England 01.01.2025 - Brentford vs Arsenal

[spkutano]

 

[spkutano]

Brentford vs Arsenal Preview:

Possible starting lineups:

Brentford:
Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter; Janelt, Norgaard; Mbeumo, Damsgaard, Schade; Wissa

Arsenal:
Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard

Brentford will welcome Arsenal to the Gtech Community Stadium, as London rivals play the first Premier League game of 2025. Brentford are very good at home, even they lost the most recent fixture to Nottingham Forest. The defeat came after seven victories, some of them against solid opponents. However, Arsenal are the first Big-6 side that will visit the Gtech. To be worse, the current form is poor, two defeats and one draw on the last three matches in the Premier League. The Bees lost to Chelsea and Nottingham, while played a goalless draw with Brighton on Friday. Manager Thomas Frank is doing a great job and I am sure the fans are satisfied. But the German coach has lot of injury worries ahead of this match. Igor Thiago, Gustavo Nunes, Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey, Josh Dasilva, Kristoffer Ajer and Ethan Pinnock are definitely out. Two important players - goalkeeper Mark Flekken and Ben Mee - were both forced off against Brighton and they are rated as doubtful. Frank is hoping Flekken to recover in time for this match as his replacement Hakon Valdimarsson has no big Premier League experience. Sepp van den Berg and Mathias Jensen are set to return to the squad.

Arsenal are fighting for the title and they will go for victory here. The Gunners are huge nine points behind Liverpool and they have no space for calculations. Three points from this match are extremely important. Mikel Arteta is well aware about that, as well as his players. Arsenal are in solid form, three victories and two draws on the last five matches in the Premier League. Nevertheless, dropping points against Fulham and Everton is simply not acceptable. I will repeat once again, three points from this match are obligated, with them Arsenal will go back above Nottingham on the second place. The Spanish coach also has some injury worries. The biggest problem is the absence of Bukayo Saka due to a hamstring injury. Saka is the second-best scorer with 5 goals, but more important, he is the main creative with 10 assists so far in the Premier League. The former Manchester City star Raheem Sterling is rated as doubtful through a knee injury, but the latest news from the medical department are optimistic. Nevertheless, Sterling is not that good anymore. Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White are still out with knee injuries. Arteta could opt to start Gabriel Martinelli in Saka's place against Brentford to accommodate Trossard on the left side.

Brentford vs Arsenal Prediction:

Brentford are in poor form, they failed to score a goal on the last two matches. However, I expect an efficient match here. The Bees have scored 26 goals at home, an average of almost 3 goals per game. At the same time they are conceding almost 2 goals per game. Frank and his men are not afraid of big teams and I think this will be an eventful game. Arsenal are genuine title pretenders and they will go for victory. The Gunners are big 9 points behind Liverpool and they have no space for calculations. Both teams will go for the victory, so there should be at least three goals.

Brentford vs Arsenal Pick: Over 2.5 goals @ 1.57 with Pinnacle