William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus, and Fabio Vieira all score for the Gunners to guarantee they are first in the Premier League heading into the international break.
Arsenal once again showed that they possess the requisite grit and strength to contend this season. Even though few are looking past Manchester City and Erling Haaland for the championship, Mikel Arteta has the Gunners trending in the direction of former glory.
Arsenal now leads by a point heading into the international break. The cynical will argue that it’s only Brentford, but Thomas Frank’s squad began the day in the top half of the league, and Ivan Toney was recently called up to the England squad, becoming the first Brentford player to receive such recognition since Les Smith in 1939.
A goal up after 17 minutes, lead doubled after 27; it could have been worse for Brentford had Martinelli not slipped at a crucial point after two minutes when Xhaka – captain on the day and brilliantly dominating the game from midfield with Thomas Partey – put the ball on a plate for him.
From that point on, Arsenal dominated, defending brilliantly against Toney and the rest of the front line. William Saliba has the potential to become an exceptional player for the club. Therefore, Arsenal attacked Brentford with intent. They were both physically and technically superior, and their threat in the air may be their most underrated ability.
Saliba met a beautiful corner kick from the right by Bukayo Saka in the 17th minute with a glancing header. It was a tight angle, but the direction was excellent. The ball struck the far post and Raya punched it away, but not before it had already crossed the goal line. The goal was awarded after referee David Coote was suitably notified by his magical watch.
Then, ten minutes later, Arsenal took over with great authority. On the left, Xhaka and Kieran Tierney exchanged passes before Xhaka struck a fantastic cross that was received by Jesus in an absurd amount of space. Similar to Zinchenko, he has flourished since leaving Manchester City, and Raya had little chance against his header. The game was basically over at that point. Brentford provided very little value.
Toney received a short free kick after 52 minutes, flicked the ball up, and then volleyed it just over the crossbar. It would have been an excellent goal, but it was only a matter of seconds in over 90 minutes of relative tranquility. This was a game to forget for him and Brentford, and a reminder of the upcoming step up in international football.
For Arsenal, however, the situation continued to improve. As the fourth minute of injury time was signaled, Mikel Arteta replaced Vieira with Ethan Nwaneri, who at 15 years and 181 days was the youngest player in Premier League history, surpassing Harvey Elliott, who was 16 years and 30 days old when he played for Liverpool against Fulham in 2019. To provide context, Nwaneri was not born when the club departed Highbury.
He is the first Emirates born to Arsenal. The Arsenal fans sang, “School in the morning – he’ll be school in the morning.” Obviously, they were incorrect, but only because schools are closed on the day of the monarch’s funeral.