Toney header earns Brentford deserved draw at Arsenal

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Arsenal 1 Brentford 1

Ivan Toney’s 74th-minute equaliser earned Brentford a deserved point at the Emirates Stadium against the Premier League leaders.

Toney nodded home from close range after Arsenal failed to deal with a routine ball into the box with Christian Norgaard’s pull back finding the big striker who made no mistake.

It was no more than Brentford merited as Thomas Frank’s men produced a spirited display only to find themselves a goal behind in the 66th minute when substitute Leandro Trossard turned in Bukayo Saka’s low cross four minutes after coming off the bench.

Arsenal had plenty of the ball in the first half but struggled to break down a well-drilled Brentford defence with David Raya dealing comfortably with efforts from Saka and Eddie Nketiah.

Toney should have put the visitors in front midway through the first half when he was teed up by Bryan Mbeumo, but his fierce strike hit the bar.

Rico Henry and Kristoffer Ajer also went close as Arsenal struggled to deal with the visitors’ direct approach and Brentford happy to catch the hosts on the break.

The second half followed a similar pattern with the excellent Toney firing wide from inside the box only for Arsenal to break forward and take the lead through Trossard.

Arsenal pressed hard for a winner to extend their lead to eight points, but Brentford held on comfortably for a draw to extend their unbeaten run to 10 games.

Brentford: Raya, Roerslev, Pinnock, Mee, Ajer, Henry, Norgaard, Jensen, Janelt (Dasilva 72), Mbeumo (Wissa 72), Toney (Schade 90). Subs not used: Cox, Hickey, Zanka, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Baptiste.