Beat Brentford, Arsenal Move Forest To Approach Liverpool
JAKARTA - Arsenal replaced Nottingham Forest after beating Brentford 3-1 in the English Premier League match at the GTech Community Stadium, London, Thursday, January 2, 2025 in the morning WIB. Arsenal also moved up to second place and approached the leaders of the Liverpool standings.
The competition at the top of the Premier League is heating up. If Liverpool are still comfortable to occupy the throne of the standings, the teams under them are jegal to each other.
Forest surprisingly managed to rank second after beating Everton 2-0. They also shifted Chelsea and Arsenal. But Forest did not last long in that position.
Arsenal took second place after beating Brentford in London Derby. This is also Arsenal's 11th win in various competitions.
Victory in the away game made the Gunners pocket 39 points. Arsenal are two points ahead with Forest dropping to third. However, Arsenal are still six points behind Liverpool who have one game. Meanwhile, Chelsea, who had overshadowed the Reds, slipped again and was ranked fourth with 35 points.
Brentford himself failed to improve his position and is still struggling on the middle board. By pocketing the 24th point, The Bees are ranked 12. Their points were equal to Tottenham Hotspur, but lost the goal difference.
Manajer Mikel Arteta menyatakan dirinya tak memikirkan rekor kemenangan Arsenal. Artata hanya fokus bagaimana klub London Utara itu bisa memenangi setiap laga sehingga menjaga persaingan di atas liga.
"We just want to win the next game. Then we see what happens," said Arteta.
"This is not entirely in our hands. But in order to be in our hands, we must be able to do it," he said again.
In the match that must be won, Arsenal still has not been strengthened by the mainstay player Bukayo Saka who is still injured. Arsenal were late in the heat which immediately got a sting from Brentford.
In the 13th minute, the hosts managed to take the lead when Bryan Mbeumo completed an assist from Mikkel Damsgaard to beat goalkeeper David Raya. The goal was inseparable from the negligence of Arsenal defenders who let Mbeumo move freely and get space to release a shot into the net.
Only the 1-0 advantage of Thomas Frank's team did not last long. Arsenal did not panic even though they missed the goal and finally equalized the score in the 29th minute.
Gabriel Jesus' goal came after his header using a rebound ball into Brentford's goal Only the referee had time to review the goal through VAR. As a result, there were no violations and Arsenal also equalized the score to 1-1. The position lasted until the first half was over.
Entering the second half, Arsenal, who were already hot, played more aggressively. They pressed the opponent's defense. Arsenal's offensive game immediately gave results through Mikel Merino's quick goal. In the 50th minute or five minutes after the match started, Merino's header which welcomed the wild ball managed to make Arsenal turn ahead to 2-1.
The advantage was to increase the adrenaline of Arsenal players. Evidently, they didn't take long to strengthen the victory. This time the forward Gabriel Martinelli was listed on the scoreboard in the 53rd minute.
The score changed 3-1 for Arsenal's advantage. Only after that goal, no one was able to break into each opponent's goal. Arsenal maintained their lead until the game was over.