On the Whistle: Brentford 0-1 Arsenal - "Havertz takes Gunners top!"

Full time at Brentford, 1-0 to the Arsenal and Arsenal go top of the league. A very good day. Results went our way. Obviously Man City drew with Liverpool. A late equaliser from Trent Alexander-Arnold in that game gave Arsenal the opportunity to go top today and they took it right at the death with Kai Havert heading home the winning goal. Well listen, it's great. It's really good for Arsenal. Any win at Brentford is a very creditable result indeed and I think over the course of the 90 minutes Arsenal were just about good value for it. It was not a perfect performance as we'll get into but today is a day to celebrate the three points and celebrate going top. The talk before the game was all about Aaron Ramsdale. He was the centre of the focus. All the managed to even find David Rye on the bench even though he wasn't available for selection today so they could cut to him when appropriate. The way the first half was going you did fear this might be a game where we're talking about Aaron Ramsdale after the match because he had a couple of nervy moments which we'll come on to. I'm so glad that we're talking about somebody else at full time and we're talking about Kai Havert. When he came on you saw the set-pieces coach going through his responsibilities with him on the touchline and I just thought to myself what a moment this would be. What a time this would be for him to step up and Arsenal if they were having any success on the attacking front it was with you know diagonal crosses towards the far post. They had the ball in the net in the first half through that route. It was disallowed for offside. They got the ball in the net in the second half. Just a fantastic moment. The way he celebrated it, the cheek, the gall he showed in celebrating that goal was a million miles away from his kind of embarrassed shrugging of the shoulders after he was gifted the penalty at Bournemouth. He knows that this is a very different goal, a different goal to score, a different goal in terms of what it means as well and hopefully it could be a really big thing for him. I liked his interview with TNT after the game. He spoke about how he's had to put his ego aside really and put the team in front of him in this last few months. Make no mistake about it he has found this difficult and I think there's been a sort of counter narrative to suggest it's going fine what you're talking about. Kai Havertz doesn't look or sound like a man who thinks it's been going well but he will be so relieved to have made a big contribution today. I think one of the things that's hardest for Premier League footballers, any footballer, is when they don't feel like they're contributing. You know I think that's where they really struggle and find it difficult and although Kai's been playing I think he will have known in his heart of hearts he wasn't really doing what the team need from him or what Michael Arteta brought him in to do. He's done that today and you know it's a perfect example of what we want from him. Arriving in the box at the far post, good run, decent downward header and it's in the back of the net and listen you'll be delighted with that. Let's start at the top. I mean Arteta picked quite an attacking line-up really. He moved Trossard into midfield, Ben White was on the bench, Havertz was on the bench, so we had Sinchenko at left back, Tomiasu right back, Trossard in midfield with Rice at the base, Odegaard on the other side, good to see Odegaard back and then the front three were together, at least for the first hour, Jesus, Saka and Martinelli. We found it hard going, I have to be honest. Brentford sat really deep, two backs of four a lot of the time inside their own third, denying us space, denying us the opportunity to create chances. If Brentford had a sniff in the game it was from our own defensive lapses and the first half of those came from Aaron Ramsdale. What do I put that down to? Nerves, sure, I'm sure there were nerves for him today. I've said for some time I don't think this goalkeeping situation is particularly healthy for either Aaron Ramsdale or David Ryer and I think we're seeing that in some of the mistakes that they're making. I would add as well that I watched Liverpool Man City today and I saw both Alisson and Ederson make quite rudimentary errors and I thought, well, if Arsenal fans saw those I think they'd really jump on them. That's not to be critical but I think we sort of kid ourselves that at the top level there are these goalkeepers who are completing every pass in the game and never giving one away. Actually, there's usually one straight pass a game from these top goalkeepers because they're asked to do so much, because they're asked to play a game that they're not necessarily naturally suited for. Listen, if they were that good with their feet they'd probably have been outfield players. So I try not to come down too hard on either Ryer or Ramsdale when they make those footwork errors. The throw in, I can't explain, the throw from Ramsdale where he just chucks it into the ground, I mean that's a million to one sort of freak mistake. Sorry, I was just checking I was actually recording there. I haven't got my glasses on because I'm using a ring light and if I wear the glasses it just reflects and I look sort of like a bush baby that's been caught in the dark. So he had those nervy moments. What I would say is after the first one where Declan Rice bails him out with an unbelievable goal line clearance, Declan Rice outstanding again, I believe he was given the official man of the match, no surprise to me, driving Arsenal forward all the time, you'd like 11 of him, frankly. After that, his next pass Ramsdale was a risky but good ball on the ground into midfield and his next pass after that and the one after that, they were good sort of clipped passes, two players in space. So I actually think he recovered pretty well from that footwork error. Did he go long more often than Mikel Arteta would like? Perhaps, but I'm not sure we suffered for it particularly. I think, yeah, that's a whole other debate, the value of going short versus the value of going long. Obviously going short helps you retain possession but it also invites pressure and the incurs an amount of risk. I understand the principle to suck people in and then play in space but going long can gain you territory and if you can win not even the first ball sometimes but the second ball, that can be a way of generating attacking momentum and chances. It's very difficult to prove, I think, the efficacy of one over the other. The best teams do tend to play it short so it would suggest there is some merit to that. Anyway, we had the ball in the net shortly before half-time, Leo Trossard, it was a sacker, clipped cross, a little reminiscent of Jesus' goal at Brentford last season where he headed it towards the far top corner. Goalkeeper, I don't know what he was doing, really parried it straight up in the air and Trossard bundles it in, Trossard the poacher, but ruled out for offside. I mean, I'll take their word for it. I know many of you won't. Yeah, it looked very, very close indeed and then the second half we really, really struggled to create chances to have shots on goal and that, I think you'd say, would have been the big talking point had we drawn this match and it looked like it was headed towards a draw. Obviously, you know, Jesus went off, tired after an hour, fair enough, but we just didn't really, we really struggled to break Brentford down and in the end, obviously, we get the goal from a similar sacker-clipped cross, shall we call it a cross, maybe more of a pass to the back post, but are we incisive enough in attack to really go all the way? I know we're top at the moment, honestly, defensively, I think we're the best. I know our record is the best, but I think right now we are as good as anybody off the ball. You cannot play through this Arsenal team and even if you do, you're faced with Saliba, Gabriel, Rice coming back to support them. It is very difficult and listen, although both our goalkeepers have had shaky moments this season, they provide considerable depth in that position. You know, Tommy Assu is a great defender, White when he plays is a great defender. I just think out of possession, we are really, really strong. In possession, going forward in the final third, do we show enough imagination, penetration, creativity? I'm not so sure. That's a big discussion point, you know, why is that? Is it to do with the team being so structured that it becomes a bit predictable? Is it to do with a lack of game-changing individuals? You know, not all our attacking signings have necessarily worked out. Maybe Kai Havertz is going to work out and he certainly worked out today, but until now he struggled. Fabio Vieira, we spent a lot of money on, hasn't had the impact. Gabriel Jesus, we spent a lot of money on, has been injured a lot. I think there is a question to be answered about Arsenal's attack, but if you're a glass half full person, and I am, to be top of the league and still have questions there and still have clear room for improvement, arguably that's very encouraging. You know, this defensive side of the team has given us a real base. And I should mention, by the way, Oleksandr Zinchenko, who joined Declan Rice in making a good clearance. But this defensive base really gives us something to build on. And maybe it will need something doing in January, a bit of augmentation of the attack. I don't know how affordable that will be, given the current financial situation. But if we look at Arteta's history at Arsenal, he built from the back first. Maybe this season is being built from the back first. I hope so. I hope we can build on that base because the foundations are really, really, really strong. You know, Brentford give a lot of teams trouble, likes of Wissem, Wemo, the set pieces that they have, the long throws, the corners. We really limited them. I mean, apart from that Ramsdale giveaway inside his own box, there was not a lot. They were feeding off scraps. And I feel like we say that every game. You know, we debate these goalkeepers, but I feel like they're asked to make so few saves. Lovely being an Arsenal goalkeeper. Come and collect a few crosses, take a few risks playing out from the back. But in terms of saves, you don't have a lot to do right now. Even when we played Man City, David Rye didn't really have a save to make. And that's a credit to the work that's going on in front of them. It really is. So yeah, really good result. Really good result. Lots to work on. Big week coming up, two home games, Lons and then Wolves. Top of the league at this time of year again. And it's a stronger league this time, I think. Liverpool are much better than they were last season. City don't look as wobbly as they did at the start of last season. And yet we're right there. And no one's talking about us. And we'll absolutely take that. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, guys. We need Spurs to lose. Is it Unai? Is it Unai and Villa? I think it is tomorrow. Chelsea got beat at Newcastle, which I suppose we'll take. And yeah, it'll turn out to be an alright weekend. All right, guys. Speak soon, yeah? Take care. Do like and subscribe and all those things. All right, mate. Bye.