Pain in the Arsenal
Fansided

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

By Ross Kennerley

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 19: Emile Smith Rowe of Arsenal celebrates after scoring their side's first goal with Alexandre Lacazette during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Brentford at Emirates Stadium on February 19, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 19: Emile Smith Rowe of Arsenal celebrates after scoring their side's first goal with Alexandre Lacazette during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Brentford at Emirates Stadium on February 19, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
Arsenal, MA
Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Brentford at the Emirates Stadium. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP via Getty Images) /

2. No Clean Sheet

It would be wonderful if Aaron Ramsdale could scoop himself the Golden Glove award this season. He’s been tremendous for the team, despite further wobbles on Saturday in a tough start to 2022 for him, but the clean sheet is more reflective on how the entire side has defended across the campaign.

The goal was sloppy – albeit fortuitously falling to Christian Norgaard – and had toes tingling in those dying seconds when Yoane Wissa burst through. Time was effectively up though, so fortunately it didn’t matter.

However, it’s not losing the clean sheet which matters most. It’s the goal difference.

With Spurs springing a shock at Manchester City to keep them within three points of Arsenal and many more results set to go for and against them this season, building up as healthy of a goal difference as possible could be crucial come the end.

It can effectively act as an extra point when teams are level, so even losing just the solitary goal can have dangerous ramifications. For example – at the time of writing – West Ham sit on +11, Manchester United on +8, and Arsenal on +10.

Clean sheets are always great for confidence, just as they can, as we’ve seen many times before, decide everything in the Premier League.

Continued on next page…

Home/Arsenal News