Arsenal v Brentford – Calafiori a risk.

Morning all.

There’s a full Premier League fixture list this week with last night kicking things off with Bournemouth losing at home to Everton, Newcastle Utd and Totts playing out a 2-2 and Fulham losing 4-5 against Manchester City.

Tonight, Arsenal take on Brentford. Five other fixtures are taking place but the one which is most interesting in my opinion is at Elland Road where Leeds United take on Chelsea. Liverpool play Sunderland which could be interesting though.

Anyway, more important than what goes on elsewhere is what happens at The Emirates where hopefully, Arsenal will get back to winning ways.

Mikel Arteta on facing Brentford:

I think every game that we play, when you look at the intensity in the Premier League against any opponent, what is needed is incredible. Brentford bring different threats, different challenges, as we all know, and you need to dominate that if you want to win the game. Our motivation comes from preparation and how we prepare for every game to try to be better than the opposition. Where we are in the league and what we are doing, I don’t think we need any more motivation than that.

That’s an opportunity tomorrow at 7.30pm, everybody, 7.30pm kick-off to be at the Emirates, bouncing and putting energy to win the game. That’s the opportunity that we have tomorrow, 7.30pm. Like animals, everybody at the Emirates to go again and beat Brentford; [it’s] vital, massive.

Taking only one point off of Chelsea on Sunday was a bit of a disappointment but only because we were up against ten men for a lot of the game.

Riccardo Calafiori needs to be careful tonight if he plays because he’s one booking away from suspension. We need him fit and available for the Villa game.

Many of our players could do with a rest surely? Timber, Rice and Saka to name a few. Merino and Zubimendi have clocked up a lot of minutes too but of course, they cannot all have a night off at the same time. At least Arteta has options available to him, all of whom are excellent players in their own right. Norgaard, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly and Dowman are all waiting in the wings and are in need of minutes as this stage of the season is even more bonkers than usual. We have eight fixtures to play between now and the end of the month. The end of the year.

Brentford are doing pretty well so far this season, beating both Liverpool and Utd along the way. Like Arsenal, Brentford opted for a managerial novice when Frank switched to another London club whose name escapes me, by appointing Keith Edwards. In addition to losing Frank, captain Christian Norgaard joined us and both Mbeumo and Wissa departed in the summer. At home, Brentford have been good but so far, they’ve only registered one win away from home which came at the London Stadium.

Speaking in the matchday programme, Adrian Clarke said:

At the outset of this campaign Brentford’s new head coach Keith Andrews set out to mix up his formations, following Thomas Frank’s lead of switching from a back four to 5-3-2 against the tougher opponents. Achieving mixed results, the Irishman has now changed to what appears to be a fixed 4-2-3-1 shape, and that bolder approach paid off in excellent victories at home to Liverpool and Newcastle United. As this is the Bees’ first away game against ‘Big Six’ opposition, we can’t be sure which tactic they will adopt, but a back four is perhaps the most likely.

Tonight’s opponents are extremely dangerous on the counterattack, scoring four Premier League goals from fast breaks already in 2025/26. As a low possession side that averages around 42%, Brentford sit back and absorb pressure before striking hard and fast from turnovers.

Many of their best moves have come from regains deep inside their own half, with midfielders Jordan Henderson and Mikkel Damsgaard firing accurate long passes for their pacy forwards to chase. We must be ready to deal with those direct pieces of play from Andrews’ men. At the heart of Brentford’s style is great heart and industry. The players work hard out of possession to disrupt their opponents’ flow and are tenacious in the way they apply that pressure. This is a side built to win the ball back, before attacking with speed and directness.

Right back Michael Kayode possesses arguably the best long throw in the division. Capable of hurtling the ball across the face of goal with pace and a low trajectory, the Bees have scored multiple goals this season from his deliveries. Defending these well at the near post will be essential this evening. It is extra important we do so because no top-flight outfit has had more headed shots. They focus on attacking balls that are sent into the box and have plenty of aerial power. This strength helps them at the back, where they deal with corners and wide free kicks very well.

Conceding just two set-play goals, they have the lowest expected goals against tally from set pieces of all 20 teams. Individually, Jordan Henderson has been excellent for them inside the heart of the engine room too, setting the tone with his work rate and distribution. Out on the wings, Kevin Schade is officially one of the fastest Premier League players. He can explosively sprint away from defenders with or without the ball. Searching long passes aimed in his direction are not unusual to see.

Holding onto leads has been problematic for the west Londoners in this campaign. They led in eight of their first 12 games, but converted only four of them into victories, losing three times. They also have only six different goalscorers in their ranks, with more output from midfield needed.

Mikel Arteta’s side have been in excellent form of late. Admittedly, at Chelsea the players looked a bit out of sorts but even the best of teams can struggle when players are being bundled off the ball every five minutes or fouled. Or unjustifiably booked. Anyway, that game has gone and at least we came away with a point.

Tonight, in front of our own fans and with a set of officials who might just be more consistent in their decision making, I fully expect to see a very different performance from Mikel Arteta’s players. Whoever plays.

Catch up in the comments.