Arteta as meek as his panic-stricken players as Arsenal bullied by brilliant Brentford

Mikel Arteta shrank along with his Arsenal players as Brentford gave them a right good duffing up at the Gtech. That should feel like a big point won in the title race.

With two key players out through injury and illness and another two only fit enough for the bench, Mikel Arteta won’t have seen three separate examples of fragility from another three of his stalwarts in the first 20 minutes as a particularly positive omen in a game Arsenal really needed to win to keep the bottlejob wolves from the door in their bid to win the Premier League title. In the end they just about kept them from scratching.

Gabriel Magalhães passed the ball out for a Brentford corner under no pressure, Declan Rice was very fortunate to be awarded a free-kick after being bullied off the ball by Yehor Yarmolyuk as the Brentford midfielder looked to be bearing down on the Arsenal goal, and David Raya gifted the hosts by far the best chance of the first half by ceding possession with a dodgy throw, before saving his own blushes with a far more typical brilliant reflex save to deny Igor Thiago.

Brentford have bloodied the noses of Aston Villa, Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle on their own patch this season, losing just once at the Gtech, and welcomed Arsenal fresh from completing the Premier League double over the Villans and Magpies to stake a serious claim for European football next season.

With Dango Ouattara on fire, Igor Thiago banging in goals and roughing up defenders as standard and Keith Andrews creating as well-oiled a machine behind them as any Premier League manager this season, this was always going to be a huge test for Arsenal.

A win, given the absentees and the pressure recently ramped up on them by Manchester City, would represent a giant leap towards the title. But defeat would see the run-in willies return en masse with the north London derby against new-manager-bounce Tottenham and the visit of Chelsea on the horizon.

And yet, Arsenal have never looked to flat. They’ve laboured in more games than we care to remember watching this season, but they’ve never given anyone the opportunity to question their work ethic or desire as was the case on Thursday night. They didn’t look up for it, which is a huge problem against Andrews’ blood-and-guts Bees.

We can only imagine Arteta’s half-time team talk as an expletive ridden rant boiled down to a simple question: “Do you want to win the f***ing title?” Because it really didn’t look like they were especially arsed in a first 45 minutes in which they managed just a single shot – the fewest they’ve had in five-and-half years. Eberechi Eze was hooked after contributing less than the nothing offered by every other Arsenal player on the pitch.

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Arteta got a response as Martin Odegaard made a difference simply by getting on the ball. He had equalled Eze’s 16 touches within 20 minutes of the second half, not doing anything hugely creative, but knitting things together for an Arsenal side which looked horribly disjointed in the opening period.

It was hardly fluid football though and Arteta was about to turn to Bukayo Saka to aid Arsenal in breaking the deadlock before Noni Madueke surprised everyone – Caoimhin Kelleher most of all as he failed to get his feet sorted out – by planting a quite brilliant header back past the Brentford goalkeeper from Piero Hincapie’s cross.

But Brentford came back stronger, preying on what were some uncharacteristic but significant jitters at the back from a William Saliba-less Arsenal as they delivered and threw set pieces into a crowded penalty area. David Raya in particular was having a horrible time.

Keane Lewis-Potter had missed a massive chance at the back post before stealing in ahead of Odegaard to after Sepp van den Berg’s flick-on from a Michael Kayode long throw to score a fully-deserved equaliser.

Arteta waved his arms in an attempt to buoy his panic-stricken players, recognising they were there for the taking, shrinking amid the pressure from Brentford and what had turned into a febrile atmosphere at the Gtech, but every time the camera panned to him on the touchline besides he looked as intimidated as anyone, like a little boy arriving for his first day of big school. He didn’t know what to do or when to stop Brentford.

Igor Thiago missed two excellent chances to win it for Brentford having been two full handfuls and the rest for the Arsenal defence throughout and Declan Rice pinched the ball off Mikkel Damsgaard’s toe when the playmaker looked sure to pass the ball into Raya’s net, while Gabriel Martinelli was also denied by Kelleher in what was a wonderfully frantic last 15 minutes.

Rice’s face was a picture as he reflected on what he had just been put through in conversation with Jordan Henderson at the end of the game. It was painted with a mixture of disbelief and relief and he, his Arsenal teammates and the shrinking violet on the touchline should see this as a point gained in the title race rather than two points lost.