Sandwiched between our incredible victory over Real Madrid on Tuesday and our visit to the Bernabeu next week is a visit from Brentford on Saturday (5.30pm UK), providing us the opportunity to string together a fourth-straight home win.
Emirates Stadium is still shaking from the atmosphere generated on one of the ground’s most famous nights as we beat the Champions League holders, and Mikel Arteta will be hoping the feel-good factor will flow into our next fixture, especially given the Bees’ excellent away record in recent months.
However we have lost just one of our last 15 league London derbies, scoring at least five times in five of those, and our latest capital clash provides the perfect chance to keep our momentum snowballing before we head to Spain with a semi-final spot on the line.
Dangerous visitors
The Bees have been a mixed bag, and so they head into this weekend 12th in the table having only won one of their last five matches, with Thomas Frank rueing their inability to marry up impressive streaks this season at home and on their travels.
They were imperious at the Gtech Community Stadium in the first half of the campaign, taking 22 of a possible 24 points on their own patch and netting 26 goals in the process. But since December, the Bees have failed to win any of their subsequent nine home fixtures, including a 0-0 draw against Chelsea in their last encounter.
On the road, they failed to win any of their first nine, but have thrived on their travels since the turn of the year. A 5-0 mauling of Southampton in early January started a run of five successive away wins, including successes at Crystal Palace, West Ham United, Leicester City and Bournemouth, but ended with a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United last week.
What the managers say
Arteta: "It's now maintaining that energy and that momentum and using it towards Brentford and the very difficult game that we're going to face against a team that, when you look at what they've done, it's just incredible. It's remarkable, it's a beautiful story and they have earned it in the way they work, in the way they organise, in the way they believe, in the way they play.
"It's a club that we can learn a lot from because the way they did it is very, very clever, and then the way the model has sustained and evolved is really well timed. Look at the results that they had away from home in the last six matches as well, we know what it's going to require from us to beat them."
Frank: “I would like to play as offensively as possible but we need to defend a bit against Arsenal! Hopefully we can be as much as possible in the middle and high pressure. I don't know what team they'll put out, but I know it'll be a difficult game.
“We believe in ourselves and trust ourselves - we've done very well the last two times we've been there. Arteta is a great manager, they've got a lot of details and principles they've put into the team, and I like what they do."
Team news
Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice came off during the second half against Real Madrid with injury issues but Arteta has confirmed that they are fine to feature against the Bees, while Riccardo Calafiori is making good progress from the knee injury he sustained on international duty and could be back soon.
Gabriel, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all out for the rest of the campaign, while Arteta feels that Kai Havertz's rehab is going well but it remains to be seen if he'll feature again this campaign.
Having been out all season, Gustavo Nunes (back) and Aaron Hickey (hamstring) could be available again for Frank after they’ve been involved in training recently, while record signing Igor Thiago could also return after the striker missed four months with a knee issue.
Fabio Carvalho will sit out the remainder of the campaign with a shoulder injury, while Josh DaSilva is working his way back from a knee problem.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: In recent weeks, Frank has settled on a regular 4-2-3-1, but if he wishes to focus on solidifying central areas, he may repeat the narrow 4-3-1-2 he deployed against us in the reverse fixture. No matter the shape, you will regularly see their central midfielders drop between centre-backs to congest space.
They can pass the ball short with distinction but will often choose to go direct - they rank second for the most successful long passes - while they also test opponents with deliveries from the flanks. Winger Kevin Schade possesses a long throw, and Frank’s men have scored multiple goals this way.
Led by Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, they currently boast the best conversion rate (14.2%) in the division, and across the side they are powerful in the air. Alongside Nottingham Forest and ourselves, the Bees have found the back of the net with 10 headed goals, plus no-one has won more aerial duels than them this term and they have conceded just twice from set pieces.
When the Bees do get onto the front foot, they have leaked seven goals from fast breaks – a joint division high – showing they occasionally leave themselves over exposed.
Facts and stats
We have lost just one of our 10 home games against Brentford in all competitions, going down 2-0 at Highbury in April 1938.
Having beaten us in their first-ever Premier League match in August 2021, the Beres have lost five of their last six against us in the competition.
Brentford have won their last two away London derby matches in the Premier League, having lost seven in a row on the road before.
Since the start of December, we have conceded just 12 goals in our 18 Premier League games. We’ve only conceded more than once in one of these, a 2-2 home draw against Aston Villa.
Bukayo Saka has been involved in 12 goals in his last 11 home games in the Premier League (6 goals, 6 assists). With eight goals and seven assists, Saka has been directly involved in 15 goals in his last 17 London derby appearances in the Premier League.
Christian Norgaard has either scored (2) or assisted (1) 50% of Brentford’s Premier League goals against us (3/6). He’s also scored in two of his last three away games in the competition.
Match officials
Simon Hooper has been handed his fifth Gunners game of the campaign. We have won three Premier League encounters under his watch against Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur, before losing the second leg of our League Cup semi-final at Newcastle.
Brentford are unbeaten in their three matches Hooper has refereed this term, who has issued an average of 4.75 yellow cards per game in the top-flight this season, as well as dishing out two red cards and pointing to the spot four times.
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long
Fourth official: Will Finnie
VAR: James Bell
Assistant VAR: Nick Greenhalgh
Semi-automated offsides
This weekend sees the Premier League introduce semi-automated offside technology, as seen in the 2022 World Cup and the Champions League. It will provide more efficient placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, and should mean shorter waits for decisions about whether or not a goal was offside.
Once the decision is made, a visual will be broadcast on the giant screens in stadiums and on TV, featuring a 3D virtual replay of the relevant players. There will still be subjective decision-making involved in offside calls, as the technology cannot determine if an attacking player was interfering with play, for example, or if a goalkeeper's vision was blocked.
Recent visits from the Bees
Last season brought late drama as Havertz headed in the winner four minutes before the end to beat the Bees 2-1 in March 2024. Rice had nodded us in front before an error from Aaron Ramsdale allowed Wissa to equalise, but our German won it to send us back to the top of the league.
In February 2023 we controversially saw two precious points slip away. Leandro Trossard netted his first Gunners goal before Ivan Toney got on the scoresheet after VAR Lee Mason drew the offside lines incorrectly and allowed his goal to stand and leave the scoreline at 1-1.
12 months previously, the Bees’ first league visit to our ground since 1946 saw second-half goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Saka put us in control of proceedings, before a late Christian Norgaard strike ensured a nervy finish.
Live coverage
Get ready for the game with Live From N5, as Timbsy and Jeremie Aliadiere are in the studio looking back on everything from a special night against Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Hero of the hour Rice features in an exclusive teaser of some content coming your way soon, while two of Hale End's finest - Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly - sit down to chat about the journey to becoming an established part of the first team.
Frimmy will be pitchside to give you a taste of the atmosphere ahead of kick-off and pose our Question of the Day to supporters, before live commentary comes from Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live wherever you are in the world.
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