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Recommended bets
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Match preview
This could be a season-defining week for Arsenal, so will they start it with a victory in this London derby?
Last weekend, the Gunners suffered their first league defeat since early-September, beaten by Everton at Goodison Park.
But, thanks to Manchester City’s defeat at Spurs the following day, Mikel Arteta’s team remain five points clear with a game in hand.
The top two meet on Wednesday night, in one of the most eagerly anticipated Premier League fixtures for a long while.
Before then, Arsenal cannot look beyond this tough game, as they seek to extend their unbeaten home league run to 13 games.
Brentford meanwhile are currently unbeaten in nine Premier League fixtures, with only Newcastle enjoying a longer streak in the division.
Last weekend, Thomas Frank’s team swatted aside Southampton at home, with Ben Mee, Bryan Mbeumo and Mathias Jensen all on target.
That made it three successive home wins for Brentford, who kick off in seventh place, above Chelsea and Liverpool.
Arsenal have won both meetings with the Bees at the Emirates; Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka the scorers almost exactly a year ago.
Will the Gunners prevail again, thereby moving eight points clear of Manchester City, even if only for 26 hours or so?
Arsenal team news
Mikel Arteta has made the fewest changes to his starting XI of any manager this season, but could tinker with Man City in mind.
Benjamin White’s dip in form may see Takehiro Tomiyasu start at right-back, while Jorginho is set to make his home debut, with Thomas Partey wrapped up in cotton wool for Wednesday.
The other potential rotation option is Leandro Trossard, who scored home and away against Brentford for Brighton last season.
The Belgian is set to make his full-Premier League debut at the Emirates, possibly with Gabriel Martinelli rotated out.
The third January recruit, Jakub Kiwior, is still awaiting his debut having arrived from Spezia.
Reiss Nelson will be on the bench, after a recent injury, but Emile Smith Rowe is not fit enough to be included.
Predicted XI (4-1-4-1): Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Jorginho, Xhaka, Ødegaard, Saka, Trossard; Nketiah.
Brentford team news
First and foremost, it’ll be interesting to see if Thomas Frank deploys a back five or a four.
He went with a 4-3-3 against bottom of the table Southampton, but tends to go with a five for tougher games.
Brentford have taken 11 points from six matches against the ‘big six’ this season, so this formulae does often pay off.
If it is a five, Kristoffer Ajer will return at centre-back, with fit again Aaron Hickey on the right.
Josh Dasilva spent 12 years at Arsenal before leaving as a 20 year old in 2018.
Thanks to Ivan Toney, this fixture is jokingly known as the ‘nice kick about with the boys’ derby.
Toney has faced 21 clubs in his Premier League career, only failing to net against six of them, one of which is Arsenal.
Predicted XI (5-3-2): Raya; Hickey, Ajer, Pinnock, Mee, Henry; Christian Nørgaard, Dasilva, Jensen; Mbuemo, Toney.
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Arsenal vs Brentford: Head to head statistics
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