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James OlleyFeb 12, 2026, 06:52 PM ET
BRENTFORD, England — And then it was four.
Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the table on Thursday to four points with a 1-1 draw at Brentford — but rarely will a rival have been more invigorated by falling further behind in the title race.
Second-place Manchester City had applied pressure in the preceding few days, first by winning at Liverpool and then easing to victory against Fulham 24 hours before the Gunners arrived here at Gtech Community Stadium.
The onus was on Arsenal to respond with a big victory of their own. Instead, what followed was a flawed display that could’ve easily ended in defeat against a Brentford side who continue to defy all preseason expectations.
A draw at the home of seventh-place Brentford isn’t the worst result, but as Man City force the title race to tighten, Arsenal will only put more pressure themselves by failing to get the job done in winnable games such as this.
Declan Rice, acknowledging the draw to Brentford was a misstep in the title race, led the calls for calm.
“You can’t be naïve to think this is going to be easy,” he said. “We are playing against the best teams week in, week out. We have to keep pushing and believing in ourselves, controlling the controllable.
“We have to block out the outside noise. We have done that really well. People are going to talk up the title race and Arsenal but we have a really calm group.
“I’m not naïve to think Brentford are a pushover. They are one of the best teams in the league and their recent form shows that. It’s a point gained in our journey but we wanted to win.”
A moment of brilliance from winger Noni Madueke — hanging in the air to meet Piero Hincapié‘s 61st-minute cross — had given Arsenal a precious advantage, but instead of reinforcing it, the Gunners retreated.
Arsenal like a set-piece coach — Nico Jover has a mural outside Emirates Stadium — but the Gunners will not appreciate the irony of Brentford’s equaliser.
Brentford manager Keith Andrews was Thomas Frank’s set-piece coach at Brentford prior to Frank’s departure for Tottenham, and Andrews jumped in delight as Sepp van den Berg met Michael Kayode‘s arrow-like long throw, glancing the ball to the far post where Keane Lewis-Potter headed past goalkeeper David Raya.
Gabriel Magalhães was fortunate not to be sent off after fouling Dango Ouattara while on a yellow card before Igor Thiago twice almost scored and Rice made a fantastic interception as Mikkel Damsgaard lined up what would have surely been the winner from inside the box.
Somewhere in the middle of all this at the other end, substitute Gabriel Martinelli took an extra touch before shooting, allowing Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher to make an excellent save.
But Arsenal did not deserve to win. That Martinelli effort was only their second shot on target all night because the visitors’ attack was disjointed throughout, aside perhaps from the start of the second half when they briefly moved with greater purpose.
Viktor Gyökeres let too many balls escape him. Leandro Trossard struggled on the periphery. It appeared as though Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was planning to replace Madeuke with Bukayo Saka just before he scored. Saka came on nine minutes later and made no impact.
Yet the biggest fall guy on the night was Eberechi Eze. Given the chance to start with Martin Odegaard on the bench, Eze was charged with the responsibility of getting Arsenal playing. If anything, he seemed intent on trying to imitate Odegaard rather than being the best version of himself. Eze dropped deep to try and get on the ball to Arteta’s palpable frustration on the touchline.
At one point he appeared to tell Martín Zubimendi to get forward ahead of Eze for a brief spell to try and get Arsenal going in a way his team-mate was unable to do. His half-time substitution was no surprise.
“With the way that they were pressing, I think we needed another kind of profile to generate many more problems for them around those areas,” explained Arteta afterwards.
But it would be unfair to blame Eze for Arsenal’s unconvincing attack. File this alongside the somewhat toothless goalless draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal have won two their last six league matches and, in that time, they registered the 11th best shot conversion rate and the 12th highest expected goals figure (3.54) in the division.
Although they scored three goals from open play against Sunderland last weekend, their potent period came when the game opened up and, against low blocks like this, Arsenal continue to rely excessively on set pieces to find a way through.
When it comes to the percentage of goals teams are scoring from open play through this season, Arsenal rank 16th in the Premier League, per ESPN Global Research.
It is rare to watch an Arsenal game where their opponents carry the greater threat but that was the case here. Kayode’s long throws were a constant danger while Brentford gave as good as they got in the box, creating what both managers described as the “chaos” the home side were searching for.
“We scored the goal and the game was under total control but against them that is not enough,” said Arteta. “They just need somebody making a foul that isn’t necessary, a ball in the channel, they push you, the clearance is no good, the ball goes for a throw-in and then you have to pray because they are exceptional at what they do. They chaos in and around the ball is very difficult to defend.”
Ultimately, Arsenal need to contextualise this appropriately. A draw away at this season’s surprise team is an acceptable return, especially considering they are still clear at the top.
But Man City have appeared again in the rearview mirror. “Second again, ole ole,” sang the gleeful Brentford fans in reference to the prospect of Arsenal finishing runners-up for a fourth consecutive year.
It is a prospect they must put out of their minds in the months ahead and, as Rice says, keep pushing.
