FROM THE GTECH COMMUNITY STADIUM – Arsenal came from behind away to Brentford to start 2025 with a 3-1 win on New Year’s Day.
Bryan Mbeumo fired the hosts in front early on, but Arsenal eased back into the ascendancy, levelling through Gabriel Jesus before half-time. A quick-fire pair of strikes from Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli ultimately sealed all three points for the Gunners against a team with the joint-best home record in the division.
The result took Arsenal above surprise package Nottingham Forest into second place, while Brentford sit in a tightly-paced mid-table.
How the game unfolded
After a largely cagey opening ten minutes that had the air of a New Year’s Day hangover clumsily draped over it, Mbeumo fired the hosts in front with their first shot of the match.
Mikkel Damsgaard gobbled up a stray pass from Martin Odegaard on halfway, setting Brentford’s talisman haring directly at Riccardo Calafiori. The Italian skittishly back-pedalled, affording Mbeumo room to cut onto his stronger left foot and drag a crisp shot beyond his ex-teammate, David Raya.
The former Bees goalkeeper almost did his old team another favour when he let Keane Lewis-Potter’s shot squirm through his gloves shortly before the half-hour mark. Raya spared his own blushes, hurriedly clawing the wet ball off his goal-line. There wasn’t another break in play before that same wet orb found itself Mark Flekken’s net.
Thomas Partey took aim from the edge of the box, forcing a save which Flekken parried into the path of a grateful Jesus, who scooped a header over the Dutchman.
“Set piece again, ole, ole,” was the chant which rang out from the boisterous Arsenal away contingent five minutes after the restart. Merino provided the final touch, but it was a collective effort from the jostling throng of turquoise shirts which left Flekken dazed and disorientated.
The Gunners soon stamped home their advantage from open play. The 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri swung a devilish cross from the right wing which Brentford failed to clear, allowing the ball to drop at the feet of Martinelli who blasted Arsenal into a 3-1 lead on 53 minutes.
Neither side overexerted themselves across the final 40 minutes, as Arsenal consigned their fading hosts to a second consecutive home defeat and kept a faint whisper of pressure on league-leading Liverpool.
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When Ethan Nwaneri stepped out on to a PREMIER League football pitch for the first time, aged just 15 years and 181 days, it was at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium. Less than two-and-a-half years later, still not old enough to vote, serve on a jury or buy fireworks for any New Year’s Eve festivities, Arteta deemed Nwaneri old enough to start a PREMIER League match for the first time.
A bundle of sharp turns from a sharper mind, constantly prodding the ball with his left foot like a woodpecker’s beak on a piece of bark, Nwaneri embraced the landmark occasion. Tormenting poor Keane Lewis-Potter – a natural winger morphed into a wing-back by Thomas Frank and shunted in at left-back on Wednesday – it was the teen’s in-swinging cross which led to Martinelli’s strike.
Nwaneri even had his name belted out by the away end, with Mohamed Elneny’s ‘Twist and Shout’ homage repurposed for the youngster.
In an ideal world, Arteta’s lineups would be tattooed onto the teamsheet. But a combination of injury, illness and reluctant rotation forced the Gunners into an unusually high four changes from the side that defeated Ipswich Town 1-0 last month.
The physicality which Kai Havertz usually brings when not homesick was missed, the ball too often cannoning away from Jesus’ leaden feet. Riccardo Calafiori, the £42m summer recruit, struggled much more than his teenage understudy Myles Lewis-Skelly has and – as ever – Declan Rice’s absence was evident.
Thomas Partey delivered a perfectly serviceable outing at the base of midfield, reducing if not eliminating Brentford’s counter-attacking threat, but offers nowhere near the same energy or authority as his half-fit teammate.
As well as Nwaneri did, the 17-year-old couldn’t replicate everything Bukayo Saka brings to this Arsenal team – few could, let alone a schoolkid. As Arsenal’s left-footed, right-sided forward watched on from afar while recovering from hamstring surgery, Brentford’s equivalent star very much made his presence felt in west London.
Mbeumo bullied Calafiori while rattling in the opening goal and throughout the rest of the contest. Beyond his raft of physical gifts, the Cameroon international preyed on insecurities of the Italian, who very much looked like a player making his first start since November. Hovering in the pocket of uncertainty between Calafiori and Gabriel, Mbeumo dragged the left-back infield, leaving room for Mads Roerslev to chug down the right wing unobstructed.
Arsenal’s hopes of snapping up Mbeumo in January were quashed by Frank’s blunt message to any suitors sniffing around his player: “Good luck.”
The staggering speed at which Martin Odegaard jumped back into first-team action after two months of the sidelines earlier this season looks even more impressive in hindsight. The Arsenal skipper immediately picked up from where he left off on his long-awaited return against Chelsea, creating the game’s opening goal.
Odegaard teed up Saka’s thunderous strike against Nottingham Forest in his first post-injury home game before scoring himself in a 5-2 thrashing of West Ham a week later. However, that penalty at the London Stadium back in November is the last direct goal contribution Odegaard has made in the PREMIER League.
Once again at the Gtech on Wednesday, each flick seemed to be misjudged, the press wasn’t as sharp and most passes overhit – or, as was the case for Brentford’s opener – directed at the wrong player.
An avalanche of minutes after so long on the sidelines is a simple explanation for this sluggishness – which is only apparent given the standard of his typically impeccable performances. But with Saka still sidelined and plenty of key fixtures on the horizons, there aren’t many obvious opportunities for Odegaard to earn some much-needed rest.
