Arsenal aren’t exactly choking - but there’s definitely a tickle in Gunners throats.
After being out-fought in the defeat at Everton a week ago, Mikel Arteta’s men were often outplayed by a Brentford team that deserved to stretch their unbeaten run to 10 matches.
Leandro Trossard soothed fraying Emirates nerves when he gave the Premier League leaders the lead with his first goal for the club just four minutes after being sent on by Arteta with a challenge to show why he’s worth £27 million.
But Thomas Frank’s men showed they aren’t in the top-flight just to make up the numbers these days by equalising through Ivan Toney 11 minutes later.
Arsenal are still six points clear at the top. But if Manchester City beat Aston Villa Sunday the beleaguered champions will arrive in the capital on Wednesday night knowing a victory will take them to the summit.
And Pep Guardiola’s men have won their last 11 league games against Arsenal.
Arteta felt his team played well and were only denied by an equaliser that should have been disallowed for offside because of Ethan Pinnock’s block on Gabriel Magalhaes as Mathias Jensen played a free-kick into Arsenal’s box. He was reaching on both counts.
Arteta said: “If you block a player in an offside position then you’re offside. I thought he (Toney) was offside as well when he scored - but I haven’t seen the line so I don’t know for sure.
“Maybe we will get an explanation in the week because today we haven’t. It’s irrelevant now. It’s gone. It was a really strong performance against a very tricky team to play against, so I’m frustrated we didn’t win.”
Arsenal had most of the ball, but it was the visitors who carried more threat. Rico Hendy should have given them an early lead - and surely would have had he not been more concerned with colliding with Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale than giving Toney’s cross the finish it deserved.
The home side escaped again when referee Peter Bankes prevented Bryan Mbeumo from breaking clear after deciding he had fouled William Saliba when the defender had slipped. Toney fired against the crossbar and also forced Ramsdale into a flying save with a drive from distance.
And although Gabriel Martinelli roused the Emirates, there would have been some stern words in Arsenal’s dressing room at the break. Bukayo Saka, the only Gunners forward giving Brentford problems, served notice of what was to come by forcing David Raya into a smart near-post save.
But Toney went close again, guiding a low shot just wide from Vitaly Janelt’s nudged pass. Arteta replaced Martinelli with Trossard just after the hour - and the Belgian delivered in the 66th minute.
Saka shrugged off Mathias Jensen in the battle for Martin Odegaard’s pass and his first-time cross found Trossard arriving at the far post to score. But as you would expect from a man who has perfected the thousand-yard stare, Frank didn’t blink.
Brentford have won at Manchester City and beaten Manchester United and Liverpool. They finally got their reward when Toney stole in to head home Christian Norgaard’s hooked cross after the visitors had won two headers in the Arsenal penalty area following Jensen’s free-kick.
Toney has enjoyed tormenting Arsenal before - this time he raced to the touchline to grab a waiting shirt that dedicated a message of support for team-mate Sergi Canos following the death of his mother.
“I said to the players before the game that we had to put our best performance out there because Arsenal are so good,” said Frank. “Afterwards I said to them ‘wow, what a performance.’ If there was going to be a winner then it should have been us.
“Arsenal are an unbelievable team at home. But we stuck to the game-plan against a team that are favourites to win the title - and I think they will.”
