Brentford (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 1
Carabao Cup (EFL Cup) Third Round
GTech Community Stadium, 166 Lionel Road South, Brentford TW8 0RU
Wednesday, 27th September 2023. Kick-off time: 7.45pm
(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhães, Ben White, Jakob Kiwior; Kai Havertz, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho (c), Emile Smith-Rowe; Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Charles Sagoe Jr.
Substitutes: Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Cédric Soares, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein, Oleksandr Zinchenko, James Lannin-Sweet, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Reuell Walters.
Scorers: Reiss Nelson (8 mins)
Yellow Cards: Ben White, Eddie Nketiah
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 60%
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistant Referees: Harry Lennard, Nick Hopton
Fourth Official: John Busby
Attendance: 16,688
In our team tonight, Aaron Ramsdale has returned in goal, and it is heartening to see Emile Smith-Rowe getting a place in the starting eleven as well, which is his first game since since May 2022. There is also a debut for 19-year-old forward Charles Sagoe Jr. too. For this evening’s match, only Ben White, Gabriel and Eddie Nketiah retain their places in the team from the last Sunday’s two-all draw with Tottenham Hotspur. Of the others that played in the local derby match, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leonardo Trossard are all rested for this match. By the way, there is no VAR in use for Carabao Cup matches until the semi-finals.
Within a minute of the start, Reiss Nelson won a free-kick for a foul in our half, and after a very dull start, it only took eight minutes for us to take the lead from Reiss Nelson, with a superb right-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area to the bottom right corner after some bad mistakes by the Brentford defenders. We then started to take the game to the home side, putting pressure on their defence, trying to grab a second goal as soon as we can.
The home side tried to catch us on the break, but our defenders were too quick for their strikers, catching Yoane Wissa offside. We have the majority of possession at this point in the game, and although we are very confident on the ball, Brentford will have their moments and are dangerous.
On the twenty-fourth minute, Emile Smith-Rowe was desperately unlucky not to score, when his left-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area was blocked by a Bees’ defender. The home side had a chance to score when Bryan Mbeumo crossed the ball for Yoane Wissa to head the ball goalbound, but it was successfully blocked.
Just after the half hour mark, Emile Smith-Rowe almost doubled our lead after moving unmarked into the Brentford penalty area, but goalie Mark Flekken stuck out his foot to save what should have been a certain goal.
The home side tried to get through our defence with a Christian Nørgaard through ball to Yoane Wissa but it went wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s goal, and at the other end a minute or so later, Reiss Nelson provided Kai Havertz with a fabulous chance to score, but his right-footed shot was blocked by a Brentford defender, running back to cover his goalkeeper. Ben White received the first yellow card of the night for a silly incident, and as the half wound down towards the break, we are in complete control overall.
The second half got underway, and although Kai Havertz gave away a free-kick a minute or so after the restart, it was a fairly sluggish start from both teams. However, it was the home side who had the early chances to score through Yoane Wissa again, but he was caught offside, fortunately.
A few minutes later, following a superb Jakub Kiwior pass, Eddie Nketiah almost scored our second goal with a superb right-footed shot from outside the penalty area, that went just wide of the Brentford post. Ten minutes after the restart, Eddie Nketiah received our second yellow card of the evening for a badly timed foul, and the home side managed to get through our defence a few minutes later when Christian Nørgaard placed the ball into the path of Frank Onyeka, whose strong shot went thankfully wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s post.
On the hour, Ben White did some sterling work in order to place the ball into the path of Eddie Nketiah, whose left-footed shot from just outside the penalty area was somehow blocked by a Brentford defender.
The home side were desperate to grab an equaliser with some efforts from Aaron Hickey and Yoane Wissa whose effort was pushed onto the post by Aaron Ramsdale, and went back out into play, which was a close shave for us.
With twenty minutes of the match remaining, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced young Charles Sagoe Jr. and Ben White to bring fresh legs onto the pitch, and just a minute later, Kai Havertz passed a superb ball to Reiss Nelson, whose left-footed shot from outside the penalty area hit the post and went behind for a goal-kick. So close.
Gabriel Jesus then unselfishingly placed a beautiful through ball to Eddie Nketiah, whose shot was easily picked up in the centre of the penalty area by the goalkeeper.
The home side somehow started to bring the play to us, and had several good chances to score, but all of them were saved by Aaron Ramsdale, who has saved us tonight at times. With eight minutes remaining, Mikel Arteta made two more substitutions, when Martin Ødegaard and Mohamed Elneny replaced Emile Smith-Rowe and Reiss Nelson to try and stabilise things.
Mathias Jorgensen did get the ball into our net, but thankfully the goal was cancelled out due to offside; this merely spurred the home side onwards, when they had several attempts to score, the best of them coming from Keane Lewis-Potter, but their efforts were saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
Four minutes from the end of the game, Oleksandr Zinchenko passed the ball to Mohamed Elneny, but his shot went wide of the post. Cédric Soares replaced Eddie Nketiah with three minutes of the game remaining, and in injury time, a Martin Ødegaard shot was blocked easily by the Brentford defence.
Despite some more attempts by both teams, we ran out one-nil winners on the night. All in all, we did enough to win this match tonight. Aaron Ramsdale was superb in goal for us, saving a certain goal on several occasions.
It was very much a game of two halves; we were dominant in the first half, whilst the home side were much improved in the second half, but not enough to grab an equaliser against us. A good night all round, chaps.
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, 30th September at 3.00pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 