Brentford v Arsenal: the history and the build up, with some extraordinary odds

 

 

• Brentford v Arsenal: tackles, fouls, yellow cards and the home v away record
• Brentford v Arsenal: Arsenal take on the club linked to gambling but without an under 21 side

by Bulldog Drummond

Brentford and Arsenal have played each other in competitive matches 17 times across the centuries, starting with an FA Cup match in 1902 (in which Woolwich Arsenal beat Brentford 5-0 in a replay), then continuing through a dodgy time in the 1930s when in seven consecutive games the great Arsenal teams of the era simply couldn’t beat Brentford at all.

However in the seven games since the second world war Brentford have only beaten Arsenal once, that being a 2-0 defeat at Brentford in 2021 to leave the total head to head results at six wins each and five draws.

Brentford started well this season with a home draw against Tottenham and an away win at Fulham 0-3 but since then, apart from a win against Newport County in the League Cup the results have not been so much in their favour with the last two being a 1-0 away defeat at Newcastle and a 1-3 home defeat to Everton.

That Everton defeat was quite a shock in that Everton had, prior  to that game, lost every game except a 2-1 league cup win against Doncaster Rovers and a 2-2 away draw with Sheffield United (who are currently bottom of the league with just one point).

This would seem to make it look likely to be an Arsenal win tonight, and ahead of the game there is (or at least hast been) a lovely piece on the Radio Times website that tells us the Brentford v Arsenal odds:

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In working partnership with the Radio Times, has provided the following betting odds for this event:

bet365 odds: Brentford () Draw () Arsenal ()*

*Odds subject to change. 18+.

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So there we are.  Obviously a huge amount of interest in this game.   And the next time you have a snigger about our lack of proof reading expertise, just remember, even the Radio Times is capable of screwing up a bit of online copywriting.

But back to more serious affairs….

As we noted earlier Brentford don’t operate an under 21 side in PL2 as Arsenal do, and of course for Arsenal it is what used to be the under 23 side that has traditionally provided some of the players for the early rounds of the league cup.  But this season the Under 21 league has been completely reorganised into a whopping great affair in which (for reasons that will not become clear at this point) not every team plays each other.

Arsenal’s under 21 team have played two away games so far, winning one and losing one.

Here’s the league table so far… interestingly the two Manchester clubs are lurking in 16th and 17th position, although it must be admitted  that Manchester City’s under 21 side’s one victory was away against Arsenal.

Manchester United, you might like to note, have played five games and scored 20 goals but won only one of those five games.  Arsenal have knocked in 14.

 

 

The trouble is that the under 21 side have a game in two days time away at Everton so it looks like that squad won’t be raided for players for this match tonight, so it will be a case of selecting a team of players that are in the first team squad but not getting much experience so far.

Arsenal however do have a 25 man first team squad, so there ought to be plenty of players available for this game without raiding the under 21s or using players who played in the game against Tottenham.

Up next, the possible team….