Key events
Brentford make two changes to their starting eleven following a goalless draw at Brighton. Sepp van den Berg and Yehor Yarmolyuk are in; Kevin Schade drops to the bench while Ben Mee is injured.
Arsenal make four changes following their narrow home win over Ipswich. Riccardo Calafiori, Thomas Partey, Mikel Merino and Ethan Nwaneri are present. Nwaneri, 17, makes his first first division begin. Myles Lewis-Skelly, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard are on the bench, while Kai Havertz is out entirely.
the teams
Brentford: Flekken, Janelt, Collins, van den Berg, Roerslev, Norgaard, Yarmoliuk, Damsgaard, Lewis-Potter, Mbeumo, Wissa.
Substitutes: Vladimarsson, Schade, Jensen, Meghoma, Konak, Maghoma, Ji-soo, Yogane, Arthur.
Arsenal: Raya, Madera, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Partey, Merino, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Jesús, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Kiwior, Tierney, Lewis-Skelly, Jorginho, Rice, Kabia, Trossard.
Preamble
At first glance, Arsenal have work to do if they want to win the first division. Just look!
…and yet, if they win this game (they won four of their last five games against the Bees and drew the other) and then beat Brighton on Saturday, the gap at the top would be just three points. Yes, Liverpool would have two games in hand before facing Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday. But scoreboard pressure is scoreboard pressure, and suddenly the whole picture would be very different. So you can bet your last shiny penny that Mikel Arteta will have his boys excited about this one. All is not lost for the Gunners.
Besides, Brentford They will be eager to break a four-match winless streak to create a barrier between themselves and the relegation spots. Which shouldn't seriously worry them, but when even Manchester United employees talk openly about the relegation zone, it's probably best for everyone involved to cover all bases. All of which is a long way of saying this could be a lot of fun. The start will be at 17:30 GMT. It's on!
