Arsenal drop points again ahead of City clash
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After the Gunners fell out of the FA Cup after a 1-0 loss to Manchester City, fans looked at their next two games as a way to get back on track. Instead, however, they suffered their second Premier League loss to Everton, a team that currently finds themselves fighting out of the relegation zone.
Then this past weekend, the Gunners returned home to face Brentford before their first league game against Manchester City.
Some may have looked at this game as a trap game for Arsenal because of how well Brentford has been playing, previously having earned wins at home against Liverpool and Manchester City this season.
Although they struggled in their loss to Arsenal the first time these teams met, Brentford stepped onto the field with a purpose and a coherent plan on how to attack this Arsenal team.
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Early in this game, Brentford had the clearer chances. Five minutes in and Ivan Toney found room along the right sideline and whipped a cross into the box across the face of the goal that was shot wide right of the goal.
Later on, it was Toney again, but this time he blasted his shot off the crossbar of a practically empty goal after Ramsdale was scurrying back. Arsenal had chances to respond through Bukayo Saka’s run in the 15th minute, but he couldn’t finish with a stronger shot toward the Brentford goalkeeper.
Other than that, Arsenal generated little in the first half. Brentford’s plan was clear: they pressed Arsenal’s build-up from the back with their forwards and tried to catch them on the counter-attack and set pieces.
In the second half, Arsenal needed a spark, and they got it from their new signing, Leandro Trossard. Arteta subbed Trossard on after 62 minutes for Gabriel Martinelli, and four minutes after, he found himself on the scoresheet.
It was an exceptionally weighted pass from Martin Odegaard through the Brentford back line for Saka that fired a pass across the goal to Trossard, who was waiting at the back post. You could almost see the relief from the fans and the Gunners after finally having broken a stubborn Brentford defense.
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Not long after, Brentford earned themselves a free kick that was crossed into the box, and after much commotion, one of the several headers from Brentford found its way to Ivan Toney right in front of the goal and calmly headed home.
A lot was made of this goal because there was confusion about offsides from the initial cross into the box. It was officially called a goal during the game, but recently, PGMOL, the official body of officials that referee professional soccer games in England, have admitted that there should have been an offside call during Brentford's goal.
They labeled it “human error,” but Lee Mason, the VAR official for the match, has been left out of VAR duty for this upcoming weekend of fixtures and may face further punishment for missing this call.
Despite the missed call, Arsenal still finds themselves in a title race with Manchester City again. Manchester City is currently one game ahead of Arsenal and three points back.
So Arsenal may technically have an advantage there, but if they were to lose to Manchester City, they’d be tied on points, and they would have more pressure to win their next match to regain their lead.
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Nothing is said and done, especially in the Premier League. Like we saw last season when City won the league in the last minutes of their last match, anything can still happen regarding the top four teams. Manchester United as well don’t seem to be slowing down behind Erik Ten Hag and Marcus Rashford, who can’t seem to stop scoring since the World Cup.
So if you found the first half of the season entertaining, it’ll only get that much better all the way until June.
