Arsenal reclaimed first place in the Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Brentford on Sunday, with Fabio Vieira scoring on his first league start.
Mikel Arteta’s side had their winning streak interrupted by a loss at Manchester United in their previous league match, but they responded emphatically to move a point ahead of Manchester City and Tottenham.
Arsenal took control after goals from William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus in the first half, before Vieira – who came on for the injured Martin Odegaard – added a brilliant third after the break.
With the points secured, Ethan Nwaneri, who is only 15 years and 181 days old, became the Premier League’s youngest player when he came off the bench for Arsenal in the closing stages.
Within two minutes, Gabriel Martinelli slipped to miss a glorious chance, but Arsenal quickly punished Brentford’s timid start with two goals in quick succession.
After meeting Bukayo Saka’s corner with a near-post glance that bounced off David Raya’s right post and over the line before the goalkeeper could react, Jesus nodded in from Granit Xhaka’s left-wing cross.
As Arsenal dominated the first half, Saka and Kierney both shot wide from good positions, while Bryan Mbuemo flicked wide at the other end.
Vieira marked his full debut by whipping past Raya and in off the post from outside the area four minutes after the break.
After an inventive free-kick routine saw Ivan Toney volley just over, Raya expertly denied a fizzing Jesus drive and a curling Saka effort as Brentford rarely threatened an unlikely comeback.
What does it imply? Brentford’s demons are exorcised by Arsenal.
Arsenal were off to a slow start in the Premier League last season, losing 2-0 to newly promoted Brentford, but they put that behind them on Sunday.
The Bees had only lost one of their previous 17 top-flight London derbies at home, but they were no match for an in-form Arsenal, who won their sixth league game in a row.
While Tottenham and Liverpool face tougher challenges in their next two league games, Arsenal put down another marker despite the absence of Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko due to injuries.
Saka Super
Saka continued his excellent form for Arsenal, laying on two assists to increase his Premier League goal involvement to 37. (18 goals, 19 assists).
This moved him ahead of Nicolas Anelka (35) in the competition for the most Arsenal goal contributions while aged 21 or under, with Cesc Fabregas (63) the only player to have more.
Toney is reserved.
Toney received his first England call-up this week after scoring five goals and assisting two more in six Premier League games – only Erling Haaland (12) had more goal involvements in the Premier League prior to this match.
However, the Brentford striker failed to make an impression in this seventh match, failing to register a single shot on target and completing only eight passes in a lackluster performance against Saliba and Gabriel.
Important Opta Facts
- This was Brentford’s heaviest home defeat in the top flight since May 1947, when they were defeated 3-0 by Blackburn Rovers.
– This season, Arsenal has won more Premier League games than any other team (six). It is only the third time in Arsenal’s history that they have won six of their first seven Premier League games, having previously done so in 2004-05 and 2007-08. (both six).
– Brentford have lost consecutive league games to Arsenal for the first time (2-1 in February and 3-0 here) – in fact, this is the same number of defeats as they had in their first 11 league meetings with the Gunners combined (W6 D3 L2).
– Arsenal has won each of their last three Premier League London derby games, all of which have occurred during their first seven games of the season (v Crystal Palace, Fulham and Brentford). This is their first three-game winning streak since February-March 2015, when they defeated Crystal Palace, QPR, and West Ham.
What’s next?
Arsenal will use the upcoming international break to prepare for Tottenham’s visit on October 1, when Brentford travel to Bournemouth.