Brentford v Arsenal: Premier League – live

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Brentford make one change to their starting line-up following the 3-2 win at Newcastle United on Saturday. Yehor Yarmolyuk replaced Jordan Henderson during the second half of that match; he does the same thing from the start tonight. Henderson is on the bench.

Arsenal make four changes to their starting XI from the one named for the 3-0 victory over Newcastle last weekend. Viktor Gyökeres, Eberechi Eze, Piero Hincapié and Cristhian Mosquera step up; Gabriel Jesus and Riccardo Calafiori drop to the bench, while William Saliba and Kai Havertz miss out altogether. Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard both begin their journey back from injury on the bench.

The teams

Brentford: Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, van den Berg, Henry, Yarmolyuk, Janelt, Ouattara, Jensen, Lewis-Potter, Thiago.
Subs: Bentt, Furo, Donovan, Damsgaard, Collins, Henderson, Pinnock, Hickey, Valdimarsson.

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Hincapie, Eze, Zubimendi, Rice, Madueke, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Lewis-Skelly, Calafiori, Norgaard, Martinelli, Jesus, Odegaard, Saka, White.

Referee: John Brooks
VAR: Stuart Attwell

Preamble

Arsenal were nine points clear of Manchester City five days ago. Given they haven’t played since their 3-0 win over Sunderland established that advantage, it’s a bit rum to point the finger now that gap is only three, City having since won sensationally at Liverpool on Sunday and in a more conventional manner against Fulham last night. But scoreboard pressure is scoreboard pressure, and suddenly the visit to Brentford looks a little more difficult than it would have done on Saturday evening.

To be fair to Mikel Arteta and his men, they’d have considered this match a tricky assignment when nine ahead anyway. Brentford are in fine fettle right now, coming off the back of wins at Aston Villa and Newcastle, and they’re one of the stories of the season. However, Arsenal have responded well to a triple-bump in the road – those goalless draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, followed by dramatic defeat against Manchester United – by recording four wins on the bounce in all comps. So this is all set up for some piping-hot west-versus-north cross-capital action! Should be fun, not least because it means so much in terms of the title. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!