Brentford vs Arsenal
England Premier League,
Date: Friday, 13 August 2021
Kick-off 20:00 UK/ 21:00 CET
Venue: Brentford Community Stadium.
Brentford return to the top flight football for the first time since 1947. They will play host to Arsenal on Friday evening at sold-out Brentford Community Stadium in the very first fixture of the 2021/22 Premier League campaign.
Brentford finally made it count in May this year when they saw off both Bournemouth and Swansea in the Championship playoffs to secure their first elite class appearance since 1947
They will host Arsenal in the first game of the season and there are no doubt the local fans will create an electrifying atmosphere to salute the efforts Thomas Frank and his men have done in the previous season.
The Bees will come into this affair as underdogs despite finding the right shape in their final two pre-season exhibitions.
Frank’s troops scored five goals in back-to-back wins over lower-division Southend (a 3-2 win) and La Liga side Valencia (a 2-1 win).
The achievement is greater if we know they’ve done so without the help of their talisman Ivan Toney who skipped these outings through a slight knock.
Toney, who bagged 31 goals in the previous term of the Championship, will be ready to feature Brentford’s season opener.
If anyone is to hurt Arsenal’s back line on Friday, it is the skipper. You can back Toney to score anytime here at the odds of 2.37.
As for the Gunners, they have struggled offensively in pre-season, failing to find the net more than once in the last two tests against Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
Brentford vs Arsenal Head-to-head
- These two sides last met each other in the 3rd round of the League Cup back in September 2018.
- Arsenal picked up a 3-1 victory back then.
- Before that, they had faced each other back in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
- Brentford were the more successful side in these games, winning four of five home outings against the Gunners.
Brentford vs Arsenal Prediction
It is hard to ignore the 1.83 odds offered for Arsenal’s win against the recently-promoted side here. After all, Mikel Arteta will practically have the full squad available on Friday and the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, and Alexandre Lacazette should have plenty of room to deliver up front in the season opener.
Besides the away win, we’ll go for the Over 2.5 goals FT pick as both teams possess strong attacking weapons capable of hurting each other’s defensive lines.