Thomas Frank says Arsenal will likely go on to win the league, despite his well-organised Brentford team securing a 1-1 draw with the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium.
Brentford were at their free-flowing best when they thrashed Southampton 3-0 last weekend but they flexed their defensive muscles on their short trip to north London, frustrating Arsenal with their compact back-three system.
Arsenal took the lead through Leandro Trossard on 66 minutes, but Brentford hit back eight minutes later as Ivan Toney scored from close range.
Despite Arsenal not being at their best, Frank tipped the Gunners to turn the tide and secure their first title since 2003/04.
The Dane said: “We will celebrate that very good performance. We got a well-deserved equaliser. I’m very impressed. They are favourites to win the title and I think they will.
“I said to the players before this game that you have to maybe put our best performance out there because I think Arsenal have been so good this year. I think we were close to that and I just said to the players: ‘Wow’.”
Mikel Arteta confirmed he thought Ethan Pinnock had been offside in the build-up to Toney’s equaliser. Frank agreed he has strayed past the last defender but denied that the goal should have been chalked off.
He said: “Every week there is VAR decisions that are going marginally one way or the other. I agree that Ethan is in an offside position. Then the next question is: did he influence play?”
On Pinnock’s overall display, Frank smiled and said: “We defended very well against Arsenal. I’ve said to Ethan he’s been unbelievable. He’s been fantastic again today.
“The key words this week were ‘cool’, ‘brave’, ‘aggressive’. I think that’s pretty basic but you have to do it. I think the coolness was key.”
The draw at the Emirates made it ten league games in a row without defeat for Brentford, and Frank was delighted that his team’s unbeaten run lives on.
“It’s insane that it’s possible for us with the second lowest budget to go unbeaten. And it’s not like we’re crawling along the [goal] line and blocking. We’ve built a strong culture.”
Speaking about goalscorer Toney, he said: “Ivan was very good. I’m a big fan of Ivan. He’s a fantastic player and person. I think he played a below-average game last week against Southampton. He knows that himself. He deserved a lot of praise.”
