Preview: Brentford v Arsenal | Pre-match report | News

On January 2, 2025By Littum

We kick off 2025 with a trip to Brentford (5.30pm UK), looking to end New Year’s Day the way it started – with a bang.

As usual, the capital’s skies will be lit up by fireworks as Big Ben chimes and we’ve settled into our hometown over the last few months as this will be the ninth league game in a row we’ve played in London – the longest such run in our league history.

We remained unbeaten in all 10 of our derbies in 2024, but we head to the Gtech Community Stadium looking to make a dent in the joint-best home record in this season’s Premier League, with no club securing more points or scoring more goals than Bier have on their own patch.

U-bi-believable home record

Thomas Frank will be desperate for 2025 to see his side match their incredible home record with games on their travels. 22 of Brentford’s 25 points have come at home, with 25 goals plundered in nine games. Meanwhile, no team has taken fewer than the mere two points gained elsewhere, leveling with the Bees languishing in the bottom half of the table.

Inconsistency has been a major issue as they are yet to win back-to-back league games this term and they go into this match with one win from six competitions in December. A 3-1 loss at Aston Villa was followed by a 4-2 success against Newcastle United, but Chelsea won a West London derby 2-1 at Stamford Bridge before the Magpies got revenge by ending their progress in the League Cup in the quarter-final phase.

Just before Christmas, high-flying Nottingham Forest became the first team to inflict a home defeat on Brentford this term as well as prevent them from scoring at home, while last Friday saw Frank’s injury-ravaged side claim a 0-0 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion. It was just their second clean sheet of the campaign, but they are the only side yet to record a shutout at home in the Premier League this season.

What the leaders say

Arteta: “Our mind has to be on what we have to do and recover because not only now but in the next three to four weeks with so many games in different competitions, we have to be right there.

“We’ll watch the (Ipswich) game back and then I’ll watch the training that we always do and have a feel for what’s the best team to start and what’s the best team to finish the game in relative to what the Position is as well as the individual moment for each player.”

Every word from Mikel’s pre-Brentford presser

Open: “Arsenal are the best set-piece team, not just in the Premier League but in the world right now. They are so aggressive and they are well trained – but we are also good at set-pieces and we will be ready.

“We are good at defending corners. As far as I know we have only closed one corner so far – which was a short corner against Bournemouth – in the Premier League this season. We know we have to play our ‘A’ -match ; not only in set pieces, but with all aspects of the game.”

Keep news

We will again be without Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling, as the former has undergone hamstring surgery, while Sterling has a knee problem – the same one that continues to keep Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu out.

Gabriel Jesus and Jurrien Timber must avoid picking up a booking in this game to avoid a one-match ban which would see them miss Saturday’s trip to Brighton.

Frank was awarded three shots against the Seagulls last time out with three players going off injured. While Christian Norgaard’s problem will see him back in time, goalkeeper Mark Flekken is touch-and-go, while Ben Mee is out with a muscle injury.

They add to an already bursting treatment room that sees Ethan Pinnock (hamstring), Kristoffer Ajer (ankle), Igor Thiago (joint infection), Gustavo Nunes (back), Rico Henry (knee), Aaron Hickey (hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (knee ) all on the sidelines, but Sepp van den Berg and Mathias Jensen have recovered from the groin and thigh problems that caused them to miss Friday’s game.

SPEECH TACTICS

Adrian Clarke: Frank changes his style and formations regularly. He has gone with a back four in 14 of their 18 games, but reverted to five at the back at Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea, as well as against Newcastle at home.

Brentford are the best finishers in the division, converting 17% of their chances, and much of that is down to forwards Bryan Mbeumo (34%) and Yoane Wissa (33%), who are ranked first and second among players to score at . at least five times. Wissa is an adaptable and expert finisher from close range, while Mbeumo, who cuts inside from the right, has one of the most lethal left feet in the Premier League.

Outside of the excellent forwards, attacking midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard has five assists to his name and is proving to be a terrific all-round attacking midfielder. As well as creating the second highest number of chances for Brentford, he is also second for tackles and duels won. He is technically excellent, but also full of industry.

They are not brilliant on the counter, registering just four shots from fast breaks – the lowest number of all top 20 teams. So their biggest threat will come from transitions higher up the pitch and from sweeping moves in the wide areas.

The Bees have won the most aerial duels in 2024/25, so aiming hopeful crosses into the box is not advisable. However, I would expect us to have a relatively large share of possession and with Mark Flekken having been forced into more saves than any other depot, I expect us to create plenty of opportunities.

Facts and statistics

We have won our last three away games against Brentford in all competitions without conceding a single goal. We last won four consecutive away games against an opponent, while keeping a clean sheet each time against Sunderland between 2003 and 2008.

Brentford have won their first league game in each of the last five calendar years. Meanwhile, we have only lost our first league game in one of the last nine years, going down 2-1 at home to Manchester City on New Year’s Day 2022.

We remained unbeaten in all 10 of our Premier League London derby matches in 2024 (W8 D2). We scored 5+ goals in five of those 10 games, as many times as we had in our previous 117 such games.

Brentford have won just one of their last 12 Premier League London derbies.

Bryan Mbeumo has been involved in 14 goals in his last 15 Premier League London derby games (12 goals, 2 assists), while Kai Havertz has had a hand in eight goals in his last eight such games in the competition (6 goals, 2 assists ). ).

Yoane Wissa has scored in seven of his last eight Premier League home games (9 goals and a further 2 assists).

The referees of the match

Peter Bankes will take charge of this game, having overseen our League Cup victory at Preston North End back in October – the sixth time we have won in his nine Gunners games. He last oversaw Brentford a few weeks ago when they were beaten 2-1 by west London neighbors Chelsea.

In his 10 Premier League games this season, he has shown 42 yellows, two reds and four penalties – three of which came in the Wolves-Bournemouth game last month.

Judge: Peter Banks
Assistants: Eddie Smart, Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth official: Thomas Bramall
WAS: Graham Scott
Assistant VAR: Neil Davies

Recent trips to the bees

Since winning 2-0 against us in their first ever Premier League game in August 2021, Brentford have gone winless in their last three meetings in all competitions at the Gtech Community Stadium, two of which came last season when we recorded a pair single target successes on their patch.

Kai Havertz grabbed an 89th-minute winner to secure the points back in November 2023 on our last visit, while Reiss Nelson scored two months earlier to secure passage to the fourth round of the League Cup. The season before we claimed a 3-0 success thanks to goals from William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and William Saliba.

Live coverage

Tune into Live From N5 just before kick-off to hear live commentary of the game provided by Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke, who will guide you through all the action if you’re on the go.

You can find that out too which TV stations are showing the game live wherever you are in the world.