Kai Havertz scored late to secure a 1-0 win for us at Brentford on Saturday to send us to the top of the Premier League.
Adrian Clarke has rewatched the encounter and delved into the stats to find out how we conquered Brentford.
Attack versus defence
Brentford are an excellent side who were unbeaten in their previous 14 London derbies, but their chosen tactic against us was to put all 11 players behind the ball, protecting their 18-yard box.
This ploy gave us complete control, but gaps were hard to find against such a well-drilled outfit that didn’t want to take risks.
Their narrow and compact defensive 5-3-2 shape can be seen below, and this was a consistent pattern.
Patience was required to break down that type of stubborn rearguard action, and with central areas blocked off, many of our best opportunities came after switches of play that dragged Bees defenders apart.
In the build-up to our winning goal in the 89th minute, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Declan Rice moved the ball quickly from left to right, shifting Thomas Frank’s men horizontally.
This created space for Bukayo Saka to cross, and for Kai Havertz to get in between defenders and convert.
In terms of keeping the ball for prolonged periods in advanced areas of the pitch, this was our most dominant away performance of the season so far.
Just six successful passes shy of 200 inside the final third, we pinned the Bees back.
Arsenal - away Premier League matches
| Successful passes in final third | Successful passes in opposition half |
| v Brentford - 194 | v Brentford - 292 |
| v Newcastle - 164 | v Newcastle - 282 |
| v - Everton - 148 | v Everton - 275 |
Brentford’s goal threat was rare, with Frank’s side enjoying the joint fewest touches they have had inside the opposition box in a home match this season.
We kept the hosts very quiet as an attacking entity.
Brentford - home Premier League matches
| Fewest passes played into opposition box |
| v Arsenal - 20 |
| v Everton - 20 |
| v Tottenham Hotspur - 25 |
Brilliant backing up
Successful sides always contain players who are willing to go the extra mile to cover their teammates, and this was evident at the Gtech Community Stadium.
A pair of outstanding goal line clearances from two of our best performers on the evening, Rice and Zinchenko, helped ensure we kept a division-high sixth clean sheet of the campaign.
As soon as it looked like Aaron Ramsdale would be caught in possession our record signing showed fabulous anticipation to sprint back onto the goal line. From there he saved a certain goal by blocking Bryan Mbeumo's shot.
In the second half Zinchenko was guilty himself of losing possession in a bad area, but his immediate response was to help make amends for that mistake.
Getting back into a good defensive position, the Ukrainian’s full stretch block denied Neal Maupay’s header to keep it 0-0.
Saka made the 3v2s count
It was far from easy to create overloads against a side that defended as deep as Brentford, but on the rare occasions this happened, we created quality chances.
Our disallowed goal just before half time came from a brilliant, lofted pass from Saka to Gabriel Jesus, who was part of a trio that outnumbered the Bees in that section of the penalty box.
This 3v2 afforded Jesus the room to run between markers.
It was a very similar story for our winning goal in the 89th minute.
For the second time in this encounter Saka’s accuracy allowed us to take advantage of a rare overload inside the danger zone.
As shown here, Havertz was part of another far post 3v2 but this time the goal stood.
In decisive moments Bukayo Saka can always be relied upon to deliver quality service.
He made five key passes overall, but it was this pinpoint far post ball that helped us secure a key victory which took us to the top of the Premier League table.
Havertz shows his worth
When we signed Kai Havertz in the summer, I anticipated lots of headed efforts from the German, who is tailor made to get on the end of inswingers from Bukayo Saka or Martin Odegaard.
Making untracked runs from deep, his height, movement and aerial prowess make him an obvious target – and it was wonderful to see that move pay off in west London.
Havertz has won 23 aerial duels this term, just one behind Gabriel who heads the Arsenal rankings in this department.
Yet this was only this third headed attempt at goal.
The key now is to get him onto the end of far more crosses in the weeks and months to come.
When opponents sit off deep and play as defensively as Brentford did in this match, Havertz has the perfect profile to offer Mikel Arteta’s team something different.
Allowing us to cross with more confidence, his ability in the air should make the difference on many more occasions.
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