Key events
An email: “On American TV, Graeme Le Saux has just asked if the pigeons on the pitch might have been standing in an offside position in the Brentford penalty area,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “He’ll get himself banned from the US, if he keeps up that kind of talk about the birds and the bees!”
Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 Brentford
An eminently forgettable first half draws to a close. Arsenal have been the better side and had the ball in the back of the Brentford net, only for Kieran Tierney’s header to be correctly ruled out for offside. Beyone that, it’s largely been a succession of Arsenal corners, with Declan Rice going close to scoring directly from one. Kristoffer Ajer went close for Brentford, bringing a smart save out of Raya, while Leandro Trossard was this far away from accidentally killing a pigeon shortly before the break.
45+2 min: Some lightning fast reflexes on show there, from both the pigeon and Flekken. It’s half-time.
44 min: Trossard jinks this way and that a couple of yards outside the Brentford penalty area before unleashing a powerful low shot that puts the heart crossways in a pigeon that came perilously close to meeting an extremely grisly end on the edge of the six-yard box and bringing a smart save out of Mark Flekken.
42 min: Trossard meets Nwaneri’s delivery at the near corner of the six-yard box but sends his header high and wide of the angle of far post and crossbar.
41 min: Declan Rice advances down the inside-left and tries to beat Flekken with a low shot from a tight angle. The Brentford keeper is unable to hold on to the ball and Arsenal have another corner. Rice’s inswinger threatens to dip under the crossbar but Flekken punches it over for yet another Arsenal corner.
40 min: Tierney sends a high, hanging cross towards the far post, where Keane Lewis-Potter nods clear.
37 min: Oleksandr Zinchenko pings the ball out to the left touchline, where Kieran Tierney controls it and is immediately penalised for straying offside. Like a sniper staring down a rifle-barrel, he closes one eye and peers intently across the pitch towards the linesman, as if to suggest there’s no way he had done so.
35 min: Excellent defending from Kristoffer Ajer, who slides in to block Martinelli’s shot from seven or eight yards out after the Arsenal winger had deftly controlled a ball over the top.
34 min: The name of Kevin Schade goes into the book for a cynical and injudicious challenge on William Saliba.
32 min: Ethan Nwaneri drills the ball across the face of the Brentford goal from the right and it’s cleared by Kevin Schade. Arsenal win another corner, take it short and after a Nwaneri scamper along the byline, he’s unable to pick out Leandro Trossard with his pullback.
29 min: Christian Norgaard is booked for a kind of scissors tackle from behind on Martinelli which has assorted Arsenal players, coaching staff and fans appealing for a stiffer punishment. VAR decide there’s no need to upgrade the booking to a red card and that seems fair enough to me. Other opinions are almost certainly available.
GOAL DISALLOWED: Arsenal 0-0 Brentford
As I suspected, Tierney was offside when Nwaneri crossed the ball his way from the right. His somewhat sheepish celebrations suggested he knew that to be the case.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Brentford
Arsenal lead! Or do they? Nwaneri’s delivery is excellent but Yoane Wissa heads the ball out for yet another corner. The youngster sends the ball drifting across the edge of the six-yard box but it finds it’s way towards the touchline. Arsenal recycle the ball, Nwaneri gets another cross into the box and Kieran Tierney nods home. I’m fairly sure he’s offside …
23 min: Arsenal win another corner. It’s on Rice’s side of the pitch and his inswinger towards the far post appears to hit Saliba’s back before going out for another corner off Keane Lewis-Potter. Over to you Ethan Nwaneri …
22 min: Damsgaard plays a crossfield ball to Mbeumo, who plays a first-time volley into the path of Ajer, who had shown Martinelli a clean pair of heels. His shot is saved by Raya but that was a decent chance at the end of an eyecatching move.
20 min: Nwaneri takes the corner short to Zinchenko, who plays it inside to Jorginho. It looks like a routine from the training ground and … well, suffice to stay it probably should have stayed there for a while longer. Brentford clear their lines after Arsenal fail to get the ball into their penalty area.
19 min: Saliba advances with the ball at his feet and plays it wide to Partey. His cross is put behind for a corner by Kristoffer Ajer.
16 min: Arsenal begin to assert their dominance, patiently pressing and probing for an opening on the edge of the final third. Brentford win the ball and try to break upfield, but once again William Saliba is on hand to glide back and prevent Kevin Schade finding a route towards the Arsenal goal.
15 min: Kevin Schade tries to play Bryan Mbeumo in behind with a weighted pass that’s slightly overhit. William Saliba reads his intention and is first to the ball ahead of the burly Brentford winger.
13 min: Mikkel Damsgaard takes the corner but his delivery is poor. Arsenal clear at the near post, with Zinchenko doing the honours.
12 min: Tierney squanders possession out by the far touchline, passing the ball straight to Wissa near the halfway line. Brentford win a corner after good work by Keane Lewis-Potter, the ball going out off Partey.
10 min: Arsenal win their first corner of the game after Martinelli has a cross-shot from a tight angle put behind by Mark Flekken. Brentford half-clear the corner but the ball is recycled and crossed to the far post by Rice. Partey is unable to pick out a teammate with his header back across the penalty area.
9 min: Ethan Nwaneri and Partey combine down the right before slipping the ball inside to Declan Rice. The ball breaks to Nwaneri on the edge of the area but his shot is blocked by Vitaly Janelt.
8 min: Kevin Schade robs Leandro Trossard of possession in midfield but proceeds to run into traffic and loses the ball.
7 min: Thomas Partey heads a Brentford cross into the Arsenal box clear after a nice passing move by Thomas Frank’s team.
6 min: There’s a break in play and Leandro Trossard has an extended moan at the referee, prompting Brentford defender Nathan Collins to burst out laughing. I’m not sure what that is about.
5 min: Arsenal win an early free-kick deep inside their own half. It’s a mite too far out for even Declan Rice to have a crack so David Raya, formerly of the Brentford parish, gets it launched upfield.
3 min: Sepp van den Berg and Vitaly Janelt combine as Brentford try to play the ball out from the back. They leather the ball forwards in the general direction of Yoane Wissa but William Saliba tidies up at the back for Arsenal.
2 min: Kieran Tierney, making his first Premier League start for Arsenal since May 2023, gets an early touch on his eighth league appearance of the season.
1 min: Thomas Partey takes an early throw-in for Arsenal, deep inside his own half. He’s playing at right-back for the Gunners today.
Arsenal v Brentford is go …
1 min: Following a quick knee to remind everyone that football is for everyone and there’s no room for racism or any other form of discrimination in the game, Brentford get the ball rolling. They may not be as exalted as Arsenal’s midweek Champions League opponents but I fancy them to give their hosts more of a game. Game on!
Not long now: Simon Hooper and his team of match officials lead both sets of players out on to the Emirates sward on a cool and balmy night in London. Jorginho and Christian Norgaard are the skippers and kick-off is just a few minutes away.
Brentford: The Bees have not won at Arsenal since 1938, although it’s probably only fair to point out that they’ve only played them at Highbury or The Emirates five times in the intervening 87 years.
Arsenal: Mikel Arteta has praised Declan Rice for his initiative after the midfielder ignored the instructions of Arsenal’s set-piece coach before scoring the first of his two free-kicks against Real Madrid. Ed Aarons reports …
Today’s Premier League results
-
Manchester City 5-2 Crystal Palace
-
Brighton 2-2 Leicester City
-
Nottingham Forest 0-1 Everton
-
Southampton 0-3 Aston Villa
-
View the Premier League table
Today’s match officials
-
Referee: Simon Hooper.
-
Assistants: Adrian Holmes and Simon Long.
-
Fourth official: Will Finnie.
-
VAR: James Bell.
-
Assistant VAR: Nick Greenhalgh.
Those teams: Unsurprisingly, Mikel Arteta makes five changes to the side that lined up against Real Madrid, with Jurrien Timber, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Mikel Merino all dropping to the bench for this evening’s game.
Kieran Tierney, Jorginho, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard and EthanNwaneri come into the side that will face Brentford this evening. Jorginho will captain the side in the absence of Martin Odegaard. There’s no place for Ben White in the matchday squad, the defender having picked up a knock in training.
Thomas Frank makes just one chanfe to the Bees side that drew with Chelsea last time out. Vitaly Yanelt comes into midfield, with Yehor Yarmoliuk making way. Plagued with injury all season and yet to make his debut for Brentford after signing from Gremio last August, the 19-year-old winger Gustavo Nunes is on the bench after recovering from a back injury.
Arsenal v Brentford line-ups
Arsenal: Raya, Partey, Saliba, Kiwior, Tierney, Jorginho, Zinchenko, Rice, Nwaneri, Martinelli, Trossard.
Subs: Neto, Timber, Lewis-Skelly, Henry-Francis, Odegaard, Saka, Merino, Butler-Oyedeji, Sterling.
Brentford: Flekken; Ajer, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter; Norgaard, Janelt, Damsgaard; Schade, Wissa, Mbeumo
Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Jensen, Mee, Yarmoliuk, Konak, Kayode, Nunes
Early team news
Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka may be rested after picking up knocks in the Real Madrid game, a state of affairs that could lead to Jorginho and Ethan Nwaneri getting starts. Raheem Sterling is also available after missing out on the Real Madrid game through suspension.
Gabriel, Kai Havertz, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu all remain sidelined, although Mikel Arteta revealed yesterday that Havertz is likely to return from his hamstring injury before the end of the season.
For Brentford, Rico Henry is available for selection after returning from the hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined since January and could make what would be only his third appearance of the season. Fabio Carvalho, Aaron Hickey, Gustavo Nunes, Igor Thiago and Josh Dasilva all remain out.
Premier League: Arsenal v Brentford
High on the hog after their surprisingly emphatic Champions League quarter-final first leg win over Real Madrid, Arsenal host Brentford as they attempt to maintain their apparently forlorn pursuit of table-toppers Liverpool, who lead them by 11 points in the Premier League with just seven rounds of fixtures left to go.
Twelfth in the table with little left to play for beyond pride, Brentford go into this game having taken just five points from the past 15 available but will be hopeful of beating a side with more than one eye on Wednesday’s more important assignment at the Bernabeu. Kick-off at the Emirates is at 5.30pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.