London: A late strike by Arsenal saw them to a 2-1 win against Brentford, keeping the top three teams tightly together at the head of the Premier League.
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, delighted with Kai Havertz’s 86th minute goal said: “If somebody told me after the first two or three months that the whole stadium would be singing his song with passion, that feeling, that chemistry, I would have found it hard to believe. That’s what happens to good people. He’s an exceptional player.”
Atreta, who made it a point to embrace goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale at the end of the game after his glaring mistake enabled Brentford to equalise, said: “He is a person with huge personality and courage, very determined. Errors are part of football. It’s how you react to it, especially for the keepers which is probably the most difficult position.”
He added: “He did so in an amazing way. I’m not surprised because the whole team and the whole stadium was behind him. He earned that respect and admiration. We really wanted to win for him.”
Brentford manager, Thomas Frank felt Havertz should not have been on the pitch. He had been shown a yellow card for catching Kristoffer Ajer in the face and later took a dive in the penalty area but did not get a second booking which would have sent him off.
Frank said: “It’s a clear, clear dive. That should have been a second yellow card and then a red card. Then he wouldn’t have been able to score the winner. We are missing seven players and our captain goes off after 25 minutes, and we still put an unbelievable shift in.”
Arsenal took the lead in the 19th minute from an excellent cross by Ben White after he had exchanged passes with Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice rose to head the ball in after poor marking by Mads Roersley.
Despite Arsenal continuing to dominate possession Brentford achieved parity in the fourth minute of added time of the first half. It came after a harmless looking back-pass from Gabriel to Ramsdale who was too slow to clear the ball up-field and Yoane Wissa slid in to deflect Ramsdale’s shot into the net.
Ramsdale made a superb save in the 56th minute when the managed to get his fingertips to a 40-yard drive by Ivan Toney and later did well to tip over a header from Nathan Collins. Later, a penalty appeal by Arsenal was turned down by VAR for a foul on Leandro Trossard.
Arsenal came close to scoring a second goal but Gabriel’s header was stopped close to the line by Vitaly Janelt. And in the 74th minute Rice was unlucky to see his 20-yard curling shot hit the junction of the post and cross bar.
Finally, with 4 minutes of normal time remaining, the Gunners completed their eighth consecutive win in the Premier League when Havertz nodded in powerfully from a fine cross by White for his fourth goal in four successive matches
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