We return to Emirates Stadium tonight to take on Brentford in our third straight London derby in the Premier League.
The match kicks off at 7.30pm in N5 as we look to extend our unbeaten run to 18 games across all competitions.
With that in mind, here’s all you need to know about the contest, our west London opponents, team news and much more!
Bees buzzing under Andrews
A summer of upheaval at the Gtech Community Stadium saw Brentford lose their manager, Thomas Frank to Tottenham, captain Christian Norgaard, who joined us, as well as key forwards Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa to Manchester United and Newcastle United respectively.
Despite a host of key losses, new head coach Keith Andrews, in his first managerial role, has guided Brentford to their second-best start in Premier League history. Utilising the likes of Igor Thiago and new summer signing Dango Ouattara, the Bees have stung a host of big opponents, including Manchester United and Liverpool.
Their strong record at home has propelled them up into the top half of the current Premier League standings. Away from home has been a slightly different story for Andrews’ side, with just one win, coming at the London Stadium against West Ham, on the road so far in 2025/26.
what the managers say
Mikel Arteta: “I think every game that we play, when you look at the intensity in the Premier League against any opponent, what is needed is incredible. Brentford bring different threats, different challenges, as we all know, and you need to dominate that if you want to win the game.
“Our motivation comes from preparation and how we prepare for every game to try to be better than the opposition. Where we are in the league and what we are doing, I don’t think we need any more motivation than that.”
Read every word in from his full press conference now.
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Every word from Arteta’s pre-Brentford presser
Keith Andrews: “It’s pretty obvious that it’s going to be a difficult task, but it’s also a task that we need to embrace.
“They’re a tough nut to crack, for sure. They don’t concede too many and don’t concede too many opportunities, but we’re a team that quite fancies ourselves in how we can affect the opposition and make it quite uncomfortable for them at times. That’s what we’ll be hoping to do on Wednesday night.
Team news
William Saliba and Leandro Trossard both missed our draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Mikel Arteta said the pair are “a matter of days” away as we look to win the latest London derby.
Mikel also revealed that Kai Havertz is weeks away from a return as he works to get back to full fitness, having not featured since the opening game of the season against Manchester United.
As for the visitors, Keith Andrews said his team have a few “knocks and bruises” following their victory over Burnley. Reiss Nelson will not be able to feature as he is on loan from us. Fabio Carvalho and Antoni Milambo are long-term absentees, while Josh Dasilva is working towards full recovery following an ACL injury.
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Arteta’s update on Saliba, Trossard and Havertz
Talking tactics
Speaking in the matchday programme, Adrian Clarke said: “At the outset of this campaign Brentford’s new head coach Keith Andrews set out to mix up his formations, following Thomas Frank’s lead of switching from a back four to 5-3-2 against the tougher opponents.
Achieving mixed results, the Irishman has now changed to what appears to be a fixed 4-2-3-1 shape, and that bolder approach paid off in excellent victories at home to Liverpool and Newcastle United. As this is the Bees’ first away game against ‘Big Six’ opposition, we can’t be sure which tactic they will adopt, but a back four is perhaps the most likely.
Tonight’s opponents are extremely dangerous on the counterattack, scoring four Premier League goals from fast breaks already in 2025/26. As a low possession side that averages around 42%, Brentford sit back and absorb pressure before striking hard and fast from turnovers.
Many of their best moves have come from regains deep inside their own half, with midfielders Jordan Henderson and Mikkel Damsgaard firing accurate long passes for their pacy forwards to chase. We must be ready to deal with those direct pieces of play from Andrews’ men. At the heart of Brentford’s style is great heart and industry. The players work hard out of possession to disrupt their opponents’ flow and are tenacious in the way they apply that pressure. This is a side built to win the ball back, before attacking with speed and directness.
Right back Michael Kayode possesses arguably the best long throw in the division. Capable of hurtling the ball across the face of goal with pace and a low trajectory, the Bees have scored multiple goals this season from his deliveries. Defending these well at the near post will be essential this evening. It is extra important we do so because no top-flight outfit has had more headed shots. They focus on attacking balls that are sent into the box and have plenty of aerial power. This strength helps them at the back, where they deal with corners and wide free kicks very well.
Conceding just two set-play goals, they have the lowest expected goals against tally from set pieces of all 20 teams. Individually, Jordan Henderson has been excellent for them inside the heart of the engine room too, setting the tone with his work rate and distribution. Out on the wings, Kevin Schade is officially one of the fastest Premier League players. He can explosively sprint away from defenders with or without the ball. Searching long passes aimed in his direction are not unusual to see.
Holding onto leads has been problematic for the west Londoners in this campaign. They led in eight of their first 12 games, but converted only four of them into victories, losing three times. They also have only six different goalscorers in their ranks, with more output from midfield needed.
Read the rest of our fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v Brentford programme either around the stadium or online, or subscribe to get every edition delivered to your door.
Match officials
The referee for tonight’s contest is Tony Harrington. He will be supported by Steve Meredith and Sian Massey-Ellis as his assistants. Sam Allison will be the fourth official for the match at Emirates Stadium, with James Bell on VAR and Blake Antrobus the assistant VAR.
Harrington’s last time refereeing us came in September 2024, when he took charge of our 3-1 victory over Southampton. The referee has had the whistle for 16 Brentford contests over the years.
Referee: Tony Harrington
Assistant Referees: Steve Meredith and Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth Official: Sam Allison
VAR: James Bell
Assistant VAR: Blake Antrobus
From the vault: Kai steps up
We’ve taken a look into the archive at some of our best performances against Brentford, and one of those came in March 2024. We went into the contest having won seven in a row and Declan Rice got us off to the perfect start with a well-placed header.
In first half stoppage time, Yoane Wissa closed down Aaron Ramsdale’s clearance to level the scores. We pushed for winner and four minutes from time, Kai Havertz produced the match-defining moment, powering his header past Mark Flekken to give us all three points.
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Remember these five great wins against Brentford?
Live coverage
The best place to build up to our latest London derby is by tuning into our pre-match show, Live from N5.
The show will be jam-packed with special guests, features and much more as we gear up for our contest against the Bees.
Live commentary can then be found on Arsenal.com. The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, kicking off at 7.30pm. Not watching in the UK? Find out more below on where you can watch around the world!
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How to watch Arsenal v Brentford on TV
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