Key events
18 mins: Brentford look very well organised at the moment but I still think there are a split second away from conceding whenever Arsenal get into the final third.
It’s been a long time since I played a football computer game, so I really can’t appreciate this weird tracking thing. It feels like the pitch is moving.
16 mins: Janelt whips in a corner from the right. Toney heads towards goal but straight at Ramsdale. The goalkeeper then launches a huge throw down the pitch to Trossard who is away but Roerslev gets back just in time to halt his progress on the edge of the box.
I’ve put on this tracking camera and it all seems a bit too weird. I’ll give it five minutes.
14 mins: Janelt performs a lovely dummy to allow Toney is receive the ball in the box but he finds it hard to create and angle to shoot and his shot is blocked. The loose ball is chipped to the back post but then the flag goes up.
12 mins: Lewis-Potter’s free-kick, after much waiting, is utter rubbish and goes straight out for a goal kick.
Colin Young on the worst TV innovation in football: “For me it has to be that ‘artistic’ multi-speed slo-moaction replay that European TV producers can’t keep their hands off… Just stick to one effing speed, you’re not making film-noir.”
10 mins: Saka is high on confidence and is looking lively on the right. Whenever he gets the ball at least two Brentford players get to him as quickly as possible.
Gabriel takes down Wissa with a tug of the shirt on the edge of the box and Brentford have a free-kick in a dangerous position. Gabriel is booked.
Richard Batsford on tech: “Can’t be doing with all the different cameras. For years it seemed like computer games were trying to emulate TV coverage. Now TV is desperate to look like a computer game. The game’s gone.”
8 mins: Saka gets to the byline and pulls the ball back but Collins is the made it reaches, so he whacks it clear. Arsenal have, understandably, started in a very positive fashion. Brentford are having to play quite deep to keep them at bay.
6 mins: Raya is sat behind the dugout wondering when his loan deal will be made permanent.
4 mins: Rice whips in the first corner of the match but it somehow evades everyone and goes out for a goal kick.
Onyeka with a weird lunge on Trossard near the halfway line and he is rightly booked.
2 mins: Saka flies down the right and drives a cross to Trossard but he cannot control the ball and a corner is the result.
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
Sky Sports are offering a fancy new tracking camera but my luddite mind cannot cope with that. Who remembers when we could watch Sky in 3D? That seemed to be a disaster. Do they still do curved TVs? What is the worst innovation in football TV coverage?
The players are in the tunnel …
Mikel Arteta: “Gabi [Martinelli] has not made it, he got a cut on his foot. Aaron is looking forward to it, he’s been waiting for his opportunity.
Thomas Frank: “Hopefully after the game we will have been able to stop Arsenal. This is an unbelievably tough task against a team in great form but every game as its own story. We know we need to be on top form.
“We need to play the perfect defensive game and be purposeful going forward.”
Karen Carney is on Sky, so read her on set-pieces.
Charles Antaki emails: “Ramsdale back? He’ll be delighted, but it might end up a disaster for him: Raya was doing fine, all others in the team are purring along nicely, lots of clean sheets, very few defensive lapses, much riding on a win, the usual suspects for catastrophic slips, mixups and misconceived passes (the Parteys, the Zinchenkos) not playing… All that puts Ramsdale very much in the spotlight for things going wrong. So, delight, tempered by the yawning chasm of humiliation and failure. Just like any goalkeeper I suppose, but with the trapdoor already creaking underfoot.”
While we wait …
It’s all kicking off at the Emirates.
Early officiating drama at the Emirates, where Andy Townsend is denied dinner for not having a food voucher. His pleas that his producer, who has the vouchers, is out doing an interview on the pitch fall on deaf ears.
Rules are rules, and consistency has trumped common sense.
— Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) March 9, 2024
A big day for Aaron Ramsdale who makes his first Premier League appearance since the reverse fixture in November. The goalkeeper is in because David Raya is ineligible to play against his parent club. Will he be a little rusty?
Starting lineups
Arsenal (4-3-3): Ramsdale; Gabriel, White, Kiwior, Saliba; Jorginho, Ødegaard, Rice; Saka, Trossard, Havertz
Subs: Hein, Cedric, Zinchenko, Partey, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah, Jesus
Brentford (3-5-2): Flekken; Zanka, Ajer, Collins; Roerslev, Nørgaard, Lewis-Potter, Janelt, Onyeka; Wissa, Toney
Subs: Yarmoliuk, Jensen, Baptiste, Arthur, Damsgaard, Strakosha, Kim, Ghoddos, Maupay
Preamble
The important thing for Arsenal here is that a win puts them top of the table. They need to keep the pressure up on Liverpool and Manchester City going into their big match tomorrow. The Gunners have won their past seven league matches and few will be backing Brentford this afternoon. They will fancy giving the Bees a shooing because they are defence fragile. Thomas Frank’s side have struggled this season but should finish above the red line because others risk points deductions and the bottom two are frankly dreadful.
Let’s hope for a cracker!
Kick-off: 5.30pm GMT
