Premier League football is back after the November international break and we travel to Brentford for Saturday evening's game at the Gtech Community Stadium.
It's a 5.30pm kick-off in west London.
We'll be looking to pick up where we left off earlier in the month when we beat Burnley 3-1 at Emirates Stadium following a 2-0 UEFA Champions League win at home to Sevilla.
Our opponents had won three games in a row prior to their 3-0 defeat away to Liverpool ahead of the international break.
Bees in brief
Since our 1-0 win at Brentford in the third round of the Carabao Cup in late September, Thomas Frank's side have produced a mostly positive run of results.
After drawing 1-1 at Nottingham Forest and losing 2-1 away to Manchester United, Brentford put three past Burnley without reply, beat Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, and came out on the right side of a topsy-turvy 3-2 win at home to West Ham United.
Bryan Mbeumo continues to lead the way for goals scored at Brentford this season with six in all competitions. He also has two assists to his name.
What the managers say
Arteta: "With Thomas, with the coaching staff, with the club, for me they are one of the best-run clubs in the league. I’ve followed them for many years and the things they do, the structure, the processes they have in place, the vision they have… it’s incredible what they’ve done with the resources they have.
"Huge credit to them, not only to achieve and to get to this level, but the way they’ve maintained it with so many changes and the environment that this league demands as well." Read every word of Mikel's pre-Brentford press conference here.
Frank: ""Arsenal have been on an upward trajectory. There’s been a big development in the team. We know we are good at home; we fear nobody but we respect everyone. I hope we hit a top level, and we need the fans to be absolutely on it from the first minute.
"They are easily as good as they were last year. Declan Rice has been a big difference for them. You still have young players in Saka and Martinelli who are raising the bar and could get even better."
Team news
Martin Odegaard is hopefully available after recovering from his concussion injury, while Gabriel Jesus should be set to feature after playing for Brazil in the international break. A late call will be made on Ben White depending on if he trains on Friday.
Emile Smith Rowe and Thomas Partey will again miss out, as does Jurrien Timber following his ACL injury in our opening league game.
Brentford are without Nathan Collins (ankle), Aaron Hickey (hamstring), Kevin Schade (muscle), Rico Henry (knee), Mikkel Damsgaard (knee), and Josh Dasilva (hamstring).
Keane Lewis-Potter and Shandon Baptiste are both available for selection having recovered from calf and shoulder injuries respectively.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke: Central defenders William Saliba and Gabriel don’t have to face strike partnerships too often in Premier League matches, but a front two is likely to be what they encounter against Brentford on Saturday evening.
In the Bees’ toughest tests head coach Thomas Frank usually reverts to a 3-5-2, using Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa up top. They have struck up a strong rapport in the absence of Ivan Toney, with six-goal Mbeumo impressing greatly with his industry, movement, and finishing.
Our defenders must try to show the Cameroonian onto his weaker right foot where possible. Only two players have scored more left-footed goals than Mbeumo (6), and they are Erling Haaland (9) and Mohamed Salah (8).
Stylistically, we know Brentford will be physical and strong in the air. No team has attempted more headed shots so far, and they boast the highest Expected Goals tally from set pieces too. Preventing quality service being sent into the box will be of paramount importance.
Mikel Arteta’s game plan may revolve around testing the Bees for pace at the back, focussing on interchangeable movement and clever combination play. This would test a tall, five-man rearguard.
We must avoid sending a stream of hopeful crosses into the danger zone as that will play to the hosts’ strengths.
Defender Ethan Pinnock has won more aerial duels than any other Premier League player this season, and for headed clearances, fellow centre back Nathan Collins ranks first with Pinnock just behind in third.
Brentford are well organised and industrious without the ball so an element of patience may be required to break them down. We must also handle their longer passes and crosses extremely well in order to maintain our outstanding defensive record away from home.
Facts and stats
We have already won away at Brentford this season, beating them 1-0 in the Carabao Cup third round. The last time we won two away games against a fellow London side in the same season was against Crystal Palace in 1992/93 (2-1 in the Premier League, 3-1 in the League Cup).
Since losing 3-0 to us in this exact fixture last season, Brentford have gone unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League London derby matches (W8 D6). However, we're the only team on a longer current such run (16) without defeat (W11 D5).
We previously set the longest unbeaten run in London Premier League derbies between November 17, 2001 and April 25, 2005, when we went 35 London derbies unbeaten.
Overall, we've played one less London derby than Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, but earned more points than both of them in those fixtures.
This will be Mikel Arteta’s 200th match in charge of us in all competitions (W115 D34 L50). He's won more matches in his first 200 in charge than any of the other nine managers to reach the milestone with the club.
Since the start of last season, Bukayo Saka has been involved in more goals in Premier League London derbies than any other player (13 – 5 goals, 8 assists). Meanwhile, in the same timeframe no player currently in the division has scored more such goals than Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo (8).
Match officials
Tim Robinson has been appointed to take charge of Saturday's game, having coincidentally officiated our women's 3-0 win away to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend.
He was also the man in the middle for our 5-0 win at home to Sheffield United in October.
- Referee: Tim Robinson
- Assistants: Eddie Smart and Nick Greenhalgh
- Fourth official: Josh Smith
- VAR: Michael Salisbury
- Assistant VAR: Wade Smith
Recent trips to Brentford
Reiss Nelson's early goal was the difference in this season's Carabao Cup third round win at Brentford.
Before that game, we had beaten Brentford 3-0 at the Gtech Community Stadium and lost 2-0 in our only visits to the ground.
How to watch
Log onto Arsenal.com and the official app to join Nicole Holliday and Adrian Clarke from the My Arsenal Rewards box for all the best build-up to the game against the Bees on Breakdown Live!
Nicole and Adrian will take a look back at our academy sides’ recent action, recap Arsenal Women's week and look ahead to their WSL game against West Ham United on Sunday.
All the headlines from Mikel Arteta's press conference will be included as well as a look back on the boss' first 199 games as Gunners manager. Nicole and Adrian will provide everything you need to know about Brentford before handing over to Dan Roebuck and Josh James for live commentary in west London.
You can also see which broadcasters are showing the game live wherever you are in the world.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
