Arsenal: 4 talking points from Brentford horror show

New season, same old Arsenal. The problems that have plagued the side for the last three years were still evident as the Gunners succumbed to newly-promoted Brentford 2-0 in the opening game of the Premier League season.

As far as preparations go, Mikel Arteta took his side west of the capital in less than ideal circumstances. Already missing Thomas Partey in the engine room and with Gabriel absent with a knee injury, a sudden bout of illness in the forward departments limited Arsenal further.

With Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang unavailable for the clash there was a first Premier League outing for Folarin Balogun at No. 9. He was flanked by Gabriel Martinelli who has just returned from Olympic duty and Albert Sambi Lokonga joined Ben White in making their first league starts in red and white.

Despite seeing plenty of the ball, goals from Sergi Canós and Christian Nørgaard were enough to see off a truly disappointing Arsenal side who were not up for the fight that their opponents brought.

Arsenal: 4 talking points from Brentford horror show as Mikel Arteta’s side lose 2-0 in opening Premier League fixture of the 2021/22 season

Arsenal started the match the better of the two sides but as we have seen numerous times over the last 12 months, the Gunners have possession for fairly meaningless periods of the game.

Posting 22 shots may have felt like an improvement in some departments but the quality of those shots was woeful and the abject defending ensured any positive notes from the game banished to the history books.

The 2021/22 Premier League season got off to the worst possible start imaginable.

With Chelsea and Manchester City up next on the fixture list, there isn’t much to be cheerful of. Here are the talking points.

1. Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers Struggle With the High Press

A dreadful night from both Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers. Far too often Mari was left exposed and was made to look second rate (which is being kind) as he looked shaky on and off the ball, as he did against Tottenham. Brentford found space behind the Spaniard time and time again as Bryan Mbeumo utterly terrified him on a minute-by-minute basis.

As for Chambers, he offered little going forward and like Mari was often caught out by the high press from the Bees, forcing him into countless stupid mistakes. It was evident that Brentford made a concerted effort to pressure Mari and singled him out.

To their credit, it worked brilliantly as it was arguably his worst game in an Arsenal shirt. Constantly found wanting and poor positional play thanks the well choreographed movements of the forward line, other sides in the division can simply sit back and take notes. It will happen again. A lot.

With Chelsea and Manchester City up next, it could get very ugly for both Mari and Chambers should they keep their places. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to use instead of them.