Premier, can Arsenal reach Liverpool at the top?

Arsenal have every intention of being the anti-Liverpool. He reiterates this with a victory of personality at the Gtech Stadium, the freezing home of Brentford where so far only Nottingham Forest had been: the Gunners dominate in the second half and win 3-1, completing the comeback after the goal conceded early on by Bryan Mbeumo , and regaining second place -6 behind the leaders Reds. The disadvantage could grow, given that Slot’s elusive team has to recover the derby with Everton, but with this success Arsenal confirms itself as the first of the others. And the one with the most talent, personality and continuity to be ready to take advantage of any missteps by Liverpool, as long as they continue to run as they have been doing in the last two months.

THE KEYS

—

Arsenal’s last known defeat was on 6 November at San Siro against Inter in the Champions League. Since then, Arteta has found a way to make his team run: 9 victories in the last 12 matches, including this one in the London derby against Brentford, with all due respect to the onlookers looking out from the terraces and windows of the 15-storey residential tower overlooking the small stadium in the middle of the Bees’ houses. Frank’s team, which scored 22 of its 24 points of the season at home, was deluded when Bryan Mbeumo, the striker that LeBron James proclaimed as his double during the World Cup in Qatar, had taken the lead with his 11th center seasonal. Then Arsenal changed gear: they found an equalizer before half an hour with Gabriel Jesus, who suddenly became the number 9 that the Gunners have been looking for for some time (6 goals in the last 4 games), then in the second half they turned everything around also thanks to talent of Ethan Nwaneri, replacing Bukayo Saka on the right for the occasion. The 17-year-old to whom Arteta gave his first start in the league in the same stadium where in September 2022 he had transformed him into the youngest debutant in the history of the Premier League took a while to get going, but then he inspired first and second goal, making himself a candidate to play more and take that place in the attacking outfield left free by the injury of the Gunners star. It went less well for Riccardo Calafiori, starting for the first time since November 30th but guilty of Brentford’s goal: he seemed rusty, needing minutes to regain the best condition and movements with which he had conquered Arteta. He will have time to do so, because the Gunners return to the field on Saturday in a month of January with a total of 9 games in 29 days. A key moment of the season, one in which the Gunners want to prove that they are the only team that can worry Liverpool.

THE MATCH

—

Arsenal went behind in the 13th minute when Mbeumo sent Calafiori to the bar and then hit Raya with a left-footed shot to the near post. The Gunners risked disaster in the 28th minute due to a pass from Raya, but Jesus put them back on track with a header to make it 1-1 immediately afterwards. In the second half it didn’t take much for everything to change: in the 50th minute Merino put the guests ahead, in the 53rd minute Martinelli made it 3-1, taking advantage of an uncertainty in the Brentford defense as in the previous goal. The Bees are stunned, they don’t wake up even when Frank tries to shake them with 4 changes all at once. And the Gunners take the victory which confirms them as the second best team in the Premier League after the elusive Liverpool.