Brentford v Arsenal – Preview, Predictions and Best Bets

in the English Premier League at Brentford Community Stadium on Friday evening. The Bees are playing the for the first time although they have been in England’s top tier before it was rebranded. Arsenal ended last season in great form and bizarrely picked up the second most points in the division from the 16th to the 38th matches.

Brentford Form

Brentford finished third in the EFL Championship last season, just four points off the automatic promotion places. They won their final four matches before the playoffs, hoping to make up for losing in the playoff final during the 2019-20 season. They lost 1-0 to Bournemouth in the playoff semi-final first leg but bounced back to win 3-1 in the return fixture albeit facing ten men for over an hour.

A 2-0 win in the playoff final against Swansea confirmed their promotion, again facing ten men for a significant period. The Bees have had a decent preseason, drawing 2-2 with Man Utd and following up a 1-0 loss to West Ham by beating Valencia 2-1.

Brentford Team News

Brentford have signed two players who are expected to go straight into the starting XI in centre back Kristoffer Ajer from Celtic and midfielder Frank Onyeka from FC Midtjylland.

The Bees are expected to play a 3-5-2 formation with Bryan Mbeumo partnering the prolific Ivan Toney up front. The latter has been carrying a knock but should be fit to play. The same can’t be said of talented midfield Josh Dasilva who has a hip injury that is troubling him.

Brentford Motivation

Danish coach Thomas Frank is set to bring an attacking and exciting style of play to the Premier League as well as his own eccentricities and personality.

Brentford play on the front foot and use a high pressing strategy when out of possession to win the ball back quickly. They will use the energy of their crowd and will play to win against Arsenal.

The Lab – Stats Centre

Arsenal Form

Arsenal had a strong finish to last season as they won all of their final five Premier League matches. Whilst they beat struggling sides in Newcastle and West Brom, Arsenal won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge and then 3-1 at Crystal Palace and 2-0 at home to Brighton.

The table of the final 23 matches had Arsenal in second place behind only Man City and that brings some cause for optimism. Preseason has been very poor for Arteta’s side with three defeats in their four matches.

Arsenal Team News

Mikel Arteta will start new £50m signing Ben White in central defence, probably alongside Pablo Mari after Gabriel was injured in the Olympics. In central midfield, Dani Ceballos has departed and Thomas Partey is out injured so new addition Albert Sambi Lokonga could make his debut alongside Granit Xhaka.

In attack, Arsenal have not managed to strengthen so it’s likely to be Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could play wide with Alexandre Lacazette down the middle. Gabriel Martinelli is another option after returning to Arsenal immediately after the Olympics.

Arsenal Motivation

Brentford have scored in 7 of their last 8 matches (EFL Championship)

Brentford are 10 home matches unbeaten (W6, D4) in the Championship

Brentford’s Ivan Toney scored 31 goals last season

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 7 away PL matches (W7, D2)

Arsenal have netted three goals in 4 of their last 7 away matches (16 goals total)

Arsenal have seen Both Teams Score in 4 of their last 7 away PL matches

Key Stats

Chelsea have kept 18 clean sheets in their last 25 matches

Chelsea have lost 2 of their last 25 matches in all competitions (18 wins, 5 draws)

Chelsea have seen under 2.5 goals in 18 of their last 21 matches in all competitions

Arsenal have lost 5 of their last 8 away matches against Chelsea (D3)

Arsenal have lost 1 of their last 9 away matches (W5, D3)

The Gunners have won 3 of their last 5 away PL matches (D2), scoring 12 goals

Prediction

This match looks like one that Chelsea will win but Arsenal have caused problems for the Blues of late, winning the last two meetings. Arteta’s side are much better on the road than at home and could prove a surprisingly difficult challenge. A win for Tuchel’s Chelsea looks the best bet though.