By dragging a Brentford side that were wonderful at home 1-0 for the most this season, for a while, Arsenal looked in danger of not having kept the tension on Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Without him despite Kai Havertz and with Mikel Arteta seeking to administer to his team a list of busy matches, Bryan Mbeumo’s first level at the Gtech Network stadium gave Arsenal a vital challenge since it does not possibly fall points.
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But in the end, a first-half header from Gabriel Jesus (his sixth purpose in 4 games) and second-half moves from Mikel Merino (Arsenal’s last purpose) and Gabriel Martinelli made it a night for Arteta.
To climb to his satisfaction, Ethan Nwaneri made his complete debut in the Premier League when Arsenal moved six problems of Liverpool, which has a game in his hand.
Amy Lawrence and Aantaajith Raghuraman analyze the main discussion issues.
Two years and three months after he appeared from nowhere — a 15-year-old substitute who stunned English football — the evolution of Nwaneri took another positive step on Wednesday. He made a controlled and intelligent first Premier League start for Arsenal on the ground where he played for the first time for the club (an 89th-minute cameo in this fixture in September 2022).
It’s a sign of how it feels like smoothly jumping over the other obstacles in the meantime as he joins the first team even more, which is no surprise to see him composed and Cushty in a tense game opposed to one of the toughest groups to beat away from home. It shouldn’t be so simple to expect such wonderful things from a teenager who makes such progress.
He usually had his cameos in the role of Martin Odegaard in the right aspect of attacking midfield, but here, he was selected to challenge Bukayo Saka. These shoes are almost to fill anyone. Nwaneri checked to locate the paint ethics attaché to meet and assist and also move forward when the opportunity arose. In his 78 minutes on the ground, he missed just two passes.
His deliveries set up two of the goals. First, there was the corner that was eventually turned in by Merino. Then, he crossed the ball into a dangerous area for Martinelli’s goal. Given the circumstances, he handled himself well enough to ensure Arsenal should see more starts from him in Saka’s absence.
Amy Lawrence
Declan Rice’s absence, as his fitness needs to be managed at the moment, hardly seemed ideal for an Arsenal side still looking for its best balance in midfield.
Without him, Thomas Partey stepped up, taking his looks ahead and taking on the duty given that the combine through the medium wasn’t quite consistent and he took the time to warm up. But once he did, Partey and Merino took the initiative to help Arsenal from a difficult start.
The party, in particular, influenced the game and controls it as the midfielder anchor. Then he provided the Arsenal draw spark, with a hoarse shot that unbalanced Brentford and Jesus to capitalize on the rebound.
Merino was finding the going tough initially. He has had a complicated start to life in north London and is yet to establish himself as a first-choice starter. Maybe lacking some confidence, he played safe football until the ball fell for him to guide in for 2-1, and then looked much more involved.
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The new father Odegaard has been under his highest criteria in recent weeks and his loose pass has contributed to Arsenal. Possibly he would not help looking for himself and his compatibility colleagues.
Amy Lawrence
Arsenal dependence on the correct aspect of your attack to create opportunities is well known. Before this party, 45% of its keys in the part, Attacker came here in this aspect, the highest logo of the league, 32% to the left. However, this rarely made them predictable due to the set of artistic skills of Odeegaard and Saka.
With Saka injured, Arsenal needed more from the left side of the pitch, where Merino, who started against Brentford, had not impressed offensively, while Martinelli has struggled, too.
That seemed to be the case in the first half of this game, as Brentford obstructed the central spaces, forcing Arsenal to create from the outside. the same page.
The part of the moment better, especially after Merino brought the house from a corner and Martinelli received a merit from a Brentford error so that David Raya pointed to Martinelli with long openings several times, while Merino and Calafiori were more concerned about The attack sequences of that flank until either of them was replaced in the 78th minute.
Arsenal’s set-piece prowess, combined with the creative abilities of Nwaneri and Odegaard, gives the team options to mitigate Saka’s absence to a degree, but they will need more of these contributions from the opposite flank, especially in tight games.
Anantajith Raghuraman
Saturday, January 4: Brighton (A), Premier League, 5.30pm UK, 12.30pm ET