Some weeks Arsenal look unstoppable. Some of them look vulnerable. But after another unconvincing display at Brentford, there has been a common theme about Arsenal recently
Since the turn of the year, Arsenal have struggled to respond to a Manchester City result in the title race. This was the fourth time Mikel Arteta’s side had played City in the game week and dropped points.
This week saw Man City sweep aside Fulham, but Arsenal stumbled against their own opponents in west London the following day. They lost to Manchester United the day after Man City beat Wolves.
Earlier in the calendar year, they failed to seriously extend their lead over Pep Guardiola’s side at Nottingham Forest just hours after City lost the Manchester derby – and against Liverpool after City dropped points at Brighton.
At the same time, when Arsenal have gone first, they have looked like a different team. Last weekend there were no nerves against Sunderland, which preceded City’s dramatic game at Liverpool.
They went to Elland Road – another difficult venue and lost their star forward Bukayo Saka in the warm-up – and it was easy street ahead of City’s game against Spurs.
Arsenal travel to Bournemouth on Saturday before City host Chelsea on Super Sunday. And even when they played Aston Villa at home, they picked up the statement result they lacked at Brentford. Once again it happened a day before City were in action.
Arteta rejects claim that ‘finishing second’ has an impact on his team. “I don’t think so, I think we played them as well a few times this season and we’ve won the games,” he said.
He has a point. Arsenal’s slender December wins over Brighton and Everton came hours after City picked up victories.
But they were in 2025, this is 2026. The finish line is a little closer, the other cup competitions are starting to increase in intensity. More difficult questions will be asked and anxiety about getting over the line will increase.
Arteta instead said Arsenal’s recent drop of points was linked to a lack of defensive solidity against one of the most chaotic sides in the Premier League in Brentford.
Brentford’s Keane Lewis-Potter scores against Arsenal
“We lacked certain things against them, you have to defend those situations, even better prevent them,” he said.
“You don’t want to give them any chance or just hope something bad happens and we didn’t do that well enough for us throughout the game.”
But could it be linked to the pressure of playing for City? There were moments in the Brentford game where Arsenal didn’t see themselves.
In the opening three minutes, Gabriel put a wayward pass behind for a Brentford corner – and then made several clumsy mistakes which almost saw him sent off for two yellow cards.
In the lead-up to Igor Thiago’s big chance in the first half, which required a big save from David Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper gave the ball away cheaply with a roar of a throw.
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David Raya did a horror to throw out to Mathias Jensen, which immediately put pressure on the Arsenal goal, with a header from Brentford striker Igor Thiago, but the Spaniard was able to redeem himself with a magnificent save.
It was unlike him – and had a similar feel to the Martin Zubimendi error that led to Manchester United’s equalizer at the Emirates back in January.
Gabriel Martinelli has now missed big chances against Forest and Brentford – having shown that he delivers in these high-pressure areas, notably against Man City back in September.
Title runs do funny things to players and it feeds the idea that – despite Arsenal’s brilliant squad depth – City’s experience of getting over the line is their trump card over Arsenal.
Whether the schedule matters or not, Arsenal will need to solve their latest problem of “playing for City” – and quickly.
While they face Wolves on Wednesday – their next Premier League game, which City cannot respond to – Guardiola’s side first play in the fortnight after that.
In those games, Arsenal face two more London derbies that will pose questions similar to those they faced at Brentford.
A week on Sunday they face a Tottenham side who could have a ‘new manager bounce’ following Thomas Frank’s exit, while a week later Chelsea come to the Emirates – and Liam Rosenior’s side showed they can produce a nervous spectacle at the Emirates.
In the space of five days, Arsenal have gone from nine points at one point to a four-point gap and City are smelling blood. This title race is in full swing.