Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
Arsenal are through to the fourth round of the EFL Cup after an entertaining, if hard fought, 1-0 win over Brentford last night.
Mikel Arteta made plenty of changes with some regulars in the back four, Aaron Ramsdale returning in goal, Emile Smith Rowe starting his first game since May 2022, and a debut for 19 year old winger Charles Sagoe Jr. Brentford had a couple of key players missing but put out a fairly strong side, so I thought our first half was quite pleasing.
We ended it having had 65% possession, and lots of the ball in their half. We had some moments where things didn’t quite come off right at the key moment. We saw flashes of what Smith Rowe can bring, with some lovely combinations and direct running, while Eddie Nketiah almost got on the end of/worked some shooting positions. It was the striker who made our goal early on, a mistake at the back from Brentford saw him get behind their defence, and while I thought he would shoot, he pulled it back for Reiss Nelson who finished calmly inside the post to make it 1-0.
Smith Rowe went on a run which saw the keeper deny him with a good save, what a way to mark his return that would have been, while at the other end Yoane Wissa blazed Brentford’s best chance of the half wide.
The second half was a lot different though. Even though we still had more possession, Brentford were a lot better and played with a lot more intensity. The stats bear it out, they had 15 attempts on goal in that second period, and it required us to defend extremely well. Ramsdale made one excellent fingertip save which saw Wissa’s shot crack back off the post, there were blocks galore, not least an incredible one when Jakub Kiwior’s arse was the difference between 1-0 and 1-1, and the pressure was almost relentless at one point.
To be fair to Mikel Arteta, he recognised that and made changes, bringing on Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus for White and Sagoe Jr. Very shortly afterwards it probably should have been 2-0 when Kai Havertz got down the left and played a nice ball to Nelson, but his left footed shot curled just outside the post. Eddie showed fantastic pace to poke a shot at the keeper, but Brentford worked the channels, knowing they could go full Delap and lash in a load of long throws when they got into our half.
The defensive stats tell quite a story from this game, when you see them laid out. Takehiro Tomiyasu made 6 clearances, and blocked 3 shots; Gabriel made 9 clearances; I mentioned Kiwior’s blocked shot, but the stand out metric from him was his security on the ball, making 71 passes at left-back with a completion of 93% (only Jorginho made more passes).
It wasn’t just the defenders though. Reiss Nelson put in an excellent shift, working hard to chase back in wide areas; Jorginho made 7 tackles and 3 interceptions; and Havertz had 4 tackles and 5 clearances to his name as his height in our box was very useful at times.
Afterwards, Arteta said of the second half:
It’s a lot of duels, then it’s free kicks, it’s long throws, you have to defend every time, bring everybody back and try to get out and win territory from there and they are really good at that. When we don’t play that well, you need to have some big defensive moments and we had that, some big blocks in the box and Aaron making a big save as well.
Brentford huffed and puffed but they were not allowed blow our house down, and the game finished 1-0. I think it was a little churlish of Thomas Frank to say we got ‘very lucky’ in this one. It’s never easy for a manager when they lose, and there are games when you have to hold your hands up and say ‘I have no idea how we got away with that one’, but this wasn’t one of those. As I’ve pointed out, the quality and commitment of Arsenal’s defending was the difference after we’d gone ahead, and on that basis I don’t think there’s anything lucky about it.
Was it perfect? No, nevertheless I think Mikel Arteta will be very pleased with the night’s work. As he said beforehand, it was an opportunity for some players who haven’t played a lot, and I think almost all of them did very well. Ramsdale made good saves and was sharp with his passing; Kiwior was excellent; Jorginho, Smith Rowe and Nelson all had good games, and Eddie was a lot better up top last night than he was in the derby.
I have to give a special mention to Tomiyasu though, he was my man of the match, and last night was a reminder just how good a player he is. Funnily enough, considering centre-half is his position in the Japan national side, this was the first time he has ever started a game for Arsenal there, and he was excellent. His versatility was evident too, as he went to right-back when Ben White went off, then back into the middle again for the final few minutes. He always seemed to be in the right position to make the block or get the ball away.
So, when a manager is looking for his ‘fringe’ players to play well, I think he got that from last night’s performance, and that can only be a good thing when he reveals afterwards he’s got 7 injured players back at London Colney. How many of them will be available for the weekend we’ll have to wait and see, but there should be plenty of encouragement from what we saw last night.
Right, that’s it for this morning. We will an Arsecast for you a little later on today, so keep an eye out for that.
Have a good one.
