Looking back at the key talking points from the Arsenal’s 1-1 Premier League tie with Brentford at the Emirates Stadium, football.london

Set piece situation

There’s been so much good about Arsenal this season, that you’ve had to really dig deep to find the bad. Across the past three games in the Premier League though it seems opposition teams have settled upon a common weakness.

After last week’s defeat at Everton there was plenty of talk about how Sean Dyche had discovered a blue print to beat the Gunners. Sit deep, isolate Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli and disrupt the momentum as much as possible. By Thomas Frank’s own admission, the fact he knew Mikel Arteta wasn’t going to change from his tactics at Goodison Park, made it easier to plan for Saturday’s game at the Emirates.

“In a way yes,” the Brentford boss said after the game. “But they are very good at what they are doing. It’s about eliminating their threats. We were very aware of doubling up on Saka and Martinelli. There was only one moment when we didn’t have everything bang on and that’s when they scored.”

Another thing his side had in common with Everton though, was the manner in which they scored. Ivan Toney’s goal means that Arsenal have now conceded from set pieces in three consecutive Premier League matches.

If you do a quick dive into the individual goals they are all explainable. Aaron Ramsdale bumps into Takehiro Tomiyasu to gift Lisandro Martinez a goal against Manchester United, James Tarkowski escapes Martin Odegaard to get a free header against Everton, and, as Arteta was keen to argue after the game, Arsenal’s line was breached by Brentford amid a suspicion of offside by Ethan Pinnock in the build up to Ivan Toney’s equaliser for Brentford.

While you could argue this doesn’t show too much of a trend, what is undeniable, is that in consecutive matches against Everton and Brentford, opposition side’s have target Arsenal at set pieces. Until recently, defending dead ball situations had been a strength for the Gunners, but after the game Arteta was willing to admit that his side’s poor run was a concern.

“You want to improve in every area,” the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference. “We are the third best team in terms of defensive set pieces. We want to be the best.”

Luckily for Arsenal they face an opponent next up in Manchester City who are unlikely to bombard their box with an aerial assault. However, in a potential title deciding game that could be decided by the finest of margins, the Gunners will want to fix up on their set piece play to avoid giving City even the slightest sniff at an easy goal come Wednesday.

Eerie Emirates

One of the highlights of following Arsenal this season has been the atmosphere at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal’s away support has always been superb, but until this campaign, home games have carried a sense of hollow apathy at times.

This year has been different though, as supporters have well and truly bought into Mikel Arteta’s project. Almost every time they have conceded, it has taken only seconds for roars of “come on” to boom around the Emirates instead of the groans that used to greet opposition goals, and players have admitted it has had a massive impact on them.

On Saturday there was a sense that things were just a little off. Perhaps it was down to the slightly tepid performance on the pitch, or the chance to open up an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, but from very early on tension was high at the Emirates.

Nervous yells, encouraging the team to up their performance could be heard from even before the half hour mark. Perhaps it’s because the supporters have finally accepted that Arsenal could win the league this season, but the enjoyment of the early campaign seemed to give way to something a little more anxious on Saturday.

As he often is, Arteta was hugely complimentary of the fans after the game despite this. “I thought the stadium was bouncing to be fair because (the fans) are so much for the team that they want the best for them,” he said. “I thought they were again really, really supportive with the team and the way the crowd reacts we cannot demand any more from them I think.”

But with 17 matches still to go this season, you wonder how sustainable it is for that level of pressure to be on every single match Arsenal play at the Emirates. It could be argued that this is something that simply comes with being in a title race, but if this is tension in north London now, imagine what it will be like come May!

Trossard trouble for Martinelli

Gabriel Martinelli wasn’t particularly bad on Saturday, but again he struggled to hit the heights we know he’s capable of. The Brazilian appears to be missing his compatriot Gabriel Jesus, whose relentless movement opens up spaces for him that simply weren’t their against Brentford. It’s probably a sign of how well respected he is in the Premier League too that in both of Arsenal’s last two games, opposition teams have looked to double on him in order to stop his undeniable threat.

But with competition for places in the squad now, it may be a case that Martinelli can’t afford to put in displays that are just fine. With Emile Smith Rowe’s fitness struggles, Martinelli has pretty much had that left wing spot to himself this season without too many challenges, but with the arrival of Leandro Trossard, that has now changed.

The Belgian has looked promising in all of his cameos so far, and went one better on Saturday by notching his first Arsenal goal. That impact may now get lost due to the nature of the result for Arsenal, but it is telling that when asked about Martinelli’s form after the game, Mikel Arteta immediately chose to pivot and put praise on Trossard.

“I think every player has his moment,” the Spaniard said. “We have moved today Gabi for Leo because Leo in those spaces is so good and so composed. He’s constantly faking movements and playing forward. He’s got a great smell for where the ball is going to land and we believe it was the right choice to bring him on.”

There were also a few signs within the game that Arteta was starting to lose patience with Martinelli somewhat. As the Brazilian gave the ball away poorly with a flick inside his own half, the Arsenal boss reacted furiously on the touchline, before hooking him off not too long after.

As Arsenal go into what is probably their biggest game of the season so far on Wednesday, what Arteta chooses to do at left wing will be fascinating. Does he gamble on the freshness of Trossard when the stakes are so high or does he gamble on a slightly out of form Martinelli who has generally served him well this season? The decision could well decide whether the Gunners are able to claim their first Premier League title in nearly 20 years.

Onto Man City

Another reason why the disappointment of this result will sting more keenly for Arsenal is the fact that they had the opportunity to open up an eight point lead at the top of the Premier League table before Manchester City play Aston Villa tomorrow.

Unless Unai Emery can do them a favour then their is a possibility that come Wednesday that lead could drop down to just three, and given City’s superior goal difference, they could well be top of the league by the end of the midweek clash. Not that the game needed any more pressure on it, but the points dropped against Brentford, have ramped things up even further.

As far as Mikel Arteta is concerned it’s business as usual for his side until the game though. “First of all, tomorrow train, recover, review the match and look at what we can do better,” he said when asked what the plans were for the coming days. “Then review Man City and we will start to prepare on Monday the game.”

The Spaniard also went on to play down the pressure that his side might be feeling going into the crucial clash. “Every match is (massive),” he said. “We’ve been saying that for two months guys. Today was a massive game for us and we’re disappointed because we dropped two points.”

You do get the sense from Arteta though, as he prepares for the showdown with his old master Pep Guardiola, that he is relishing the prospect of a title-deciding clash rather than fearing it. These are the kind of games he dreamt of taking charge of when he first took over at Arsenal in December 2019, and the fact he’s got them to a position where they’re playing such big matches in just three years is admirable.

His players will likely share that mindset too. Although it is a first title six-pointer for many of them, the hunger that emanates from this young Arsenal squad is impossible to ignore. They will now spend the next few days preparing to seize the opportunity they have earned for themselves.

source: www.football.london