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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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.

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3. Arsenal Are Looking Much Sharper

When the half-time whistle blew and the Gunners failed to make their dominance count on the scoresheet, immediately there were some nervous faces who were concerned that a repeat of the previous home game against Burnley would be on the cards.

This was very different, though.

In that game Smith Rowe was clearly lacking match sharpness, there wasn’t the same control and drive from midfield without Xhaka and Partey, and Saka couldn’t get into the game with the amount of precision he usually has.

Arsenal were much sharper against Brentford. Much more fluid, and clearly much fitter. Odegaard was purring on the pitch with his confidence soaring, Smith Rowe drove at the Brentford defence with more of his usual panache, and everyone was cleaner in possession and resolute without it. The triangles built were precise and crisp, with movement off the ball quick and dynamic.

In terms of parallels to draw the scoreline was the only one as this was clearly a team closer to the level of match sharpness they’ll need considering there will only be one game per week for near enough the rest of the season.

Looking at the Burnley and Brentford matches in isolation offers up huge encouragement in terms of quality. Everyone found another level on Saturday.

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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.