Arsenal missed out on the chance to restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League table after being held to a 1-1 draw at Brentford on Thursday. Mikel Arteta’s side, who were way off their best throughout a frustrating evening in west London, looked to have found a way to win when Noni Madueke headed home superbly just after the hour mark. But Keane Lewis-Potter produced his own exceptional header 19 minutes from time to earn the hosts a point they thoroughly deserved and put a dent in the Gunners’ title hopes.<\/p>\n
Having seen Manchester City win so convincingly against Fulham 24 hours earlier, all eyes were on Arsenal to see how they would respond against a Brentford side who have been in fine form in recent weeks. And the visitors looked nervy during a really poor first half which saw the off-colour Gunners fail to muster a single shot on target.<\/p>\n
The introduction of Martin Odegaard for the disappointing Eberechi Eze at half-time did spark an improvement, and it led to the breakthrough, with Madueke rising superbly at the back post to head home Piero Hincapie’s cross.<\/p>\n
But Brentford responded really well and levelled through Lewis-Potter’s header. They could easily have won the game late on, too, with Igor Thiago twice going close, although Gabriel Martinelli also saw a great chance go begging in stoppage time to earn Arsenal all three points.<\/p>\n
GOAL<\/strong> rates Arsenal’s players from the Gtech Community Stadium…<\/p>\n David Raya<\/strong> (7\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Made a superb save to keep out Thiago’s point-blank header after his own poor throw-out had played Arsenal into trouble. Was constantly under pressure from set-pieces.<\/p>\n Jurrien Timber<\/strong> (6\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Typically solid at the back, but was unable to really influence things in an attacking sense.<\/p>\n Cristhian Mosquera (6\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Drafted in to replace Saliba and performed well, as he has done almost ever time he has come into the team. Made one fabulous late block to deny Thiago.<\/p>\n Gabriel Magalhaes<\/strong> (8\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Real physical battle with Thiago. Booked early on, but didn’t let that impact his performance. Made some excellent blocks.<\/p>\n Piero Hincapie (7\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Few good runs down the left and put a couple of dangerous looking crosses in, including the one to set up Madueke’s goal.<\/p>\n Martin Zubimendi<\/strong> (6\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Neat and tidy, but not as influential as usual.<\/p>\n Declan Rice<\/strong> (7\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Arsenal’s best player during an under-par first half. Could have done better with a chance when set up by Odegaard at 1-0.<\/p>\n Eberechi Eze (4\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Really tough evening. Handed a big opportunity given Havertz’s injury but couldn’t take advantage. Just wasn’t in the game at all and hooked at half-time. Looks like a player incredibly short of confidence.<\/p>\n Noni Madueke (7\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Outstanding header to break the deadlock in the second half. Had done little before that, but that was a moment of real quality.<\/p>\n Viktor Gyokeres<\/strong> (6\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Worked hard against a physical Brentford defence, but didn’t really get a sniff of goal himself.<\/p>\n Leandro Trossard<\/strong> (5\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n So impressive against Sunderland last time out, but couldn’t really repeat that this time around. Few decent moments, but was on the fringes of things.<\/p>\n Martin Odegaard (6\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n His introduction at half-time led to Arsenal’s best period in the game, but he did allow Lewis-Potter to escape him for the equaliser.<\/p>\n Bukayo Saka<\/strong> (5\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Couldn’t really get into the game having replaced Madueke.<\/p>\n Gabriel Martinelli (5\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n Missed a golden chance to win it late on.<\/p>\n Riccardo Calafiori<\/strong> (N\/A):<\/strong><\/p>\n On late on for Hincapie.<\/p>\n Mikel Arteta (6\/10):<\/strong><\/p>\n His preparation will have been impacted by the loss of both Havertz and Saliba, but he will be disappointed with the performance. Changes didn’t really lead to an improved performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Arsenal missed out on the chance to restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League table after being held to a 1-1 draw at Brentford on Thursday. Mikel Arteta’s side, who were way off their best throughout a frustrating evening in west London, looked to have found a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}