Flekken committed himself and failed to get the ball, temporarily leaving the Arsenal winger with a clear sight of goal. But Brentford’s defenders got back quickly, and the chance disappeared as promptly as it had arrived.
The result leaves Arsenal 10 points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
Art de Roche and Liam Tharme analyse the key talking points.
How did Arsenal react to the high of beating Madrid?
Arsenal hosting Brentford was always going to pale in comparison to the highlight of a 3-0 Champions League quarter-final win over Real Madrid.
With the second leg coming up on Wednesday, Arteta made five changes to his starting line-up — just as he did for the draw at Everton ahead of the first leg. With that came some natural changes to the rhythm and flow in which Arsenal played the game.
Oleksandr Zinchenko made his first league start for Arsenal in midfield but was not able to exert the same influence as Odegaard often does. That saw William Saliba take a more active approach in Arsenal’s build-up, whether that be by dribbling forward with the ball himself or finding Gabriel Martinelli with a lovely faded pass in behind.
Arsenal won 10 corners in the first half alone and three in the second, but without Gabriel or Mikel Merino to aim for, they mixed up their deliveries more than usual. Before facing Brentford, just 10 of their total corners in the league had been taken short. This afternoon, there were four such instances in the first half, showing how different they had to be to pose a threat before Merino came on.
The quick thinking of David Raya and Declan Rice teed up Partey nicely, but they could have been more alert collectively on the second phase of the corner from which Wissa equalised.
Art de Roche
Raya, unlikely counter-attacking weapon
As soon as Partey’s shot hit the net, Saliba ran over to Raya. Arsenal’s goalkeeper had turned defence into attack by catching Mbeumo’s inswinging corner, and, by rolling the ball to Rice for a box-to-box dribble, launched the counter-attack which Arsenal needed to break Brentford open.
It was Raya’s seventh thrown pass of the game (he has only made more in two league matches this season), trying to make this moment happen before it did. In the first half, there were throws out to Martinelli to try to utilise his pace. Only four minutes before the goal, he had made a similar throw to Rice to try to initiate a fast break.
Arsenal celebrate Partey’s goal (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Arteta’s prioritisation of possession and territorial control means transitional attacks are seen less often, but they have been important for Arsenal in recent weeks because they have lacked the structure of a focal point up front. With Leandro Trossard leading the line against Brentford, they had pace aplenty with Martinelli and Ethan Nwaneri on either side, and Rice built his game at West Ham United on big driving runs.
Signing Raya from Brentford has been fundamental in raising the floor of the defence, but his distribution is key to supporting their attacking patterns. Here, it was all about his box commanding and smarts to claim, weave through traffic and find Rice’s forward run.
Liam Tharme
A display to shape forward recruitment?
Before Saka joined Martinelli in the front line in the second half, too many Arsenal players were looking for the ball to feet.
Other than Tierney’s offside goal, their best moment in the first half came when Martinelli made an out-to-in run in behind the Brentford back line. He was picked out magnificently by Saliba, only to have his shot blocked immediately.
When looking beyond Arsenal’s starting attack (Martinelli, Saka and Kai Havertz), there is a lack of raw pace and running power. That is not helped when Raheem Sterling cannot make it off the bench, and it shows that this is an area that could do with improvement when thinking about the future of the squad.
Saka and Martinelli have proven how threatening they can be for defences over several years, but having players behind them with similar attributes is just as important. The running power of Rice made their opener, but having more of that in open-play attacks could help them put teams under more pressure when their starters need a rest.
Art de Roche
The damaging effect of draws
There are challenges to sustaining intensity after expending so much energy — physically and mentally — against Real Madrid, but two more points dropped from 1-0 up and another draw underline why Arsenal end the night so far behind Liverpool.
Granted, their Premier League wins over Brentford have often been marginal; a particular strength of Thomas Frank’s side is their ability to raise their game against superior teams and make matches physical.
However, this was Arsenal’s fourth draw in their past six league matches and 12th overall in the Premier League this term. Only Everton (14) have more, while it is more than they had in 2023-24 and 2022 combined (11), when they pushed Manchester City for the title. Arteta’s side have only lost one game more than Liverpool this season, but the leaders have drawn only seven times.
More importantly, eight of Arsenal’s 12 draws have been from winning positions, so while they and Manchester United are the only Premier League teams not to lose a game they have led in this campaign, it is too many points dropped from such positions. Part of this was the result of their inability to break Brentford down earlier in the game.
Liam Tharme
What next for Arsenal?
Wednesday, April 16: Real Madrid (away), Champions League quarter-final second leg, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)