Arsenal climb to second after Gabriel Martinelli rounds off win at Brentford
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Mikel Arteta wanted to send a warning to Liverpool that Arsenal can push them all the way for the Premier League title and this was evidence that they mean business. Facing a Brentford side boasting the division’s best home record and trailing to an early Bryan Mbeumo strike, Arsenal hit back with goals from Gabriel Jesus – his sixth in his past four games – Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli to ensure that they moved to within six points of Arne Slot’s side, albeit from one game more.
![[Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus scores their first goal]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/43cdc21e73b3b303df10182afcb4172249a408dd/38_146_2791_1674/master/2791.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
It was far from a perfect performance from Arsenal that once again needed a goal from a corner – their 10th of the season – to settle their nerves. But having now gone 11 matches in all competitions without defeat and with the 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri making another big impression on his first Premier League start, Arteta will sense that their momentum is slowly building.
Both these sides had to wait until the new year to round off the first half of their campaigns and it was perhaps with Saturday’s trip to Brighton in mind – the second of nine fixtures this month – that Arteta made four changes from the team that narrowly defeated Ipswich in their last outing. That included an opportunity for Nwaneri to fill the big boots of the injured Bukayo Saka on the right, with Gabriel Martinelli reverting to his usual left flank. Kai Havertz was not even part of the match-day squad amid reports of a bug in the camp and Declan Rice had to make do with a place on the bench.
Brentford lost their unbeaten home record last time out against Nottingham Forest but, after they picked up only a second away point of the season at Brighton, Thomas Frank clearly fancied their chances of recording an eighth victory out of 10 here. They welcomed back the goalkeeper Mark Flekken after he limped off during the first half against Brighton but were without the experienced defender Ben Mee as Sepp van den Berg was drafted into an inexperienced defence.
