Brentford vs Arsenal will kick off at 19:00 UTC on 13 August 2021 at Brentford Community Stadium in London, England. The match is a Premier League match.
Location: London Venue: Brentford Community Stadium
In the opening game of the new 2021/22 season, Brentford hosts Arsenal in their first-ever Premier League game at home.
Brentford will believe they can cause an upset in front of their own fans, as newly promoted teams often carry the threat of the unknown in the early stages of the season, and Arsenal underperformed last season.
Brentford vs Arsenal Team News
Brentford
Brentford will re-evaluate striker Ivan Toney ahead of Saturday’s match against Arsenal, as the former Newcastle striker suffered a minor knock during pre-season but is expected to start against the Gunners.
Joshua Dasilva, on the other hand, will miss the game and is unlikely to return anytime soon. The Bees won 2-1 against Valencia in pre-season and will be confident of causing an upset against Arsenal.
Arsenal
Mikel Arteta’s side will be without Thomas Partey and Edward Nketiah, who are both expected to return from injury next month, as well as centre-back Gabriel, who is out with a knee injury, and Rob Holding, who isn’t expected to play due to a lack of match fitness.
Arsenal’s failure to beat Hibs, Rangers, Chelsea, or Tottenham in pre-season friendlies may indicate that they are not quite ready for what will undoubtedly be a difficult first game of the season.
Brentford vs Arsenal Predicted Lineups
Predicted XI (5-3-2): David Raya; S. Canós, K. Ajer, P. Jansson, E. Pinnock, R. Henry; Vitaly Janelt, Christian Nørgaard, Frank Onyeka; Bryan Mbeumo, Ivan Toney.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Bernd Leno; Calum Chambers, Ben White, Pablo Marí, Kieran Tierney; Albert Sambi Lokonga, Granit Xhaka; Nicolas Pépé, Emile Smith Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; Alexandre Lacazette