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

4. Arsenal Scored Goals Almost Out of Nothing

Arsenal’s 16 shots in the opening 45 minutes was the most the team has had in the first half of a Premier League match since October 2017 when facing Everton during Arsene Wenger’s reign.

The chances were there for Arsenal, they just didn’t take them.

Playing in the way they did meant that it was just a matter of being patient. They would carve through Brentford again and needed only to bide their time and take the chances when they came. So, to score twice based on that dominance was no great surprise.

But the goals didn’t arrive out of opportunities fashioned from neat play, they were both effectively scored out of nothing. That, it must be said, is a big positive. You need players to have moments where they produce the goods almost single-handedly. Not every goal will be a work of art constructed by numerous painters. Sometimes an individual has to take control of the canvas.

Having two players in Smith Rowe and Saka who have developed into match winners is essential. The first goal was all of Smith Rowe’s doing out on the right, while Partey seemed to try everything in his power not to assist Saka by holding onto the ball so long, with the finish the 20-year-old produced a stunning piece of technique from an angle he didn’t really have a right to score from.

You create all the chances you want, but if you keep missing them, then what is the point? Every now and then you will need to fall back on your best players to take matters into their own hands, whether it be a screamer from distance or a dizzying run into the box to win a penalty, and the two Hale Enders produced in a similar manner with two goals almost entirely of their own creation.

They’re special talents and when you aren’t getting the rub of the green (*cough Jon Moss cough*) a little bit of magic from somewhere can win you the game.