Brentford host Premier League leaders Arsenal at Gtech Community Stadium on Thursday (8pm kick-off, live on TNT Sports).
The Bees go into the match following back-to-back away victories over Aston Villa and Newcastle United while Mikel Arteta's side have won their last four fixtures across all competitions.
Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.
Pre-match Analysis
Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Midfield battle key for Gunners clash
Arsenal pitch up at Gtech Community Stadium this Thursday with heavyweight title credentials - so will Brentford swing without fear against the Premier League leaders?
Mikel Arteta’s side are viewed by many as champions-elect with three-and-a-half months of the season remaining.
While we have not yet entered what Sir Alex Ferguson referred to as “squeaky bum time,” we are approaching a decisive stage of the title race - and it will be fascinating to see how Brentford approach the contest.
With Manchester City still in the picture after a last-minute victory over Liverpool at Anfield, Arsenal’s lead at the top could be trimmed to just three points by the time the action kicks off under the lights on Thursday.
Regardless of how City fare against Fulham on Wednesday, Keith Andrews’ in-form Bees will hope to apply pressure to an Arsenal side chasing the club’s first Premier League title since 2003/04. The crux of the issue is how best to do that.
Brentford’s last two performances offer clear blueprints for what a victory over Arsenal might look like.
Reduced to 10 men for the entire second half, Andrews hailed his side’s 1-0 win at Aston Villa in early February as a “defensive masterclass,” while the Bees’ clinical 3-2 success over Newcastle illustrated just how dangerous they can be as an attacking force.
Brentford are likely to be under the cosh at times - but could this actually play into their hands?
Across UEFA’s top five leagues this season, only Bayern Munich (10) have scored more goals via counter attacks than Brentford (nine), the build-up to Igor Thiago’s penalty against the Magpies last weekend the latest example of how devastating the Bees can be on the break.
That said, only Aston Villa (none) have conceded fewer goals from counter attacks this season than Arsenal (one), who boast by far the best defensive record in the Premier League, the Gunners having conceded just 17 goals and kept clean sheets in over half of their league games.
Tactically, both Brentford and Arsenal sweat the small stuff - making set-pieces and second balls potentially decisive at the Gtech.
Under the guidance of former Brentford set-piece coach Nicolas Jover, the sight of the Gunners piling up bodies at the back post to attack inswinging corners is very familiar, with Arsenal (15 goals) the Premier League’s most potent set-piece side this season.
However, Brentford shipped only two goals from set-pieces last season and have conceded just four this term - the lowest figure in the division.
If the two sides nullify each other from set-pieces, second balls could prove decisive.
The Bees (23.3) lead the division for accurate long balls per 90, but Arsenal are well accustomed to teams going direct. The Gunners have spent seven per cent of their time out of possession defending direct balls - more than any other top-flight side - and are adept at preventing opponents from gaining territory from a single long pass.
Arsenal’s double pivot of Declan Rice and Martín Zubimendi is exceptional in this context, and how Brentford measure up in midfield could well hold the key to the contest.
Scout Report
Dan Long, Sky Sports: Arsenal quadruple not out of the question
Finishing second in the Premier League for a fourth-straight season would be the ultimate gut-punch for Arsenal - but fortunately for them, right now, the title appears to be theirs to lose.
The Gunners sit six points clear of Manchester City with 13 games left to play, and they boast the best defensive record of any team in the top four divisions, with just 17 goals conceded.
Sky Sports pundit and Arsenal legend Paul Merson said the 4-0 win over Leeds on 31 January will go down in history as “the game that won Arsenal the Premier League.”
That result was particularly important as it ended a run of three without a win; they could not find a way past either Liverpool or Nottingham Forest in games that both ended goalless, before they suffered a first home defeat since 3 May 2025 when they lost 3-2 to Manchester United on 25 January.
Losing is a very unfamiliar feeling for Mikel Arteta’s side at the moment. They have played 39 games and won 31 of them - and such a record is putting them on course for a season like no other in recent history.
They are, of course, odds-on favourites for the Premier League title. They booked their place in the Carabao Cup final for the first time since 2017/18 with a 4-2 aggregate win over Chelsea. They also beat Portsmouth 4-1 in the third round of the FA Cup to set up a favourable home tie against Wigan in the fourth round.
And the pièce de résistance? Their performance in the Champions League. With a stunning, unblemished record of eight wins from eight, Arsenal topped the league phase table.
They conceded only four goals, two of which came against Kairat on the final matchday when progression to the last 16 was already secured.
It is going to take a monumental effort, but a quadruple is not out of the question, particularly if Arteta’s side continue in such devastating form and recover quickly if their form does dip at any point from here until the end of the season.
The one they will really want to get their hands on is that Premier League title. Come May, it will be 22 years since Arsenal completed a historic unbeaten season. The younger generation have seen only FA Cup wins - which are absolutely not to be sniffed at - but a club of this stature needs more.
Wobbles have cost them before, but they will have learned lessons from those moments that are painful at the time, yet invaluable in the long run. Now they just have to finish the job.
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 Stadium 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 made 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 on 4 October, when his side beat West Ham 2-0 on home soil - a milestone only seven of the club’s managers have reached in history. He won 177 of those, which is 13 more than Wenger managed in his first 300.
He reached 200 wins in charge with the 3-2 victory over Kairat in the Champions League on 28 January and the trip to Brentford will be his 330th game at the helm, meaning he only needs to manage 82 more to surpass the total of legendary manager Herbert Chapman (411).
The Gameplan
With Kaya Kaynak, Tifo Football
Kaya Kaynak of Tifo Football explains how Mikel Arteta is likely to set up his side on Thursday evening.
"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," he told brentfordfc.com earlier this week.
"The centre-forward is not quite as mobile; Viktor 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."
Last Premier League starting XI v Sunderland (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Havertz, Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Jesus, Trossard
Match Officials
Brooks to referee Thursday's meeting at the Gtech
Referee: John Brooks
Assistants: Steven Meredith and Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth official: John Busby
VAR: Stuart Attwell
John Brooks will take charge of his third Brentford game of the season when he is in the man in the middle on Thursday evening.
The Melton Mowbray-born official previously had the whistle for September’s penalty shoot-out Carabao Cup success against Aston Villa, as well as December's 1-1 home draw against Leeds United and January's 2-0 defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
He has handed out 57 yellow cards and two reds in the 15 games he has refereed across all competitions in 2025/26 so far.
Memorable Meeting
Brentford 2 Arsenal 0 (Premier League, 13 August 2021)
Brentford marked their first-ever Premier League match with a memorable win against Arsenal at Gtech Community Stadium.
Bryan Mbeumo hit the post early on, before Sergi Canós beat Bernd Leno at his near post with a low drive to open the scoring after 22 minutes.
The second came with just over 15 minutes to play as Mads Bech's long throw-in was allowed to bounce in the box before Christian Nørgaard arrived to head home from close range.