Arsenal at Brentford: start as you mean to go on

01/01/2025 11:00 AM

The Gunners look to open 2025 with three points.

Arsenal travel south across London to visit Brentford to open the Premier League's 2025 action. The Gunners can reclaim second in the table with a win, and at this point, with the gap Liverpool have opened at the top, Mikel Arteta's side needs to take three points pretty much every time out to maintain their slim hope of winning the league.

Brentford are comfortably mid-table. They're not going to be relegated. But they'd need a significant uptick in form / results to threaten the European places. The Bees have turned the Gtech Community Stadium into a fortress. They've won 7 of their 9 home matches this season. Their only home loss came just before Christmas, a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest. Thomas Frank's side have struggled of late, with just one win in their last six times out.

For a while, they had a habit of scoring very early in matches, within the first minute or two, although that has tailed off a bit lately. Still, it's something Arsenal will need to be on guard against. Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa are heavily involved in the early goals and Brentford's scoring, more generally. The attacking pair have scored 19 of the Bees' 32 Premier League goals this season. They thrive in space, on the counter, and on quick-moving, direct attacks.

Brentford have been hit hard by injuries and could be missing as many as 11 first team players, including Josh DaSilva, Rico Henry, Ben Mee, Mark Flekken, Mathias Jensen, and Ethan Pinnock.

None of those absences are as impactful as Arsenal's biggest miss: Bukayo Saka. The Gunners will need to find ways to manufacture chances without their star winger, who was scoring / assisting a goal per game. Other players - Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus, and Gabriel Martinelli will need to step up. Martin Odegaard, as brilliant as he is, hasn't been getting on the scoresheet as much as you'd hope. It would be a big boost if he could pick up his scoring.

Mikel Arteta will be without Raheem Sterling, although his knee problem is not as significant as initially feared. Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain long-term absentees.

Lineups will be posted when available.

WHO: Arsenal at Brentford
WHAT: Premier League match day 19
WHEN: Wednesday, January 1st, 9:30 am PT | 12:30 pm ET | 5:30pm GMT
WHERE: Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford
HOW TO WATCH: USA Network

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