Ivan Toney scored a second-half equalizer to help Brentford produce one of the close football results of the weekend in the Premier League. When Leandro Trossard scored just five minutes after coming on as a second-half replacement, the Gunners were on track to recover from their loss at Everton and pull away from their title rivals Manchester City, who can close the gap against Aston Villa before playing Arsenal on Wednesday. After Rico Henry missed a crucial early opportunity, Brentford put up a strong first-half display that could have put them ahead at the break but instead saw Toney hit the crossbar.
Toney, the talisman of Thomas Frank’s tenacious Bees, controversially nodded in from close range to take a well-earned point, extending their unbeaten streak in the Premier League to 10 games, and leaving Arsenal to settle for a six-point lead over City. As a result, City now trails Arsenal by six points. Mikel Arteta thought that the equalizer ought to have been disallowed because Ethan Pinnock was in the wrong place at the wrong time to impede Gabriel as the ball was being brought into the area from a free-kick.
In the fifth minute, Toney should have found Henry after being allowed space behind Oleksandr Zinchenko. Instead, Henry side-footed wide when it seemed like an easier goal. Bryan Mbeumo scored six minutes later, but play had already been halted — angrily — as Toney rose to flick in a long pass. Arsenal received another reprieve. Brentford’s superb defense was only compromised by Toney’s wasted opportunity to sidefoot against the crossbar following Mbeumo’s pullback in the first half.
Ben Mee’s goal-bound header at a corner was stopped yards from the goal line, while Aaron Ramsdale also stopped Toney’s twisting long shot. Late in the first half, Granit Xhaka headed down a cross from Gabriel, and Martinelli as a result nearly missed the goal with a shot from within the box. With their attacks, Arsenal needed to be more patient. They performed better, more purposefully and energetically in the second half, and Trossard eventually turned in Saka’s low cross at the back post to score his first goal for Arsenal.
But Brentford remained adamant that they could force an equalizer, and it only took them nine minutes to respond. After Toney volleyed the free kick back across the goal and left some people in the box scratching their heads, Christian Norgaard fired it into the six-yard area for the striker to head home. Lee Mason, the VAR, carefully examined the field for offside before allowing the goal. Toney showed his happiness by holding up a shirt with a note for the mother of Olympiacos-loaned Sergi Canos, a midfielder for Brentford.
“It was a really good performance, in my opinion. The successes they’ve gotten against the best teams are not a coincidence, so credit to them as well; we had our moments against a very difficult squad to play against,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said. “In the game, we accomplished a lot, including the hardest task—scoring the goal. It is disappointing to concede in the manner that it did, but this is the Premier League.”
“Naturally, we want to improve in every way. We are the third-best side in the league when it comes to defensive set-pieces. We aim to be the best,” he added. “Brentford’s main strength is in set pieces, which despite our belief that they would be offside in that specific situation, we managed fairly well. In this competition, set pieces are really significant and cost you points.”
“Before the game, I told the players that because Arsenal has been so strong, we have to give it our all,” Brentford boss Thomas Frank said. “We came very, very close. No matter who you are up against, you cannot celebrate a point, I told the boys. However, we may applaud a terrific performance. It more than deserved it. It’s incredible that we can remain unbeaten while having the second-lowest budget, and it’s even more astonishing that all 10 of our games have resulted in well-deserved wins or draws. It’s not like we’re barely scraping by. I concur that Ethan was in an offside position when they booted the ball. The next query is whether he had any control over the cross, as far as the rules of football are concerned. I concur that they decided it was insufficient.”
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