The launch of 2025 in the Premier raised the hopes of Arsenal, who still see themselves capable of chasing Liverpool, the leader of the classification, and, after beating Brentford in the New Year’s London derby (1-3), They reduced the disadvantage with respect to the ‘reds’ after also recovering second position.
Mikel Arteta’s team completed the last date of the first round of the English competition with a new victory, the third in a row. Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli led to a comeback for the Gunners, who had to react to the setback suffered before the quarter-hour mark with a goal from Bryan Mbeumo.
Raya avoids the second and Arsenal wakes up
The Cameroonian’s goal woke up Arsenal, which went from less to more in the match and ended up showing obvious superiority over Thomas Frank’s team, which begins 2025 with the same bad image with which it closed 2024 and which has caused it to accumulate four consecutive winless games. Three defeats and a draw have led to a significant drop in the table that has spoiled their good start to the season.
Frank’s team did not get out of the slump, taking the lead in the thirteenth minute when he took advantage of a loss of the ball by Martin Odegaard in the center of the field. Mikkel Damsgaard took the ball, sent it into the area and found Bryan Mbeumo. The African advanced a few meters and crossed the ball out of David Raya’s reach.
Gabriel Jesús equalizes before the break
Arsenal suffered the blow and were able to score the second in the 28th minute, on a counterattack by the Ukrainian Yegor Yarmolyuk. He walked a few meters and fired a shot that went into the hands of Raya, who missed the ball. The Spanish international reacted, who, on the goal line, prevented him from entering the goal.
It was a turning point because from that moment on the Gunners took control of the game and the score. Arsenal had been dominating for minutes, hoarding the ball but without fruit. He tied after a chance from Yarmolyuk, in a messy action that ended with a powerful shot from the half-moon by Thomas Pertey that was saved by goalkeeper Mark Flekken. Gabriel Jesus, in the area, attentive, collected the rebound and sent the ball into the net.
Mikel Arteta reached the interval relieved. Afterwards, the distances increased, as demonstrated by Mikel Merino’s goal that put the visitors ahead. The play was born from a corner kick taken by Ethan Nwanteri, the most inspired of Arsenal’s attack. Flekken did not grab the ball and after several frustrated attempts and errors inside the area it reached the feet of Merino who, from close range, scored.
Merino and Martinelli sentence
It was the key moment of the match that coincided with the collapse of Brentford, unable to assimilate and stop the improvement of its rival, which sealed the match three minutes later, in the 53rd minute, after a cross into the area by Ethan Nwanteri that was cleared by Nathan Collins’ head and Gabriel Martinelli took advantage to finish with a shot that reached the net.
Brentford no longer overcame the blow, looking for solutions on the bench. Frank, with a quarter of an hour left, in desperation, made a quadruple substitution, with Ji-Soo Kim, Mathias Jensen, Paris Maghoma and Kevin Schade, but it meant nothing on the pitch. Arteta responded and scored three two minutes later with the introduction of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice who slowed down the game, plagued by interruptions, in the final stretch.
Arsenal regains second place in the Premier and displaces Nottingham Forest, now third. The Gunners, still confident, are six points behind the leader, Liverpool, who has a match still pending, the derby with Everton.
Technical sheet
Brentford, 1 – Arsenal, 3
1 – Brentford: Mark Flekken; Mads Roerslev, Nathan Collins, Sepp van den Berg (Ji-soo Kim, m.75), Keane Lewis-Potter; Vitaly Janelt, Christian Norgaard (Mathias Jensen, d.75), Yehor Yarmoliuk; Mikkel Damsgaard (Paris Maghoma, m.75), Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa (Kevin Schade, m.75).
3 – Arsenal: David Raya; Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori (Myles Lewis-Skelly, d.78); Martin Odegaard (Jorginho, m.88), Mikel Merino (Declan Rice, m.78), Thomas Partey; Ethan Nwaneri (Leandro Trossard, m.78), Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus (Olksandr Zinchenko, m.92).
Goals: 1-0, m.13: Bryan Mbeumo; 1-1, m.29: Gabriel Jesus; 1-2, m.50: Mikel Merino. 1-3, m.53: Gabriel Martinelli.
Referee: Peter Bankes. He showed yellow cards to Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori, from Arsenal, and Christian Norgaard, from Brentford.
Incidents: Matchday 19 match played at the Gtecvh Community Stadium in London in front of around 17,000 spectators.
#Arsenal #Brentford #remain
