Canós and Nørgaard sink Arsenal to give Brentford dream start

The anticipation had been building. For generations. Not since 1947 had Brentford hosted a top division match and, when it happened – in the club’s lovely new-ish stadium, which was packed out for the first time – it unfolded exactly how everybody would have dreamed.

There was a blockbusting first-half strike from the wing-back, Sergi Canós, to get the place rocking and, after resolute defending, as Arsenal tried to launch the salvage operation, Brentford eased home when Christian Nørgaard leapt to head the second.

The Arsenal inquest will rage. They normally do. It will rake over plenty of familiar ground – the soft underbelly, the lack of cutting edge up front. They had plenty of the ball, particularly in the second-half, and yet they never truly looked like hurting Brentford when they needed to.

They created their clearest chance on 87 minutes, by which time the die had been cast, Nicolas Pépé blasting for the near corner and it represented the big, red cherry on top for Brentford when David Raya got down to superbly tip away.

Nørgaard’s goal summed up the difference between the teams. When the Brentford substitute, Mads Bech Sørensen, hurled over a long throw, Ivan Toney rose in between Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers at the near post. Neither Arsenal defender went with any conviction and, when the ball glanced off Mari, whose performance was the definition of a nightmare, it bounced down and up across the six yard box. Where was Bernd Leno, the goalkeeper? Or anybody. Nørgaard was completely unchallenged.

It was possible to focus on any number of Arsenal errors, some of them collective as they tried to play out from the back; others individual. One came from Leno in the 80th minute when he flapped at an inswinging Canós corner and almost diverted the ball into the far corner of his net.

Brentford seemed to want it more. They were prepared to press harder and run more. They put their bodies on the line and they were there for each other when they had to suffer. Beforehand, Thomas Frank had felt that Arsenal might be there for the taking if his players showed the right levels of application and so it proved. The manager was entitled to milk it after the full-time whistle and so were his players. There would be an impromptu lap of appreciation from them amid emotional scenes in the stands.

The vast majority of the 16,479 in attendance loved it. Their previous top-flight home game had been against Arsenal – it ended in a 1-0 defeat – and, this time, they set the tone with an aggressive press, twice upsetting Arsenal in the opening ten minutes as the visitors tried to build through their defenders.

Bryan Mbeumo and Toney caused problems with their movement and the jitters bubbled for Arsenal. Brentford had almost unpicked them in the 12th minute when Mbeumo, who needs no invitation to run, shot off the outside of the near post and the breakthrough came when Vitaly Janelt threw himself at a cross from the left only for Arsenal to half clear.

Chambers tried to complete the job from flush on the byline – was the ball actually out? - but back came Brentford, who were stationed high, scenting blood. Ethan Pinnock headed the ball up to Canós and he tore at the uncertain Chambers, mindful that no Arsenal defender likes it when this happens. He skated inside before unloading a low shot that flew inside Leno’s near post. The power was too much. Brentford had lift-off.

The remainder of the first half was extremely uncomfortable for Arsenal and Brentford ought to have scored again on the half-hour when Kristoffer Ajer released Mbeumo up the inside right channel and he ran at Ben White, who also struggled. What happened next made Arteta’s blood boil. Mbeumo over-ran the ball but Mari gave up on the covering challenge and White melted away. Mbeumo was in only to drag wide of the far post. A glaring miss.

Mikel Arteta was without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette through sudden illness and Eddie Nketiah through injury. In other words, his three main centre-forwards. He gave Folarin Balogun a Premier League debut up front and he was game enough while on the flanks Pépé and Gabriel Martinelli laboured.

Arsenal had to show more drive and personality in the second-half. Albert Sambi Lokonga, the new midfielder, was a plus point with the smoothness of his passing and Emile Smith Rowe and Kieran Tierney looked to ignite the fightback. Smith Rowe spun away from Norgaard, raced to the edge of the area and worked Raya.

There was a nice moment when Arteta introduced Bukayo Saka and the Brentford fans applauded him, mindful of the racist abuse that the winger had suffered after his penalty miss for England at the Euro 2020 final. Martinelli fluffed a near post header and Granit Xhaka flashed a shot high. It felt as though the equaliser might be coming but it is normally wise to assume nothing with this Arsenal team. No excuses, Arteta said. Next up are Chelsea and Manchester City.