Arsenal Thrashed by Brentford
Arsenal was beaten 3-2 by Championship club Brentford in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The game was part of Arsenal’s preparations for the restart of the English Premier League season which has been in lockdown since March.
Last week they against Chelton and thrashed Charlton Athletic 6-0 in their first friendly game. Joe Willock and Alexandre Lacazette were the scorers for Mikel Arteta side. Arsenal’s first chance of the game came when Nicolas Pepe swung in a cross from the right, only for Bukayo Saka’s contact to not prove substantial enough to find the net.
Next, it was Willock’s turn to go close from a cross, but he was unable to get the right contact to convert from Kieran Tierney’s cross.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who just extended his contract with North London side then cut in from the left before stinging the palms of the Brentford goalkeeper. Five minutes before the interval Arsenal broke the deadlock with a low ball across the edge of the box finding Willock, who coolly slotted home.
Pepe went close to doubling Arsenal’s advantage when he hit the post with seconds remaining of the first half. Mikel Arteta made five changes at the interval, with David Luiz, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Matteo Guendouzi, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette all coming on. Bernd Leno would soon pull off an impressive save to deny Shandon Baptiste before Shkodran Mustafi went close at the other end with a header from a corner.
Maitland-Niles and Lacazette then almost replicated the latter’s strike against Charlton, only for the former Olympique Lyon striker to fire over. Tarique Fosu levelled the scores for Brentford with just under 20 minutes remaining when he sent a powerful rising strike past Emi Martinez.
Arsenal hit back straight away, with a neat swivel from Lacazette working the space for a low left-footed finish that beat goalkeeper Luke Daniels. Shortly after, Brentford drew level again through Halil Dervisoglu who was sent through to send a low strike inside the far post after Lacazette was robbed of possession in his own half before. The turnaround was complete for the visitors just moments from the final whistle, when Baptiste converted after Brentford forced a turnover in possession.
Arsenal will be playing against Manchester City in their first game since lock-down and it will be in the Ethihad Stadium so, with results like this Arsenal is sure not fully ready for defending champions Manchester City,
