By Tony Attwood
So we have done our usual run around, looking at the referee and the teams. If you missed anything here are the articles
- Arsenal v Brentford: history, present form, and a comparison with Tottenham
- Why is there a home advantage, and why does it only apply for some referees?
- Arsenal v Brentford. Do Arsenal need a recharge or is it already full speed ahead?
- Brentford are slipping, although Tottenham are trying to rebuild
In past seasons at this point, we might have encountered a raft of criticism about failing to beat Chelsea, but some of these journalist fellows seem to have moderated their views somewhat and are of an understanding mind when writing about the weekend’s result.
As the BBC put it “Coming from behind to earn a draw, however, is not the worst ending to a week that also encompassed a convincing triumph in the north London derby and a European victory over Bayern Munich. That result left Arsenal as the sole leaders of the Champions League league phase table, particularly satisfying given the loss of key players.”
But of course each win demands another win coming up behind, and here the BBC have found a particularly interesting group of statistics as to how they think Brentford are preparing to take on Arsenal tonight… It concerns Brentford’s long throws
| Events | Total this season | Pos in the Premier League for this event |
| Long throw ins | 10 | 1st |
| Long throw ins in the box | 181 | 1st |
| Successful long throw ins | 48 | 1st |
| Shots after a long throw in. | 61 | 1st |
What could help Arsenal, however, is Brentford’s away form, which currently reads one win and five defeats. Those defeats have come against Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Brighton. So I am sure they won’t mind one more away to Arsenal, even with a bonkers kick-off time arranged specifically for someone at Sky to get down the pub for a quick one after the game.
But despite this kick of time nonsense, what do we know of the team?
The the Metro comes up with
Raya
Timber Hincapie Mosquera Calafiori
Odegaard Zubimendi Rice
Saka Gyokeres Martinelli
The Standard marches forth with a few variations on the theme both in the back four and in the forward line…
Raya;
Timber, Mosquera, Hincapie, Calafiori;
Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice;
Saka, Merino, Madueke
Football.London however, are playing a different game and offering us the whole squad for the night, which rather like quite a bit of their output these days, actually doesn’t tell us anything, so I’ll leave that one behind.
But the BBC have an interesting insight in terms of the way Brentford play, which shows they are top of the league for long throw-ins leading to goals, for long throw-ins into the box, for long throw-ins which actually get to the intended player and long throw-ins which lead to a shot.
In short, if the league trophy was awarded for long-throw-ins, we know who would be up there getting it. Although sadly for Brentford isn’t the case, although if one gets bored, one can always pop over to Kew Gardens for a look at the flowers. And Osterly Park isn’t far off either…. (You don’t get this extra info on Talk Sprout you know).
To summarise, Brentford have put 181 long throws into the box during this period – at least 69 more than any other side – while they have recorded a 61 shots following a long throw – again more than anyone else.
So I think we can take it from that that tonight we might see quite a few long throw ins.
But let us turn to Sports Mole, whose commentaries I often enjoy, but who today commit the ultimate, ulitimate writing crime of saying “The London derbies continue coming thick and fast” to which I say Arghhhhhhhh. Come on guys, you can do a lot better than that. I mean “quite a few” is better than thick and fast. So is “lots”. Or “several”. Or “two or three”. And if this is thick and fast, what then is thin and slow?
And they really have got it in for Arsenal today, speaking about “Sunday’s lethargic display from Mikel Arteta‘s side ” Ah, so that is thin and slow. Right. Got it.
Anyway, they give us a team of
Raya;
White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Lewis-Skelly;
Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice;
Madueke, Gyokeres, Eze
and I do rather like that forward line. And they also give the score as a 2-1 win to Arsenal. I think we might do a bit better than that, but even if not, you won’t find me using ridiculous hackneyed, trite, worn out and banal clichés, or anything which is a saying, idea, or expression that has been used so often it has lost its original impact and has become unoriginal, trite, bland, pointless and uninteresting. Rather like a match involving Tottenham H, I suppose.
Just for that, I’ll go for 2-0, with a third ruled out by the ref for reasons that he just makes up on the spot because, well, it’s Arsenal and that’s what you do.
