Arsenal are presently sitting third on the Premier League table, one point behind leaders Manchester City and next up, the Gunners take on Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Gunners are undefeated in 12 of their last 13 EPL matches and this season, they have lost just one game which came at the hands of Newcastle United. Man City and Liverpool play earlier on Saturday and if that match ends in a stalemate Arsenal have the chance of ending the matchweek at the top. A loss however will mostly see the Gunners fall out of the top-four.
The North London side have a pretty decent record against Brentford as the Bees have managed to pick only four points out of a possible 18 against Arsenal and we don’t expect anything unexpected this weekend either.
Arsenal’s team news and injuries:
Thomas Partey and Emile Smith Rowe are out injured and remain unavailable while Fabio Vieira is suspended for Saturday.
David Raya played against Brentford in the Carabao Cup in September but the keeper will be unable to face his parent club in the Premier League which means Aaron Ramsdale will be back in goal this weekend.
Martin Odegaard has been missing games due to concussion protocols and a hip injury but as per reports, the playmaker will be available for the Brentford game.
If Odegaard is not cleared by the doctors then Kai Havertz will play in the midfield role alongside Declan Rice and Jorginho.
Gabriel Jesus returned from his month-long absence and played 90 minutes against Argentina so he will definitely be available for Saturday. With Eddie Nketiah out injured, Jesus should be the one to lead the line but we think the Arsenal manager won’t put faith in the Brazilian.
Mikel Arteta has Leandro Trossard in his ranks and we have a feeling the manager is going to prefer using Trossard up front instead of Gabriel Jesus. Also, Jesus played an intense World Cup qualifier against Argentina so it makes sense to rest him this weekend given that he’s just come back from a long injury lay-off.
Arsenal predicted line up vs Brentford:
Predicted Starting line up(4-3-3): Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, William Saliba, Gabriel; Declan Rice, Jorginho, Odegaard/Havertz; Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.
