Arsenal vs Brentford: 5 key players to watch for

4. Bernd Leno

I already feel bad for Bernd Leno, and we’re not even two months into the season yet. The German keeper was a superb beacon of confidence against Vorskla, but wasn’t able to secure the clean sheet due to unavoidable circumstances involving two rocket shots from Vorskla in the final 15 minutes.

Naturally, after the game, after Leno had a taste of game time with the Gunnrs, he wanted more, and said as much in a post-match interview. He didn’t sound disgruntled, but the potential is definitely there for him to be just that.

His situation wasn’t helped by Petr Cech’s man of the match performance against Everton. All the doubters of Cech, myself included, were hailing the keeper’s heroics and, it’s safe to say that following that performance, Leno is likely even further away from being our No. 1. While I still think he should be our No. 1, for now, he is going to have to content himself on side competitions.

He needs to keep a clean sheet against Brentford. If that requires heroics, he needs to provide them. The best he can do is “keep pace” with Petr Cech, and a safe, secure clean sheet is the best way to do that.

On to No. 3.