Official Site of Arsenal · Nov 27, 2023
Arsenal Analysed: How we stung the Bees
Kai Havertz scored late to secure a 1-0 win for us at Brentford on Saturday to send us to the top of the Premier League.
Adrian Clarke has rewatched the encounter and delved into the stats to find out how we conquered Brentford.
Attack versus defence
Brentford are an excellent side who were unbeaten in their previous 14 London derbies, but their chosen tactic against us was to put all 11 players behind the ball, protecting their 18-yard box.
This ploy gave us complete control, but gaps were hard to find against such a well-drilled outfit that didn’t want to take risks.
Their narrow and compact defensive 5-3-2 shape can be seen below, and this was a consistent pattern.