By L A Adithya
In a much-anticipated encounter in the Premier League, Arsenal beat Brentford 2-0 to continue their impressive run in the league with an eighteen-game unbeaten streak and only one loss. They stay atop the league, 5 points clear of Manchester City, who sit second in the table. This comes after a rather disappointing matchup earlier this week against 10-man Chelsea, where they failed to capitalize on the Blues being a man down for most of the game.
Brentford, coming into this after a much-needed win against Burnley on Saturday, looked to stand firm against an Arsenal that is on a mission to finally get their hands on the title after three consecutive seasons falling short by the tiniest of margins. Bagging their eighth clean sheet of the season, the Gunners came out with a not-so-pretty performance.
Mikel Merino, who’s been Arsenal’s man of the hour, secured the lead in the 11th minute with a masterful header, slotting the ball into the net after a beautiful play at the edge of the penalty area between Doni Madueke and Ben White led to a pinpoint cross from the latter into the 6-yard box.
The game was then put to bed by Bukayo Saka in the 90 ‘+1’ stoppage time. Again, Merino, being the architect behind the goal, threads a perfect through ball to Saka in the dying minutes of the game for Saka to smash one straight at Kelleher, who couldn’t keep it out despite getting a considerably strong hand on it.
Arsenal lost another crucial center back in Cristhian Mosquera, with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes already out. This prompted Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to bring in Jurrien Timber as the center back. Declan Rice, who has been one of the best players on the team in recent times, also walked out with a calf strain. Up top, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard are missing.
The piling up of injuries raises concerns among Arsenal fans and the team, as important games are being crunched in a tight schedule. The Gunners will be visiting Villa Park on December 6 to face Aston Villa. On the other hand, Brentford, who currently sit 13th in the league, travel to the other side of London to face Tottenham Hotspur.