1.Opposition
Brentford are a Championship side from greater London. They are 4th in the Championship and hunting promotion via the playoffs with nine games left to play. The 'bees' haven't played a game since Covid stopped all football in March. Their next competitive game is on the 20th June, slightly after Arsenals.
So summarising, they are a worse team them us, it's their first game since the break and they are further away from their first competitive game. All signs point to an Arsenal win, but Brentford didn't play along, so lets not invite them to the Emirates again.
2. Team selection
Hard to know the reasons players are picked for these games. Do they get more minutes because they are in the first-team plans or because they are less ready? Which ever it is, surely Arteta is trying to see some partnership forming. It might be difficult to make any assumptions from the centre of midfield because both Xhaka and Torreira were missing, but it looked like Saka played in the middle of the park.
Can he play in every position? 'We all dream of a team of Saka's?' Might be true soon the way things are going for the youngster. The second half saw Saka join Aubameyang and Lacazette up top, in what is believed to be his preferred position and possibly Arsenal's first-choice forward line.
3. Poor Defending
Disappointingly, all of Brentford's goals came from them nicking the ball off us in our own half. Let's highlight their first goal. Luiz tried to show everyone exactly how Brazilian he is by flicking it over two opposing players, but he failed to retrieve the ball from the other side. The Brentford players escaped with the ball and ran at Guendouzi, who shimmied himself out of the way.
They played the ball up to their striker, Sokratis was marking him, and he tried to second guess his next pass and ended up on the wrong side of the player. Who then slotted in a team mate who beat Holding and smashed the ball into the roof of the net. The calamity of errors was reminiscent of the fragile defending that gave Giggs his famous FA Cup goal.
4. Willock's Goal
The first goal of the game came from a Bellerin run that saw him go from inside his own half up to the opposition's penalty box. It never looked very dangerous because he was running at the entire Brentford team. Bellerin's brave run got its rewards. He squared the ball across the penalty area, just missing Saka, but rolling perfectly to Willock. Once again showing his cool finishing, he placed the ball low and hard to the far corner. Who knows how significant these this friendly will be, but Willock is doing absolutely every he can to show he is deserving of a place in the first team come match day.
5. Lacazette's Goal
Arsenal's second goal saw them retake the lead. Under pressure from Lacazette, the goal keeper cleared the ball to the left. AMN jumped in front of his man to steal the ball with a one-touch, cushioned pass to Reiss Nelson. The winger storms into the box cuts the ball back to Lacazette, who produces the kind of touch and swivel that has made him such a prolific striker.
Second goal in two games running. Is the Frenchman's form returning to him? Maybe this rest has done him some good. Once the games start coming, Arsenal need him in his very best form if there is the slightest of European football or success in the FA Cup.
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