Last weekend's 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Arsenal was like a love affair of Ivan Toney. The 27-year-old striker seems to be intending to leave Brentford as soon as possible. The Blues and the Gunners are both monitoring Toney's situation after he changed agents in August.
Brentford wanted to keep Toney, but manager Thomas Frank admitted the club would allow him to leave if there was a suitable offer.
A source close to Brentford said the club would demand a fee of around £80m from Toney. The final amount could be even higher if the clash between Chelsea, Arsenal and any other interested party, believed to include Man United and Tottenham, takes off.
Toney is under an eight-month ban from the English Football Association. He was only allowed to return to practice at Brentford last month and will not be able to play until January 17, 2024.
"The next club I'm going to, if I move, would be the right club," Toney said in an August interview on the podcast. "I'm a Liverpool fan, but I've liked Arsenal since I was a kid. I like to watch Arsenal and the way they play as well as the enthusiasm of the fans."
Brentford are waiting to see what happens. All stakeholders are in a state of stagnation and this will continue until January, when Toney can return as well as the transfer window opens.
Chelsea and Arsenal had an interesting draw, but it did not ease the concern as both needed a top-class centre-forward. The Premier League has only lasted 9 rounds, but the number of goals scored by both teams is a problem.
Newcastle is the team with the most goals in the tournament with 24 goals, although they scored 8 goals in the win over Sheffield. Meanwhile, Arsenal are 7th (18) and Chelsea are 10th (13).
Creativity can also be a factor. Newcastle leads in expected goals (19.87), followed by Liverpool (19.15), Aston Villa (17.53) and Brighton (17.46). In 5th place in the list is Brentford with 17.42, followed by Tottenham (16.66), Chelsea (16.52) and Arsenal (16.19).
This season, Arsenal have sacrificed their creativity in attack in exchange for their solidity in midfield. Jorginho started with Declan Rice, with Martin Odegaard almost playing as a "number 10" in a varied 4-3-3 formation, sometimes like 4-2-3-1.
Gabriel Jesus has been plagued by injuries and is not the type of target striker. In fact, the number of 95 goals after 236 appearances for attacking teams like Arsenal and Man City is not too impressive.
The problem with Chelsea's striker is much clearer than Arsenal's. The main cause is a series of injuries. And despite spending more than £1 billion in three transfer windows, the Blues are still lacking a big striker.
For Toney, only Erling Haaland (36) and Harry Kane (30) have scored more goals in the Premier League last season. Toney's 20 goals came from 94 shots, less than Haaland's 123 and Kane's 120 shots.
More notably, Mauricio Pochettino and Mikel Arteta both like Toney's playing style, especially his dynamism and ability to recover the ball.
Can Chelsea gain an advantage over Arsenal by defeating Toney's Brentford at Stamford Bridge this weekend?
