Premier League: Arsenal Must End Their Road Woes Against Brentford

Brentford vs Arsenal

Arsenal are hoping to move up in the standings when they visit Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium this Saturday for the resumption of the Premier League.

Mikel Arteta’s side currently has 27 points, level with Liverpool, and they can move to first place if they win and if the Manchester City-Liverpool matchup that was previewed by my SBOTOP colleague somehow ends up in a draw.

Winning this road game is particularly important for the Gunners to keep pace in the title race since they have been defeated in each of their past two such games (against West Ham United and Newcastle United).

Meanwhile, the hosts are aiming to return to winning ways after they saw their three-game winning streak snapped last time out against Liverpool. Thomas Frank’s men are the 11^th seed because they have 16 points, level with 10^th-placed Chelsea.

Talking Points

Key injuries for Brentford

Brentford are seeking revenge after Arsenal eliminated them from EFL Cup contention two months ago, but they will have a hard time doing so because they’re currently shorthanded.

Already without the likes of Rico Henry (knee), Kevin Schade (adductor), Aaron Hickey (hamstring), Mikkel Damsgaard (knee), Josh Dasilva (knee), and Ivan Toney (suspension), the latest casualty for the Bees is Nathan Collins, who has been a key player in their backline.

Collins, who arrived in a £23 million deal from Wolves this summer, was representing the Republic of Ireland during the ongoing Euro 2024 qualifiers. The 22-year-old centre-back injured his ankle in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against the Netherlands and pulled out of the national team altogether.

He has started all but one of Brentford’s first 12 Premier League games this season, and the hope is that he won’t be out for too long.

After being held scoreless by Liverpool last time out, Brentford must regain their bearings through Bryan Mbeumo, Mathias Jensen, and Yoane Wissa, who are all capable of producing Premier League 2023 highlights.

Mbeumo is leading the Bees in scoring with six goals, while Jensen and Wissa have four and three, respectively. Other than that, they have combined for five assists thus far.

Arsenal need their captain back

Martin Odegaard hasn’t played in the last three games for Arsenal because he was in concussion protocol after being hit hard in the face by a ball during training. Prior to that, the Gunners skipper had dealt with a hip injury.

Upon learning that Norway’s hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2024 were dashed, Odegaard withdrew from the national team for their final qualifier games against the Faroe Islands and Scotland, which gave him additional time to rest.

If Arsenal are to finally go all the way this season, they need Martin Odegaard 100-per cent fit because he is easily their most influential playmaker.

Right now, he has five goals and one assist, but those numbers should go up in the next few weeks.

History

Saturday marks the second encounter of the season between Brentford and Arsenal, as they met in September in the third round of the EFL Cup.

The Gunners won the said game with a 1-0 scoreline to eliminate the Bees, as Reiss Nelson scored the only goal of the contest in the eighth minute.

Brentford are winless in their last three Premier League games against Arsenal (D1, L2) after beating them 2-0 in their first-ever Premier League matchup in August 2021.

The Bees have lost just one of their last 10 Premier League home matches (W5, D4), with the only loss being a 3-1 defeat to Everton in September.

Arsenal have struggled on the road lately, but they have won their last two away games against Brentford in all competitions, including a 3-0 result in this exact fixture last season.

Betting Tip

The Premier League 2023 odds are backing the visitors to win this weekend. Arsenal are 1.79 favourites, while a Brentford win is not out of the question at 3.95, and a draw is priced at 3.50 in the 1X2 market.

Brentford are capable of producing their best performances against the biggest teams, but that might not be enough against Arsenal, who have a deeper team right now.

While both teams have capable scorers, we believe that this is not going to be a super high-scoring affair, so going for Total Goals 2-3 at 1.95 seems like a decent alternative bet. On the other hand, a Correct Score of 1-0 in favour of Arsenal, a result of their most recent meeting, is also on offer at a price of 6.40.

 

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