Kai Havertz came off the bench to score an 89th-minute winner that sent Arsenal top of the Premier League with a 1-0 victory at Brentford.
Arsenal go a point above Manchester City and two clear of Liverpool, taking advantage of the two teams dropping points against each other earlier in the day.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +62 | 91 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +62 | 89 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 82 |
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
38 | +15 | 68 |
How the match unfolded
Brentford were missing some key players, with Mathias Jensen, Mads Roerslev and Nathan Collins all picking up injuries during the international break, joining Rico Henry, Mikkel Damsgaard and Josh Dasilva on the sidelines.
Arsenal, in contrast, welcomed back Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus, the latter making his first start since 21 October. Aaron Ramsdale also started in goal, with loanee David Raya ineligible to face his parent club.
Immediately, Brentford sensed nervousness from Ramsdale, and put him under pressure at every opportunity. A minute after forcing him to kick long out of play, he got his feet in a tangle and was dispossessed by Yoane Wissa, who passed to Bryan Mbeumo, whose shot was cleared off the line by Declan Rice.
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Ramsdale continued to look uncertain, making a mess of a throw, but still tried to play out from the back, and it was Arsenal who thought they had taken the lead just before half-time.
Bukayo Saka's cross was headed at goal by Gabriel Jesus, whose effort was pushed into the air by Mark Flekken, allowing Leandro Trossard an easy close-range finish into an empty net.
But following a VAR review, Trossard was found to have been offside.
Despite having only 34 per cent possession, Brentford carried arguably the greater goal threat of the two teams, with Mbeumo prodding wide on the break before substitute Neal Maupay's header from Mbeumo's cross was cleared off the line, this time by Oleksandr Zinchenko.
It was almost a fantastic introduction for Maupay, who was spotted doing some last-minute homework before entering the match.
Rice then saw a shot blocked behind by Frank Onyeka, while substitute Eddie Nketiah shot tamely at Flekken, wasting a 3v2 in Arsenal's favour.
But there was still time for another substitute to strike the telling blow.
After replacing Gabriel Martinelli, Havertz met Saka's cross at the back post to head low into the goal to give Mikel Arteta a perfect result in his 200th match as Arsenal manager.
It was a sucker punch for Brentford, who fell to just a second defeat in their last 11 home Premier League matches, and stay 11th, with 16 points.
Brentford report | Arsenal report
Did you know?
Since the start of last season, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has been involved in more goals in Premier League London derbies than any other player (14 – 5 goals, 9 assists).
Arsenal will finish the day top of the Premier League table for the first time this season. With the top two (Man City and Liverpool) drawing 1-1 earlier, this is now the second time in Premier League history that the top two have met but neither have finished the day top, after 28th November 2015 (Leicester 1-1 Manchester United, Man City finished the day top).
Since losing their first ever Premier League game against Brentford (2-0 in August 2021), Arsenal are unbeaten in each of their last four such games (W3 D1), their longest league run without defeat against the Bees.
Brentford have lost their first Premier League London derby in 15 such matches (W8 D6), since a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in this exact fixture last season, while the Gunners extend their run to 17 games unbeaten in London derbies in the competition (W12 D5).
Mikel Arteta has won 116 of his 200 games in charge of Arsenal in all competitions, the most wins of any manager in their first 200 games in charge of the club (previously Arsene Wenger, 111).
Arsenal have had 10 goals scored via substitutes this season in all competitions, the joint most of any Premier League side (Brighton also 10).