Preview: Brentford v Arsenal | Pre-Match Report | News

In our final league action before a 10-day pause, we cross the capital to tackle high-flying Brentford on Thursday (8pm UK), looking to protect our lead at the top of the table.

Having won four on the spin and keeping three clean sheets in the process, we’ll look to turn our attentions to the FA Cup after collecting the maximum points haul from the Gtech Community Stadium, something we have done in each of the past three campaigns.

But this Bees team have been beaten just twice in 12 on their own patch this term under Keith Andrews’ guidance, albeit one of which was against Nottingham Forest on their last outing in west London.

Andrews answers critics

Despite being many people’s picks for relegation following big-name departures on and off the pitch, Andrews has quietly gone about his business at Brentford and with 13 games to go, has his fans dreaming of a potential first-ever European qualification.

A week before Christmas they found themselves in 15th spot, but six wins and a draw from the next nine have seen the Bees fly up the table. That includes a 1-0 success at Aston Villa at the start of the month when they played with 10 men for over half the game, and a 3-2 triumph at Newcastle United with Dango Outtarra netting winners in both eye-catching triumphs.

They reached the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup before being eliminated by Manchester City, and travel to National League South side Macclesfield in the FA Cup fourth round following our clash – as hopes grow that a promising campaign could end with some sort of success.

What the managers say

Arteta: “We are jumping from competition to competition every week. It freshens it up, we are trying to do that to see what we have to do in a very short period of time, with the objective to be very present in what we have to do now and what’s going to make the difference in relation to what we want to achieve.

“It’s another tough game. We know [Brentford] at home as well, the last few results they have had, the coaching staff have been amazing. So, credit to them, because they’re a top side.”

Andrews: “We’re a pretty good attacking team ourselves. We’ve got a lot of strengths in how we play the game. There’s absolutely no doubt it’s going to be a really, really difficult game. They are the best team in the country. The table doesn’t tend to lie.

“You have to be on things for every minute of the game, every second of the game to try and nullify what they throw at you. So we’ll have to produce a top performance.”

Team news

Arteta will continue to assess the fitness of Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard ahead of the trip to west London, as the pair both sat out our wins against Chelsea and Sunderland last week.

Mikel Merino has undergone surgery on his foot injury, while Max Dowman is still out with an ankle issue.

Brentford will be without Kevin Schade who was red-carded in the win at Villa a fortnight ago, while Reiss Nelson is ineligible to play against his parent club.

Fabio Carvalho and Antoni Milambo are out long-term with serious knee injuries, as is Josh Dasilva who has been out for over two years but recently signed a short-term contract with the Bees as he continues his recovery attempt.

Talking tactics

Adrian Clarke: The Bees unashamedly play a percentage style of football, and it is working brilliantly for them. No top-flight team knocks the ball longer, but their distribution is usually both accurate and purposeful, while a strong emphasis on set plays sees right-back Michael Kayode especially threatening with long throws.

It will be interesting to see which formation Brentford opt for in this encounter. They switched to 5-3-2 in the reverse fixture, but have been performing very well in a 4-2-3-1, a shape that allows winger Ouatarra to use his pace.

Brentford have created 76 ‘big chances’, a tally which puts them one ahead of us, and two behind Manchester City, which is seriously impressive, with Thiago working insatiably hard to put defenders under pressure. Boasting strong running power, good aerial ability and sharp movement inside the box, the clinical Brazilian has been a revelation in 2025/26, netting 17 times.

Going forward, Brentford are sure to be dangerous, but when put under pressure, their rearguard is not always watertight, and they have failed to keep a clean sheet in nine of their 12 home games.

Facts and stats

Brentford have won just one of their last 14 games against us in all competitions, going winless in their last nine since their first-ever Premier League game in August 2021.

Brentford have won just one of their last 11 league London derbies, failing to score in each of their last five. They’ve failed to win any of their last seven on home soil since a 2-1 win against Crystal Palace in August 2024.

We’ve lost just one of our last 23 London derbies in the Premier League, going unbeaten in 10 stretching back to February 2025. Meanwhile, since the start of 2022/23, we have lost just one  of our 20 away derbies

Brentford lost 2-0 against Nottingham Forest in their last home league game, ending a seven-game unbeaten run at the Gtech Community Stadium. Since the start of last season, they’ve only lost consecutive home league games twice.

Igor Thiago has had a hand in 10 goals across his last 10 home games in the Premier League, netting four braces in this time.

Mikel Arteta has won 41 of his 67 Premier League London derbies, the best win rate (61%) of anyone to take charge of at least 20. Overall, only Arsène Wenger (106 from 194 games) and Jose Mourinho (42/70) have won more London derbies than the Spaniard.

Bukayo Saka only has more Premier League goal involvements against West Ham (9) and Southampton (8) than he does against Brentford (6 – 2 goals, 4 assists).

Match officials

John Brooks has been handed his third Gunners assignment of the campaign, and we emerged victorious from the other two, at home against West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion.

He has refereed Brentford three times this term – a Carabao Cup penalty shootout win against Aston Villa, before a 1-1 draw at home to Leeds United and last month’s 2-0 loss at neighbours Chelsea when he awarded a penalty to the Blues. That is one of four he has dished out in nine Premier League games, while he has issued two red cards.

Referee: John Brooks
Assistants: Steve Meredith, Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth official: John Busby
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis

Recent trips to Brentford

Since winning 2-0 against us in their first-ever Premier League game in August 2021, Brentford are winless in the last four meetings in all competitions at the Gtech Community Stadium.

We ended 2024 with a New Year’s Eve win in west London, recovering from the setback of Bryan Mbuemo’s opener to eventually triumph 3-1 thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus, Merino and Gabriel Martinelli.

Kai Havertz grabbed an 89th-minute winner to secure the points back in November 2023, while two months earlier Nelson scored to secure a passage to the fourth round of the League Cup. The other victory was a 3-0 success thanks to goals from William Saliba, Jesus and Fabio Vieira in September 2022.

Live coverage

Make sure you tune into Live From N5 just before kick-off to hear live commentary provided by Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke, who will guide you through all the action.

You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live wherever you are in the world.

Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.