Gunners cruise, remain top of the table
Arsenal cruised past Brentford to stay top of the Premier League table heading into the international break.
Goals from William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus set them on their way in the first half and a stunner from Fabio Vieira sealed the win, as Mikel Arteta’s side responded superbly following their first setback of the season last-time out at Manchester United.
The victory means Arsenal have won six of their first seven games this season and sit atop the table on 19 points, one point clear of second-place Manchester City. Brentford have nine points and Thomas Frank’s side just weren’t at the races on Sunday.
What we learned from Brentford vs Arsenal
This win underlines Arsenal’s progress: Their horrendous defeat at Brentford at the start of last season underlined all of the issues Arsenal had. Just over 12 months later, this convincing win underlined the progress they’ve made. A clear playing style with a young, hungry side who have been painstakingly recruited. Even with Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko out, Kieran Tierney and Vieira slotted in seamlessly as Arteta’s side dominated from start to finish. They are playing with confidence throughout the team and after a few years of building, this is what Arsenal wanted to become. The only issue is the fact that their squad looked pretty thin as a few injuries piled up with teenagers on the bench and Ethan Nwaneri, 15, became the youngest Premier League player in history when he came on late in the game. With the Europa League and League Cup coming up in the weeks after the international break, Arteta will be hoping his squad remains healthy to make the most of all of this positive momentum.
Brentford energy levels unusually low: It was a real off day for the Bees as they suffered their heaviest home defeat since being promoted to the Premier League. Thomas Frank’s side just weren’t at it as usually they push high, force teams into mistakes and pounce on loose balls. There was none of that on …
