Arsenal 2-1 Brentford: 4 positives & negatives of crucial win

Arsenal have banished their demons of January with two wins from two matches in February after goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka secured a 2-1 victory over Brentford.

Mikel Arteta only had two players he couldn’t call upon for Saturday’s clash with Gabriel Martinelli serving his one-match suspension and Takehiro Tomiyasu, despite making the bench, not risked having just come back from injury.

The team put out was one more than capable enough of dispatching their struggling London rivals, which was evident in a dominating first half that had everything other than the elusive opening goal.

After the break it took just two minutes for the deadlock to be broken, with Smith Rowe scoring a fine individual goal to settle any growing nerves inside the stadium.

Arsenal 2-1 Brentford: 4 positives & negatives of crucial Premier League win as Arteta’s side keep top four hopes on track

Hunting for a second just as the visitors sought a route back into the game, Saka came up with the goods 11 minutes from time to put the result beyond doubt.

West Ham had dropped points earlier in the day to open up yet another opportunity to make ground on one of their top four rivals, something Arsenal have snatched at on both occasions when the chance has presented itself this month.

The less said about Manchester City, the better.

Backed by a vocal Emirates crowd the win was precisely what was required if the Gunners are to secure a top four berth, with the three points all that matters between now and what may come in May. A performance with positive aspects as well as negative ones, four in particular, starting with the less reassuring aspects, spring to mind.

1. Wasteful Corners & Wayward Crosses

One of the criticisms directed at Arsenal during spells of Mikel Arteta’s tenure has been the default setting of funneling the ball out the Kieran Tierney for him to cross into the box. Granit Xhaka will pick up the ball on the left, feed a ball down the line to the Scot and he will whip one in, usually with precise quality, onto the head of pretty much nobody.

That changed against Brentford, because Cedric did it too.

Operating more along the lines of a 4-3-3 shape with two groups of three on either flank able to overload wide areas means Arsenal can create numerical advantages and get to the byline to deliver crosses. But when there is nobody to aim for, or nobody with notable aerial ability, it often leads to the needless concession of possession.

There were some slick crosses on the day, but they were intermittent among a lot of wayward efforts. While Arsenal kept the pressure up and won lots of second balls, the ploy was having little joy in terms of goal threat. They attempted no fewer than 32 in the first half alone, having recorded a season high of 35 in the entirety of their 0-0 draw with Burnley.

As for the corners, well, they produced little of note either. Clocking up an impressive 14 on the day, neither Martin Odegaard nor Cedric could find their man in the box despite endless efforts to bypass the tall and aerially dominating trio of Brentford centre-halves.

Despite creating chances aplenty, few arrived from wide deliveries and set pieces. The approach was bearing no fruit, and persisting with it meant they must have unearthed a tactical deficiency in this Bees side that wasn’t overly apparent.

A mixture of aimlessness and a lack of quality did the team little favours.

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