Brentford 1-3 Arsenal: Player ratings as Gunners triumph in 2025 opener

Arsenal celebrated the opening day of 2025 by winning 3-1 at Brentford courtesy of a quick second-half start.

The Gunners were forced to play from behind after Bryan Mbeumo expertly opened the scoring with Brentford's first surge forward, but they initially struggled to respond to their early deficit.

Things almost got worse for the visitors when David Raya flapped at a Keane Lewis-Potter effort, but the Spaniard made a leaping recovery on the goal-line to prevent his side from falling two behind. Less than a minute later, Gabriel Jesus nodded home the equaliser after Mark Flekken parried Thomas Partey's shot from the edge of the area.

A controlled opening evolved into a contest of chaos before half-time, with the Gunners struggling to get to grips with the variation of Brentford's possession play. There was some huff and puff towards the end of the half, but the two sides went into the interval all-square.

With Arsenal's margin for error so slim if they want to keep pace with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, the Gunners had to eke out three points in the second-half, but they took a big step towards doing so by scoring twice within ten minutes of the restart.

After Mikel Merino crashed home the loose ball from an Ethan Nwaneri corner, another Nwaneri delivery caused problems and Gabriel Martinelli was on hand to finish smartly.

Arsenal were then able to manage the contest and limit Brentford's threat in transition. The Gunners sought to add to the scoreline via counter-attacks themselves, but they'd have to settle for a 3-1 victory which reduced the gap on league leaders Liverpool to six points.

Brentford 1-3 Arsenal player ratings

Goalkeeper & Defenders

David Raya (GK) - 6/10 - Wrong-footed for Mbeumo's opener and almost committed a howler soon after. Certainly wasn't the most stable of first-half displays, but his distribution after the restart was brilliant.

Jurrien Timber (RB) - 6/10 - Not at his sharpest tonight and took a while to have an influence in possession, Lewis-Potter got in behind him a couple of times, too. Suspended for Brighton.

William Saliba (CB) - 7/10 - After missing out on a couple of early aerial duels which caused Arsenal a bi of bother, Saliba eased into the contest and produced a fine performance.

Gabriel (CB) - 7/10 - Busier of the two centre-halves, it seemed, with Gabriel having to make a couple of key interventions in the channels while Arsenal aimed to preserve their advantage.

Riccardo Calafiori (LB) - 5/10 - The Italian was rusty on his first start since the end of November. Afforded too much space for Mbeumo to score and was fairly erratic in possession.

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