The most regrettable missed opportunity for The Gunners belonged to Gabriel Martinelli. Usually, the Brazilian striker will be very sensitive in a similar ball situation. However, when Martinelli missed that ball, it caused Arsenal to drop points for the 4th time in 7 Premier League matches since the beginning of the year.
The draw with Brentford made Arsenal fans feel much similarity to the 0-0 draw against Nottingham. The difference is that The Gunners struggled much harder to avoid conceding another goal after they were equalized 1-1 by the opponent. Looking broadly, even in the Premier League wins since the beginning of the season, Arsenal has also fallen into a state of anxiety many times when the gap with the opponent is only 1 goal in the final minutes.
The match against Brentford was the 2nd time Arsenal had 4 changes in the starting lineup since the beginning of the season. The previous time was the second leg of the season against Man United. The common point in both times was that Mikel Arteta's team did not win. In the match against Man United, Arsenal had a better first half, but this time against Brentford, things were no longer like that.
Viktor Gyokeres and Piero Hincapie have recently regularly started, but Christian Mosquera and Eberechi Eze have only had their first Premier League starts since December 3, 2025 and December 13, 2025. Mosquera once again showed maturity far beyond his age of 21 when he closely marked Igor Thiago throughout the match when William Saliba was absent. However, Eze and other midfielders had difficulty controlling and creating a threat towards the opponent's penalty area.
Since the 0-5 defeat to Man City in September 2021, Arsenal has had such a low number of shots in the first half. Especially in the 5-minute period (from the 20th to 25th minute), Brentford's ball possession rate has reached over 90%. This shows that The Bees have organized well and dared to play fairly with Arsenal right at home.
Regarding Eze, this is the first time he has started in the Premier League since December 13, 2025 in the 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton. It took a long time to return to the starting lineup, but Eze did not take advantage of the opportunity. Before being substituted, Eze only had 9 accurate passes. When Odegaard replaced Eze, the Norwegian captain only took 10 minutes to get the same number of accurate passes as Eze.
Eze had a favorable start when he first joined Arsenal but he ran out of steam and lost form in the late 2025 and early 2026 periods. However, with a player who has scored a hat-trick in the North London Derby, Eze's potential is still very large. As Mikel Arteta once said, the English midfielder is a star who can create magical moments.
Although Arteta always respects and creates conditions for him, Eze needs to regain his form soon to squeeze into the starting lineup if he does not want to be left behind in a team with many outstanding individuals like Arsenal. This is the 2nd time he has been substituted in the first half, the previous time was a moment of carelessness leading to a goal conceded in the match against Aston Villa.
After the match, Arteta admitted that Arsenal lacked composure to keep the ball in their feet well after conceding a goal. When asked about being only 4 points ahead of Man City, the Spanish captain did not mention the two-horse race, he only said that the "Gunners" need to focus on doing well in the upcoming matches.
