PREVIEW: Arsenal vs Brentford

Arsenal will be hoping to make it eight wins on the spin this evening, and in doing so climb to the top of the table. A win will see The Gunners leapfrog both Manchester City and Liverpool, who play each other tomorrow.

Injury News - Arsenal

Arsenal are edging closer to a fully fit squad. Thomas Partey, Fabio Vieira and Gabriel Jesus all got valuable minutes on Monday night, and they are all expected to play some part in proceedings tonight. 

Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were both withdrawn at Sheffield United with minor issues, but both are expected to be involved. Mikel Arteta said: "Then we had [Gabriel] Martinelli and Bukayo [Saka] with little issues but we are pretty positive that hopefully they can be part of that, but we’ll have to wait and see how they are.”

David Raya is ineligible to play against his parent club, so Aaron Ramsdale is expected to get a rare opportunity in goal. 

Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko both remain doubts but are edging closer to a return. Jurrien Timber has continued to be reintegrated into first-team training but is still expected to miss out.

Injury News - Brentford

Brentford remain without a host of long-term absentees. Josh Dasilva, Rico Henry and Ben Mee are expected to be out for the season. Meanwhile Aaron Hickey, Kevin Schade, Ethan Pinnock and Bryan Mbuemo are all out of the trip. 

Form

Arsenal head into the fixture having won their previous seven fixtures, scoring 31 goals in the process and conceding just three. They ran out 6-0 winners on Monday night against Sheffield United. 

Brentford have won just one of their previous five but have faced Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea in that time. In their last game they drew 2-2 at home to the latter.

Recent History

Arsenal have faced Brentford on 19 occasions throughout their history, winning 8, drawing 5 and losing 6. 

In the reverse fixture this season, Arsenal scored late on through Kai Havertz to take home all three points. They also knocked Brentford out of the League Cup in a 1-0 win thanks to Reiss Nelson. 

Last season, Arsenal dropped points at home to Brentford due in large to a controversial VAR error.

Played For Both

David Raya is of course on loan from Brentford, and he is widely expected to make the move permanent in due course. 

Josh Dasilva is a Hale End Academy graduate, although he never featured for the Arsenal first team. Nico Yennaris, who played once in the Premier League for Arsenal, went onto play for Brentford between 2014 and 2019.

Prediction

Arsenal have a rare opportunity to capitalise on at least one of their title rivals dropping points. The Gunners will be confident heading into the tie and should get the job done.

Arsenal 3-0 Brentford.