Mikel Arteta's £28m Arsenal transfer deal driving title bid after Brentford win

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Goals in either half from Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka successfully dispatched Brentford on a night that was soured by the sorry sight of Declan Rice and Cristhian Mosquera leaving the field with fitness blows.

This hard-fought, gritty win was far from pretty, however, it was living proof that the Gunners have it within the repertoire to hold their nerve and finally end their gruelling 22-year wait for Premier League title glory.

It was also the first time Arsenal had kept a clean sheet - their first since November 4 - since Gabriel Magalhaes' thigh injury.

The fact it was achieved without both of their first-choice centre-backs made it all the more sweeter, though Mikel Arteta is now facing the prospect of potentially heading to Villa Park on Saturday without three of his key defenders after Mosquera hobbled off.

Rice, who was key to victory, ran himself into the ground and picked up a calf issue for his troubles before substitute Saka put the game beyond all doubt in stoppage time. In a major boost, there is confidence that Rice was merely suffering from fatigue.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews, who rested prolific marksman Igor Thiago, Jordan Henderson and Mikkel Damsgaard, deployed a back-five and packed his midfield in a bid to frustrate Arsenal.

However, the Bees boss was left scratching his head on 11 minutes when the Gunners forced themselves ahead through Merino's cunning header.

Noni Madueke's slick flick allowed Ben White , making his first Premier League appearance since the opening day of the season, to cross and there was Merino to power home his fifth of the campaign in all competitions.

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No Arsenal player has scored more top-flight goals than the 29-year-old makeshift centre-forward in 2025 (nine) and not only that but he's now mustered 29 goal contributions for club and country this calendar year.

Eyebrows were raised when Merino, 28 at the time, arrived from Real Sociedad but given he cost just an initial £28.43million, come the end of the campaign he could well go down as one of the best buys of Arteta's reign because he is just so reliable.

Despite shipping an early goal, Brentford continued to pose questions on the counter-attack and from dead-ball situations. They won four corners inside the opening 25 minutes and went close to drawing level when Kevin Schade's close-range header was tipped onto the crossbar by David Raya in a stunning show of reflexes.

Arsenal's evening did then take a turn for the worse when central defender Mosquera pulled up with an innocuous-looking injury. The Spain U21 international appeared to land awkwardly after jumping to contest an aerial duel with Schade and following treatment, signalled to the bench that he could not continue.

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Jurrien Timber, who was supposed to be enduring a night of rest, slotted in alongside Piero Hincapie at the heart of defence as crocked first-choice centre-back duo William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes watched on nervously from behind the dugout.

Brentford's durability made things tricky for Arsenal, prompting Arteta to summon England duo Saka and Eberechi Eze from the bench for the final 30 minutes as his side went in search of a second.

Merino had a penalty shout rebuffed when he went down under the challenge of Caoimhin Kelleher before he stabbed an effort wide of the mark after the Brentford goalkeeper had parried Rice's strike.

The £105million midfielder was then forced off just eight minutes from time with a calf issue before Hincapie also required treatment following a clash of heads with Brazilian striker Thiago.

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