Arsenal’s ability to grind out results has kept them top of the Premier League, explains Tifo Football’s Kaya Kaynak, with Mikel Arteta’s side finding ways to win even when performances have not always been at their best this term.

Attention now turns to Thursday night’s trip to Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium (8pm kick-off, live on TNT Sports), where Viktor Gyökeres arrives in good form.

Having gone on a run of just two goals in 13 games at the end of last year, the Swede has more goal contributions than any Premier League player in all competitions so far in 2026 (eight), underlining his increasing influence as the Gunners look to keep their momentum going at the top of the division.

It has been just under two months since the previous meeting between Brentford and Arsenal. How would you summarise the way that time has gone for Mikel Arteta’s side?

Since Arsenal's 2-0 win in December, things have been good. They have opened up a sizeable lead at the top of the Premier League table, which has been a big thing for them as they try to end that massive wait for a title win.

The performances themselves have not always been the most scintillating and I would not say Arsenal have been at their attacking best, generally. They seem to be better in the Champions League and the Carabao Cup, which is where they have been finding their best form.

But there have been glimpses in the Premier League: the 4-1 win over Aston Villa was particularly impressive, as was the 4-0 win at Leeds recently.

Some of the games have been a bit of a slog, but Arsenal are a really effective team, a really strong team, and a really physical team, but they are also a team with a lot of quality and they have shown that over the past few months to build up that lead, which is serving them pretty well at the moment.

They ended the run of three without a win in the league with that emphatic victory at Leeds. Was that period of much concern or just something everyone had to accept was likely to happen throughout the course of a season?

It was a concern for Arsenal fans because it awoke some of their fears about the team being a little bit blunt in attack, which has been a problem over the last few seasons.

Many people said Arsenal needed a striker and Viktor Gyökeres has come in and done okay, but not done spectacularly and, during those three games without a win, some were concerned their bluntness going forward was going to cause them trouble.

However, they seem to have rediscovered it. In the Champions League, they are scoring lots of goals; against Leeds, they scored lots of goals and it does seem now that, with a little of distance and perspective, it is being viewed as a blip.

The nature of being a big club in the title race is that you are only ever one result away from crisis, but it does seem as though things are back on track now.

The possibility of a quadruple is very much on. Is that an idea Arteta has been asked about or is entertaining publicly?

He was asked about the possibility of winning a treble and his response was classic Arteta, in a sense, which is that he is taking it one game at a time and they are not getting too far ahead of themselves.

But internally, I think they are starting to believe they can maybe do something special. The thought process from Arteta is that there is no pointing thinking it, you have to go and do it.

That has been Arsenal’s issue. They have always been a team that had the potential to do things - they could have won the league over the past three seasons, but came second each time - but with that squad depth they have got, which gets spoken about so much, they look as though they are a squad that is pretty well equipped to go and challenge on multiple fronts.

They just have to go and do it now.

Which player should Brentford be keeping an eye out for on Thursday night?

I will say Gyökeres, who is finding a little bit of form at the minute. Before the Carabao Cup semi-final win against Chelsea, he had six goal contributions in his previous six games across all competitions.

There have been some difficult periods in his start to life in north London; he did not have a pre-season, he got injured partway through and has not looked at his best. But I would say he is a player to keep an eye on as he seems to be slowly getting back to the kind of form we saw in Portugal, and he is on track for 15-20 goals this season, which is what Arsenal want from him.

The Brentford game - with respect - is the kind of game he was signed to make a difference in. It looks as though Kai Havertz will be fit, too.

He has barely featured this season, but he makes Arsenal so much better as a team. Those two have formed quite a nice little partnership up at the top end of the pitch.

What should Keith Andrews’ side expect in terms of shape and style?

They set up in a classic 4-3-3, as they have done for the past few seasons under Arteta but, this season, there has been a little bit more of a double pivot, so it changes into a 4-2-3-1, with Martín Zubimendi and Declan Rice sitting and being more of a traditional midfield pairing, where one goes forward and one sits back.

The centre-forward is not quite as mobile; Gyökeres is more central and stays there as a fixed point. And we all know about the quality of Arsenal’s wingers, who will look to get balls into the box.

There is a big threat from set-pieces as well, where Arsenal will be hoping to do some damage, but Brentford are pretty good at set-pieces, too, so it should be an interesting game on that front.

What’s your score prediction?

Given Arsenal’s run of form and how good they have been - even though Brentford have been on a fantastic run of form themselves - I will go for a tight 2-1 win.