Winners
Manchester City
Well, this is obvious. Of course, I said the same thing after Everton and then they went and lost to Tottenham so let’s hope a repeat of fortunes happens again but Pep Guardiola will be drumming it into his players that they cannot afford to miss out on another slip-up.
Whilst the draw takes Arsenal six points clear, should City win their next two games including the clash at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday and they’ll go top on goal-difference. Otherwise, should the Gunners secure a famous win on Wednesday, then they could go nine clear with a win over Everton in their game-in-hand.
Leandro Trossard
Off the bench to score his first goal for the Gunners and give Mikel Arteta a big indication that he should be starting on Wednesday night. He was in the right place at the right time as a brilliant cross from Bukayo Saka found him.
READ MORE: Arsenal press conference LIVE: Mikel Arteta on Brentford draw, Toney timewasting and Man City
Arteta might be minded that the brightest player against City in the FA Cup defeat was indeed Trossard who started the match. His tricky runs and potential face-off with Rico Lewis and Manuel Akanji should be a match-up that favours the experienced forward.
Losers
Football
No, this is not some sanctimonious 'If Arsenal win then football wins' type of speech. According to the Mail, VAR official Lee Mason 'forgot' to draw the lines when assessing Christian Norgaard's position on the field.
Did Arsenal deserve to win the game? Probably not, there were plenty of things highlighted below that weren't good enough however had the rules been followed the outcome still might've been different.
Football loses if the powers controlling the technology to ensure the correct decisions are made aren't consistent or efficient enough to ensure a fair game. Chelsea experienced a blatant handball from Tomas Soucek not given in the final moments of their game just minutes before the Gunners kicked off.
Serious questions need to be asked. VAR itself shouldn't be and isn't the issue but the people who run it are making far too many errors when the stakes are this high.
Gabriel Martinelli
Where Trossard flourished, Gabriel Martinelli faltered again. The Brazilian has been in a real ditch of form and I for one wanted to see him dig himself out of it.
However, when the player that is in competition with you comes on and scores it is difficult to ignore and there needs to be an environment where these moments are rewarded. It has reached a point where it would be disappointing not to see Trossard replace Martinelli on Wednesday and if the Arsenal boss does indeed make the switch.
Eddie Nketiah
It feels almost a cliche to type the words 'Arsenal miss Gabriel Jesus in these games' but that is only because it is true. The Brazilian seems to offer more against sides that prefer to defend deep against the Gunners than Eddie Nketiah is capable of.
Again the striker struggled to get into the game without forcing himself into unfamiliar territory. Jesus is now training outside and running but is still some way away from a return and how he does return remains unknown. If the players can’t change, maybe the system needs to in these scenarios.
Mikel Arteta
Yet the system seems quite rigid at the moment under Mikel Arteta. In two games the Spaniard’s tactics have been unable to overcome a side that thrives on defending deep and using physicality in combination with set-pieces to get the job done. Although Fabio Vieira came on for Granit Xhaka, the change was made with less than ten minutes of normal time to go.
Kieran Tierney remained on the bench when perhaps his stretching wide play would have been an asset to the side. Throw on the exciting youngster Amario Cozier-Duberry perhaps for some added threat? There were options, but Arteta simply didn’t use them.
Nicolas Jover
Last season Arsenal were famed for how they defended set pieces, making it to the final few games of the league campaign without conceding one. Yet, fast forward to the present and Arsenal have conceded from set pieces in three successive Premier League games.
Nicolas Jover, Mikel Arteta’s set-piece specialist, will need to be working on the training ground on improving the record. William Saliba has recently looked weaker in the air and Ivan Toney had a field day.
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