Arsenal restore five-point lead with comfortable win over Brentford

By Andy Sims, Press Association

Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka were on target as Arsenal kept the initiative in the Premier League title race with a routine 2-0 win over Brentford.

There was none of the chaos of Manchester City’s 5-4 win at Fulham 24 hours earlier which moved them temporarily to within two points of the Gunners.

Instead it was business as usual at the Emirates, with Arsenal extending their unbeaten run to 18 matches in all competitions with an eighth straight home win, another clean sheet, and stretching the gap at the top back to five points.

With his side having played Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea over the past week, boss Mikel Arteta took the opportunity to give a rest to Saka, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze against the Bees.

The changes worked almost immediately with fit-again Noni Madueke and forgotten man Ben White combining down the right after 11 minutes.

White, making his first Premier League appearance since the opening day, collected Madueke’s flick around the corner and stood up an inviting cross which Merino emphatically headed home.

It was the Spaniard’s second goal in two matches and his fourth since he was pushed into an emergency striker role following an injury to Viktor Gyokeres last month.

Madueke then saw a snap shot saved by Caoimhín Kelleher with Arsenal totally dominant in the opening stages.

Yet Brentford were inches from equalising from a corner when Gunners goalkeeper David Raya, facing his former club, spectacularly tipped Kevin Schade’s header onto the crossbar.

White went marauding forward again and when he overran the ball inside the box Gabriel Martinelli took it off his toes only to blaze over the top.

However the Gunners, already without first-choice centre-halves Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba through injury, were dealt a blow when another one, Cristhian Mosquera, limped off just before half-time.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews had made five changes to his side, notably leaving top scorer Igor Thiago out of his starting line-up.

The 10-goal Brazilian was sent on after an hour along with midfield duo Jordan Henderson and Mikkel Damsgaard, while Arteta threw on Saka and Eze.

Kelleher was forced into a good save from Riccardo Calafiori’s low drive and then an even better one to deny Declan Rice from the edge of the box.

Rice had run himself into the ground when he was taken off with 10 minutes left to give Gyokeres another run-out with Merino going back to the day job in midfield.

Saka made the points safe in stoppage time when Kelleher got a hand to his shot but was unable to prevent it looping into the net.