Arsenal climbed up to the top of the Premier League table after a last-gasp 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday evening.
Premier League
Report: Brentford 0-1 Arsenal
Date: 25 November 2023
Venue: Gtech Community Stadium
The Gunners brought back Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, as shot-stopper David Raya was barred against his parent club, in the three changes following their win over Burnley.
Neither side could settle in the early exchanges and an error by Ramsdale gifted Brentford a glorious chance on 14 minutes after Bryan Mbeumo curled a shot that was cleared off the line by Declan Rice.
Mikel Arteta's charges started to dictate matters after that, looking the more threatening going forward but they could not carve out clear openings.
Arsenal thought they were ahead just before the interval after Leandro Trossard pounced on a spilled save by goalkeeper Mark Flekken but the goal was disallowed for a marginal offside.
The Gunners were predictable in trying to unlock the Bees' defence coming from the interval after 66 minutes, Arteta needed fresh legs upfront, as Eddie Nketiah replaced Jesus.
As the game remained on the edge, with 13 minutes to go, Neal Maupay nearly broke the deadlock for Thomas Frank's men after connecting with a cut-back from Mbuemo but Oleksandr Zinchenko made a clearance off the line after hurrying across goal.
Arteta had a last throw of a dice from the bench ten minutes before time as he brought on Kai Havertz in place of Gabriel Martinelli for a different approach upfront.
Havertz became the hero for Arsenal with two minutes to go, as he broke the deadlock after heading home Bukayo Saka's cross low into the back of the net.
The Spanish tactical closed shop in the dying minutes as Ben White replaced Saka and the Gunners held on to move one point clear at the top of the table after leaders Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool earlier in the afternoon.
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