Arsenal 2-1 Brentford Player rating and Match Reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

Ramsdale 6 - I actually think his reaction save from Collins was better than the Toney save, I think he majorly fucked up for their equaliser but at the same time I think pass from Gabriel with Wissa on top of him didn’t help


White 8 - Really good cross for Havertz, on one hand don’t want him getting called up for England on the other hand it would be outrageous if Southgate overlooks him again and makes it clear there’s a personal issue there


Saliba 7 - Found Toney hard to deal with, but was prepared to match physicality with physicality


Gabriel 6.5 - I think he struggled out there a bit today. Got booked early on and Wissa seemed to get the better of him



Kiwior 7.5 - Has developed well with increased playing time



Jorginho 6.5 - Games like this expose his physical limitations a bit, wasn’t given the time to be as incisive in his passing



Rice 8 - Good headed goal, whilst he wasn’t able to dictate things like in previous games he was instrumental in what we did well



Odegaard 7 - Whilst our attacking fluency wasn’t there today (Brentford didn’t give us the time we’ve been used to), I think was doing his best to create things for others



Havertz 7.5 - Shot wide when put through by Jorginho, and blazed over…but earlier in the season he would have hidden, he made himself available and got the pay off


Saka 7 - Compared to Monday and games before that when he was tormenting teams, a bit muted by comparison


Trossard 6.5 - Never really got into the game



Subs


Jesus 5.5 - Doesn’t look fully fit…peripheral at best


Zinchenko 6 - Didn’t manage to balls anything up


Nelson 6 - No more effective than Trossard


Partey - A time wasting sub




This performance today, gave me the impression that we knew what to expect from Brentford and we did execute a game plan to deal with it, but there’s a difference between expectation and experiencing it. I think they did rattle us a bit today, and the swagger we usually play with well it’s not that it wasn’t there but it was more in fits and starts.

The performance wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible, the effort was definitely there but honestly I don’t think we could have considered ourselves that hard done by if Brentford had got a draw. I think they are far better team than their current league position…they are well organised, hard working and capable of good football.

The way they played today reminded me more of the team that beat City home and away last season more than the team that was utterly pathetic against Liverpool three weeks ago.


Good preparation for teams that will deny us the space to play, and will go for it.

[Marc Overmars]

Brentford made that pretty hard for us. The First time we’ve been tested in weeks so it was good to see us grind it out. There will probably be many more games like that in the run in, just relieved we got the job done and now we can sit back and watch the other 2 slug it out.

Happy for Ramsdale that he managed to bounce back and make some good saves. Unfortunately today though he probably lost any remaining sympathy for his situation. Keepers need to be able to come in from the cold and his 2 games against Brentford have seen some horrendous mistakes.

[Mac76]

Yeah it's game over for Ram but two great saves.

Our performance was better than HCZ's scores, we played fairly well against 12 men (Brentford plus ref), there was one heartstopping moment towards the end whem Zin was on the ball in our area, but thankfully he just about avoided fucking up

Also I loved Arteta's mimicking of the Klopp thing at the clock end afterwards, we're becoming real shithousers

I think that game was really good preparation for Porto who will probably be quite similar to Brentford.

COYG

[HCZ_Reborn]

I don’t think my scores were particularly harsh, no one got below a 6 (which is largely an average score…anything above that is a good performance) and I gave over half the team 7 or over.

We just weren’t as fluent as in recent games but as I’ve said I think that was as much down to Brentford. Arteta himself said in post match interview that he expected this kind of game and I think to a degree it showed

I just think a) a couple of players struggled with the physicality b) I think our finishing was a bit off

The main issue with referee for me was failure to award at least one of our penalty shouts. I think if he’d been their 12th man he would have sent Havertz off even though the first yellow card was nonsense

[Chippy]

I was looking at the remaing fixtures last night and the Spuds are going to have a big say on where the title goes.

They will obviously do their best to beat us however, they need to win their other games to guarantee at least fourth.

They have hit a bit of form which is bloody annoying.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I was looking at the remaing fixtures last night and the Spuds are going to have a big say on where the title goes.

They will obviously do their best to beat us however, they need to win their other games to guarantee at least fourth.

They have hit a bit of form which is bloody annoying.

Annoyingly they’ve also only lost once to the current top six (home to Villa)

Im working under the assumption that they and City will probably beat us

[Marc Overmars]

Annoyingly they’ve also only lost once to the current top six (home to Villa)

Im working under the assumption that they and City will probably beat us

I’m inclined to agree and I don’t think it would be a surprise if we lost at Old Trafford either. Although with that being the penultimate game it could be inconsequential by then anyway.

I think we will need to take at least 4 points from City and Spurs to be confident of being in the conversation at the end.

[Letters]

Annoyingly they’ve also only lost once to the current top six (home to Villa)

Im working under the assumption that they and City will probably beat us

I don't know how annoying that is. They have to play all of the top 3, two of those at home.
It would be annoying if they lose to City and Liverpool and beat us of course.
I'd fancy us to get a point there, not sure how they'll do against the other two although they have had a decent record against City.

[HCZ_Reborn]

I don't know how annoying that is. They have to play all of the top 3, two of those at home.
It would be annoying if they lose to City and Liverpool and beat us of course.
I'd fancy us to get a point there, not sure how they'll do against the other two although they have had a decent record against City.

On paper I’d be confident of winning there, but they’ve been very good at riding their luck against the big teams. City bashed them about silly yet they managed to get a 3-3 draw at the Etihad.

It is annoying that they’ve managed to avoid defeats in these games. No other way to put it

[Letters]

It is annoying that they’ve managed to avoid defeats in these games. No other way to put it

I guess it is BUT...that could be a help to us given that our rivals still have to play them again.