English Premier League

Brentford v Arsenal: Premier League – live

February 13, 2026

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6 minute read

Brentford v Arsenal: Premier League – live

Key events

30 min: Madueke and Gyokeres try to launch a counter. But Brentford break it up easily, Kayode putting a hat on a hat by juggling the ball insouciantly in his own box, and then Gyokeres is booked for tugging back Yarmoliuk as the hosts attempt to counter the counter. “Official emergency!” begins Charles Antaki. “This Is Not Looking Great flags are being run up the Arsenal flagpole, as the game descends into mid-80s penalty-box chaos. it’s never a good look where the defence is in-anywhere-will-do mood this early in a game.”

28 min: Ouattara makes himself some space near the right-hand corner flag and hooks a low cross into the mixer. Mosquera hooks clear under intense pressure from Thiago. Brentford are well on top … but you feel they need to score while the going is good.

27 min: Brentford are stroking it around with supreme confidence, and forcing Arsenal into mistakes. The league leaders can’t get out. Whenever they do get the ball, they’re handing it straight back.

25 min: Brentford have enjoyed 91 percent of possession during the last five minutes.

24 min: Brentford must have been mentally chalking that one up as a goal. An unbelievable save by Raya. You couldn’t really call it a miss by Thiago, who headed firmly downwards. Perhaps a little bit too close to the keeper, but you’d be a harsh critic to go down that road.

22 min: Kayode flings long from the right. Raya claims. He carelessly flings the ball to Lewis-Potter on the left. Lewis-Potter’s excellent cross finds the head of Thiago, who plants his effort towards the bottom right. It’s surely a goal, but Raya makes up for his error with a stunning point-black parry. What a reaction stop! What a balls-up beforehand, mind. Arsenal have looked really unsure of themselves at the back.

Igor Thiago tests Arsenal with a powerful header. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA

20 min: … but now a decision does go Brentford’s way, as Gabriel is booked for a late slide on Thiago. There’s a wee edge developing here. Nothing too dramatic yet, but the germ of a brouhaha has been planted.

18 min: Trossard is penalised for a garden-variety foul, and then Keith Andrews is booked for making a possibly sarcastic point about some earlier decisions that went Arsenal’s way. He unambiguously mouths: “A [word redacted by Family Website editor] shambles.”

17 min: Trossard and Gyokeres combine down the left and nearly open Brentford up … but Ajer and Kayode ensure there’s no way through. Arsenal are concentrating all of their attacks down this left flank.

15 min: Yarmoliuk hassles Rice and steals away with the ball. As he advances on the Arsenal box, the whistle goes for a generous free kick. There wasn’t much in that. Rice and Arsenal get away with one.

14 min: … so having said that, Lewis-Potter chases a long pass down the middle, and nearly takes advantage of a brief moment of confusion between Gabriel and Timber, who threaten to clank into each other. The defenders get their act together soon enough, but there’s another sign, albeit small, of nerves in this Arsenal back line.

13 min: The rain is teeming down in west London. That’s not the only thing putting a dampener on the spirits of the Brentford fans: Arsenal are hogging the ball in the sterile style, establishing the sort of domination you’d expect from league leaders.

11 min: … nowt.

10 min: Rice hits long. Gabriel wins a header at the far post. Actually there’s plenty of shoulder in that. Either way, it’s heading towards the top right. Kelleher and Van den Berg combine to turn it out for another corner. From which …

9 min: The first opportunity for Kayode to launch one of his trademark monster throws into the mixer. He overflings it, straight out for a goal kick. Up the other end, Hincapie has another chance to cross from the left; this time he wins a corner. From which …

8 min: Ouattara glides in from the right and thinks about checking back, before bursting into more space down the inside-right flank. His forward pass, intended for Thiago, is overcooked. But that run was so easy on the eye. Then Raya lets a Gabriel backpass run under his boot, and he’s forced to spin and hoick off the line, just in time. Arsenal have looked uncharacteristically jittery at the back in these early exchanges. A couple of big unforced errors. Ah well, no harm done.

6 min: Hincapie finds a little bit of space on the left touchline. His cross is deflected into the arms of Kelleher. It’s been an underwhelming start at both ends of the pitch.

4 min: Raya claims the corner without fuss. That should settle some early Arsenal nerves. The visitors break upfield, and Janelt takes a huge fistful of the in-flight Gyokeres’s shirt. He gives the referee no option: yellow card. A long time to be walking along the disciplinary tightrope.

3 min: … but then Gabriel inexplicably toe-punts a wild backpass out for a corner. So careless. An early chance for Brentford to cause some of that six-yard-box chaos their manager was talking about before the game.

2 min: Brentford stroke it around a bit. Then Arsenal stroke it around a bit. One of those starts.

Cristhian Mosquera gets away from Igor Thiago. Photograph: David Price/AFC/Getty Images

Arsenal get the ball rolling. The Community Stadium bouncing after a pre-match singalong to the coda from Hey Jude. You know the one.

Here come the teams. Brentford wear their red and white stripes, forcing Arsenal into second-choice blue with “iconic lightning bolt graphics” and lovely retro cannon. Shame the old AFC cannonballs aren’t on the crest as well, for that truly accurate 70s/80s feel, but nostalgia isn’t as good as it used to be. [SFX] We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.

Mikel Arteta’s turn to talk to TNT. “For seven months we have been [shutting out external noise and pressure] … from the first day in the Premier League … you have to win, you have to do this, so we are used to it … [Brentford] really merit where they are.”

He also reports that Kai Havertz picked up a “little niggle … we need to wait and see how long he will be out for.”

Meanwhile last night … here are the reasons Arsenal will be looking anxiously over their shoulder.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews, exuding supercool, speaks to TNT Sports. “[We will] approach the game in a very confident but humble way … we’re very aware of what will be thrown at us tonight … [Arsenal] are a phenomenal team with phenomenal individuals … well-coached in every aspect of the game … we’ll have to match that and perform very, very well … but equally we’re a pretty good team ourselves … I hope [this game] is chaos … I like creating chaos … you want to feel like you’re in control [so] if you can alter that plan in any way, and you can remain calm amongst it, then that puts you in a good place … we’ll try to make it uncomfortable for them … we’ll have to raise our levels, and our levels are pretty good! … we’re a humble, hungry group … hopefully we can achieve something special.”

Brentford make one change to their starting line-up following the 3-2 win at Newcastle United on Saturday. Yehor Yarmolyuk replaced Jordan Henderson during the second half of that match; he does the same thing from the start tonight. Henderson is on the bench.

Arsenal make four changes to their starting XI from the one named for the 3-0 victory over Sunderland last weekend. Viktor Gyökeres, Eberechi Eze, Piero Hincapié and Cristhian Mosquera step up; Gabriel Jesus and Riccardo Calafiori drop to the bench, while William Saliba (ill) and Kai Havertz (injured) miss out altogether. Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard both begin their journey back from injury on the bench.

The teams

Brentford: Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, van den Berg, Henry, Yarmolyuk, Janelt, Ouattara, Jensen, Lewis-Potter, Thiago.
Subs: Bentt, Furo, Donovan, Damsgaard, Collins, Henderson, Pinnock, Hickey, Valdimarsson.

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Hincapie, Eze, Zubimendi, Rice, Madueke, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Lewis-Skelly, Calafiori, Norgaard, Martinelli, Jesus, Odegaard, Saka, White.

Referee: John Brooks
VAR: Stuart Attwell

Preamble

Arsenal were nine points clear of Manchester City five days ago. Given they haven’t played since their 3-0 win over Sunderland established that advantage, it’s a bit rum to point the finger now that gap is only three, City having since won sensationally at Liverpool on Sunday and in a more conventional manner against Fulham last night. But scoreboard pressure is scoreboard pressure, and suddenly the visit to Brentford looks a little more difficult than it would have done on Saturday evening.

To be fair to Mikel Arteta and his men, they’d have considered this match a tricky assignment when nine ahead anyway. Brentford are in fine fettle right now, coming off the back of wins at Aston Villa and Newcastle, and they’re one of the stories of the season. However, Arsenal have responded well to a triple-bump in the road – those goalless draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, followed by dramatic defeat against Manchester United – by recording four wins on the bounce in all comps. So this is all set up for some piping-hot west-versus-north cross-capital action! Should be fun, not least because it means so much in terms of the title. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!

Source From: Premier League | The Guardian

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