Brentford travel across London to face Premier League leaders Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night (7.30pm kick-off GMT), live on Sky Sports.
The Bees go into the game having defeated Burnley 3-1 at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon, while Mikel Arteta's side were held to a 1-1 draw by the 10 men of Chelsea on Sunday.
Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the fixture.
Pre-match Analysis
Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Arsenal excelling at both ends of the pitch
Prior to Arsenal's 2-1 win over Brentford in March 2024, Gunners captain Martin Ødegaard delivered a striking tactical observation in his pre-match programme notes.
“Everyone is talking about what we’re doing with the ball, scoring goals,” he said, “But when you look at our counter press, how we win the ball back, it’s so hard for opponents.”
A year and a half on, and those counter-pressing principles are further ingrained in a Gunners side excelling at both ends of the pitch.
The efficiency of Arsenal's counter press hinges on the defensive positioning and structure the Gunners adopt while they are attacking. The north Londoners - with just seven goals conceded - have the meanest defence in the Premier League this season and, ahead of Wednesday’s trip to the Emirates, a key challenge for Keith Andrews and his staff is how Brentford can outwit their hosts' devilishly effective 'rest defence'.
Currently, only Liverpool (61.4 per cent) have a higher average possession share than Arsenal (59 per cent) and, under Mikel Arteta's steady hand, the Gunners are now among the elite in keeping the ball upfield and then biting into tackles when they lose possession.
That structure is underpinned by Martín Zubimendi and Declan Rice, who have both been outstanding this season. Arsenal excel in transition, and their ability to probe opponents' frailties while retaining their own defensive shape marks them out as champions-elect.
To trouble a side this structurally assured, the Bees will need composure in possession, and speed and clarity when they break.
Brentford's free-scoring forward Igor Thiago will no doubt be an influential figure on Wednesday, but in the context of transitioning from defence to attack, his wingers Dango Ouattara and Kevin Schade could be crucial.
Athletic, pacy and unpredictable, Brentford will hope Ouattara and Schade can help them spring forward and cause problems of their own against the Gunners - who play a high line and have the most advanced 'start distance' (44.2m) of any team in the Premier League this season.
Injuries to William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães could offer further encouragement to the Bees in an attacking sense, while denting the set-piece threat of a Gunners side that has scored more Premier League goals from dead balls (10) than any team in 2025/26.
As much as the Bees will look to spring forward, their own defensive transitions must be watertight. Their last visit to the Emirates back in April offered a stinging reminder of how important it is to guard against counter attacks themselves.
Compact and resilient in their own defensive third for over an hour, Brentford limited their hosts to long-range efforts and blocked shots until the Bees themselves forced a corner on 61 minutes.
Former Brentford goalkeeper David Raya collected Bryan Mbeumo's in-swinging set-piece… and roughly 10 seconds later the ball was blasted past Mark Flekken into the roof of the net by Thomas Partey.
Games against elite opposition often balance on a knife-edge - and Brentford must walk the tightrope between defensive solidity and attacking intent if they are to entertain hopes of becoming the first team to win at the Emirates this season.
Scout Report
Dan Long, Sky Sports: How Gunners' summer recruitment laid the platform for impressive start
For the third season in succession, Arsenal finished as Premier League runners-up in 2024/25. In the history of English football, it was only the fourth recorded instance of such a feat, or near-miss - depending on which way you look at it - in the top flight.
The gap between the Gunners and that trophy lift they have now been waiting over two decades for was narrowing in the first two of those three; first they missed out to Manchester City by five points, then two points. Liverpool, though, had a 10-point cushion.
A significant reason their title chances were killed off was the 14 draws they recorded. It was the joint-second highest amount they had ever recorded in a Premier League season. In eight of those, they had taken the lead.
Another factor was the lack of an out-and-out striker. Kai Havertz scored 15 goals in all competitions, but he only managed nine in the league, meaning, for the first time since 1924, Arsenal failed to have a player reach double digits in league goals in a single season.
Finishing second in the Premier League, as well as reaching the Carabao Cup and Champions League quarter-finals, was absolutely not to be sniffed at. But it left the north Londoners wanting more. There is a hunger that needs to be sated, now more than ever.
Mikel Arteta suggested as much after the final-day win at Southampton: "We will try to squeeze and think and turn every stone that we possibly can to make this club even more successful."
Signing a striker was imperative to that - and they did that with the capture of Viktor Gyökeres from Sporting, but the spending did not stop there.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martín Zubimendi, Christian Nørgaard, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera and Eberechi Eze came in, too. Piero Hincapié arrived on loan.
The summer recruitment was measured, considered and has been so important to one of Arsenal’s best starts in recent history.
Arteta’s side sit top of the league, ahead of Manchester City, with only seven goals conceded. They are through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, having shipped zero across their two games to date.
And they are top of the Champions League league phase, too, with five wins from five and just one goal conceded. Their defence has been unshakeable.
But the attack has certainly not been bad, either. In fact, 13 players already have at least one goal; Eze, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard have five each, Gyökeres and Bukayo Saka have six each. The no.9 they craved is starting to settle in, but the goals are being shared around anyway and that is helping the overarching cause to no end.
While there has been admirable consistency across the board, both in results and performances, the draw at Chelsea last time out was a reminder that it will not always be smooth sailing this season. They know that from years gone by anyway - and all too well, if anything.
Right now, Arsenal do look like a side ready to make good on years of almosts. There is no denying that; this is a wonderful start. But be that as it may, it is just that, nothing more. The work is only just beginning.
In the Dugout
Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta was a product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth set-up in the late 1990s and started his professional career at Barcelona B, for whom he played until 2002, with a loan spell at Paris Saint-Germain preceding his sale to Rangers for £6 million.
In 2002/03 - the first of his two seasons at Ibrox - he lifted the Scottish Premier League and League Cup. After 68 appearances and 14 goals in all competitions, he returned to Spain in the summer of 2004 and signed for Real Sociedad. However, his time at Anoeta was over in a flash; he started three league games during the first half of the season, before joining Everton on loan.
He was an instant hit at Goodison Park and signed a five-year deal in 2005. He ended up staying for seven seasons and more than 200 appearances. Such was his talent that there was even speculation he could play for England under Fabio Capello, having not received a Spain call-up, though it ultimately did not materialise.
In August 2011, Arteta signed for Arsenal and, three years later, was appointed club captain by Arsène Wenger.
He appeared 150 times for the Gunners, winning the FA Cup and Community Shield on two occasions each. He retired in 2016 at the age of 34 and soon became part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching team at Manchester City.
In 2018, he was linked with a return to Emirates Stadium after Wenger’s exit. Though fellow Spaniard Unai Emery took on the role of manager at that time, Arteta replaced him in December 2019. He led them to a second FA Cup win in four years but could not prevent an eighth-place finish - the lowest since 1994/95.
The 43-year-old reached 300 games in charge of the Gunners - a milestone only seven of the club’s managers have reached in history - on 4 October, when his side beat West Ham 2-0 on home soil. He won 177 of those, which is 13 more than Wenger managed in his first 300.
Ahead of Brentford’s visit, he has now managed 310 games and won 185, which gives him a win ratio of 59.68 per cent, marginally ahead of Wenger’s record of 57.2 per cent from 1,235 matches in charge.
The Gameplan
With Kaya Kaynak, Tifo Football
Kaya Kaynak of Tifo Football discusses how Mikel Arteta's side are likely to set up on Wednesday night.
"It is the classic 4-3-3 that Arsenal have played, which sometimes merges into more of a 4-2-3-1 these days, with Eberechi Eze playing as a more orthodox no.10, and Martín Zubimendi and Declan Rice playing as a double pivot," said Kaynak.
"There are some changes to recent seasons. They are also trying to be more direct, as there was a lot of talk about how they had been slower to get the ball up the field, maybe a little bit hesitant to pull the trigger last season - this time, they are trying to go straight towards goal.
"They try not to mess around and just get shots off, which is why players like Eze have been so impressive in their addition to the team.
"There are differences to this Arsenal team and the way they build up is slightly different, the way they attack is slightly different.
"Some things, though, are the same: defensive solidity, the basic patterns of play and the right side being strong their strong side, with Jurrien Timber probably in the form of his life."
Last starting XI v Chelsea (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Mosquera, Hincapié, Calafiori; Eze, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Merino, Martinelli
Team News
Andrews gives squad update ahead of Arsenal clash
Brentford head coach Keith Andrews has given the latest on his side ahead of the trip to face Arsenal on Wednesday.
"We've got a couple of knocks and bruises," Andrews revealed. "But you get that from a game like the one we had at the weekend [against Burnley].
"We've got a couple of bits and bobs that we'll have to decide on but, in the main, we're in a good place."
Match Officials
Harrington in charge of Emirates clash
Referee: Tony Harrington
Assistants: Steven Meredith and Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth official: Samuel Allison
VAR: James Bell
Tony Harrington made his Premier League refereeing debut in December 2021, one of three top-flight fixtures he had the whistle for during that campaign.
The Yorkshire-born referee, who was fourth official for Sunderland's 3-2 win against Bournemouth at the weekend, has taken charge of nine games this term across the Premier League, Championship and Carabao Cup.
He was the man in the middle for Brentford's 1-0 home win against Aston Villa in August and, most recently, sent off Everton's Idrissa Gueye for violent conduct against his own team-mate, Michael Keane, at Old Trafford.
Last Meeting
Arsenal 1 Brentford 1 (Premier League, 12 April 2025)
Brentford earned a well-deserved point against Arsenal at the Emirates in April.
Kristoffer Ajer saw a low drive saved midway through the first half by former Bee David Raya, while Kieran Tierney saw a header disallowed for offside at the other end.
Arsenal opened the scoring with just over an hour played as Thomas Partey sent a powerful strike past Mark Flekken following an impressive counter attack.
The west Londoners levelled with 15 minutes remaining. Michael Kayode's cross was headed back across goal by Nathan Collins for Yoane Wissa to hook into the back of the net.