Brentford proved incredibly difficult to break down with five men at the back, and for the longest time it felt this one would end in a scoreless draw, especially after Trossard had a first-half goal chalked off. There a few too many gaffes, none worse than Ramsdale dithering with the ball and getting dispossessed. It was a miracle that Brentford couldn’t score from it. Speaking of scoring, Kai Havertz scored, surely silencing everyone anywhere forever. It was a strong header at the back post, and it was enough to secure three points and send us top of the table even if not quite enough to quell those critics. Still, it might give Havertz a bit of a flicker. Let’s get to the post-match poll!
I doubt that Havertz has silenced his critics and one can only hope he does reach the point where his play and scoring do get fandom and these critics to forget this start much as they eventually forgave Xhaka. For now, we must only take comfort in having Rice, who continues to prove he was worth the effort and every bit of the money spent to bring him to Arsenal. One can only wish that Timber will also prove the same and that, come next season he contributes ( given that it now appears we may not see him in the Spring) as much and as we hoped.
As to Ramsdale, thankfully he slowly recovered from the first (near) disaster and should be buying dinner or more for both Rice and Zinchenko. I doubt even a brilliant performance would change Arteta’s mind and we can only hope that Raya does not falter in this messy competition or prove Arteta wrong.