Arsenal 1-1 Brentford
by Layth Yousif
at Ashburton Grove

LEANDRO TROSSARD grabbed his first Gunners goal after coming on as a second-half substitute for Arsenal against Brentford on Saturday afternoon.

Yet, just when the home side had hoped they would see the match out and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table, the Bees’ Ivan Toney equalised on 74 minutes to make the score 1-1.

“I think it was a really strong performance, we had moments, it’s a very tricky team to play against,” reflected Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta after the match.

“They have shown that, so credit to them as well because the results they got against the top teams is just not a coincidence, but I think we did a lot in the game.

“We insisted a lot, we did a more difficult thing to score the goal. So early to what happened, happened and the way it happened, it is frustrating but this is the Premier League.”

In a tight match, Arteta bolstered his bench with his January signings, in Jorginho, Trossard and Jakub Kiwior.

It was good to note that rising young star Amario Cozier-Duberry had also been selected as a substitute. Not least for his outstanding display on Monday evening in netting two penalties to showcase an outstanding performance during Jack Wilshere’s young guns’ thrilling 4-2 victory over Watford U18s to progress to the quarter finals of the FA Youth Cup.

Class on the pitch was amplified by sentiment off it, when the burgeoning young fan group Ashburton Army unfurled a banner midway through the first half the read: “Arsenal FC: Class and Tradition — Something Money Can't Buy.” A nod perhaps to those teams who are alleged to have bought silverware through mendacious means.

Every team spends money of course, it’s how effectively a club uses its budget. And Arteta has certainly marshalled his resources well to fashion a side that started the day five points clear with a game in hand of Pep Guardiola’s moneybags Manchester City.

Yet Saturday afternoon’s visitors, in a rare 3pm kick-off as anachronistic as it was unusual, Thomas Frank’s Brentford, are to be respected. Any side that thrashes Manchester United 4-0, wins at Manchester City and beats Liverpool is worthy of respect.

Not least when memories of Arsenal’s bruising 2-0 defeat in west London at the start of last season marked the start of three defeats in a row that would have had many clubs’ hierarchies exceedingly twitchy about their managers’ futures.

Not Arsenal, who stood by Arteta — and who have been rewarded with a young, hungry side about to launch a genuine title challenge come the spring for the first time in more than a decade, despite this frustrating draw. 

At all levels Arteta’s leadership has upgraded the club. The improvement was witnessed during the Gunners’ emphatic 3-0 victory days after Queen Elizabeth II had died, in a young side that included a substitute for Wilshere’s Monday FA Youth Cup tyros, Ethan Nwaneri.

Prodigious 15-year-old Nwaneri has been smashing all sorts of records for youngsters appearing in red and white, let alone the English top flight in its long history.

The bond between players and the team was evident throughout this tight affair, even during a hard-fought first half with few chances.

A microcosm of the unity of pitch and stands was underscored when Oleksandr Zinchenko lost the ball in a busy midfield.

Captain Martin Odegaard then harried and hassled tenaciously to win the ball back high up the pitch, prior to the Bees’ backline forced the ball forward — only for Zinchenko to cut out the danger by playing the ball out.

A simple action, but one that was absolutely roared to the rafters by passionate fans desperate to back their team after so long in the wilderness. Solidarity and togetherness.

The Gunners came out after the break fired up, with Bukayo Saka testing Bees’ keeper David Raya at his near post. Next was Odgaard to force a save from the Barcelona-born 27-year-old Brentford netminder as the home side pushed for an opener.

The goal eventually came when Arteta’s decision to swap Gabi Martinelli on the hour mark with Trossard, his signing from Brighton in the January transfer window.

The decision paid dividend moments later when Trossard, keen to make his mark, did so almost immediately when slotting home Saka’s assist on 66 minutes.

However, just when Arsenal appeared to be boosting their position at the top of the league, Toney levelled for the Bees with 16 minutes remaining.

Brentford captain Christian Norgaard heading the ball back into the six-yard box, leaving Toney to nod home from close range to earn a point for Frank’s battling Bees.

On Saturday’s evidence you can’t say it wasn’t earned by the west Londoners.

“It was more than a well-deserved point,” said Frank after the match. “If there should have been a winner, then it should have been us if you look at the bigger chances, especially during the first half.

“The attitude and the effort was fantastic.”

For Arsenal, the crux of the season — and destiny — awaits, when they host City on Wednesday. Improvement is needed. There has to be. 

Knowing Arteta’s leadership there will be.