Brentford held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, dropping points for the second game in a row and giving Manchester City renewed optimism of passing them at the top of the table.
With a victory over Aston Villa at home on Sunday, City can trim Arsenal’s advantage to three points. With Arsenal visiting City on Wednesday, Pep Guardiola’s squad would take the lead on goal differential if they won both games, despite having played one fewer game.
Leandro Trossard’s first Arsenal goal came in the 66th minute, when he steered in a cross from Bukayo Saka. But Ivan Toney equalized eight minutes later with a close-range header after the Gunners failed to clear a free kick.
Leandro Trossard scored Arsenal’s first goal in the 66th minute, heading home a cross from Bukayo Saka. But Ivan Toney equalized eight minutes later with a close-range header after the Gunners failed to clear a free kick.
Toney’s cross from the right evaded Arsenal defenders to give Rico Henry an opportunity to score into an open net, but the full back couldn’t make clean contact with the ball and it sailed wide.
Toney then nearly scored in the 25th after Bryan Mbeumo teed him up inside the area, but the striker’s shot hit the corner of the goal frame.
With Arsenal’s attack sputtering, Trossard came off the bench to provide a much-needed spark. The former Brighton forward, who joined Arsenal in the January transfer window, was on hand at the far post to slot the ball into an empty net after being picked out by Saka.
But the lead didn’t last long.
After Arsenal couldn’t clear an in swinging free kick into the area, Brentford kept the ball alive with three straight headers before Christian Norgaard squared the ball across the goalmouth, where Toney had an easy header into an empty net. The Brentford celebrations were put on hold for a lengthy VAR check for a possible offside before the goal was allowed to stand.
Oleksandr Zinchenko shot narrowly wide in the 80th as Arsenal looked for an immediate response but the hosts never came closer to a winner.