Arsenal were ‘bullied’ by Brentford – but winning the Premier League was never going to be easy

Arsenal were ‘bullied’ by Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Thursday night.

That’s according to Jason Cundy, who was joined by Jamie O’Hara on The Sports Bar live on talkSPORT following the game.

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The Gunners were forced to share the spoils in west London as they failed to win at Brentford for the first time since August 2021.

Noni Madueke headed Mikel Arteta‘s men in front on the hour mark having started the second half strongly.

However, Brentford responded brilliantly, with Keane Lewis-Potter, Igor Thiago and Michael Kayode all fashioning chances for the Bees.

And in the 71st minute, Brentford were level as Kayode’s long throw was flicked on by Sepp van den Berg for Lewis-Potter to power a header past David Raya.

There was then a frantic finale in Thursday’s London derby as the two capital sides played out an entertaining 1-1 draw.

But the result means Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League table has been cut to four points following Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Fulham on Wednesday night.

And O’Hara felt that Arsenal were ‘terrible’ at Brentford, speaking alongside co-host Cundy post-match.

The pair were at it from the off as the former Chelsea man continued to back Arsenal to win the league despite the result.

Gunners firing blanks

Cundy opened up with: “If Arsenal are going to win this title, and I still think they will…”

To which O’Hara jumped in to ask: “You still think they’re going to win it!?”

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Cundy heaped praise upon Brentford and Keith Andrews, stating that the Bees were ‘excellent’ in the stalemate, to which O’Hara replied: “I thought Arsenal were terrible.”

Sports Bar co-host Cundy did go on to concede that fans coming away from the stadium will think that tonight ‘was not a Premier League title-winning performance’.

However, he added a caveat that the sub-par Arsenal showing was due to the opposition, as Brentford extended their unbeaten run to three matches to reach the magic 40-point mark.

“Once it went to 1-1, there was only one side that looked more likely to score the winner… and it wasn’t Arsenal. The more likely of the two sides was Brentford,” Cundy continued.

“Probably a fair result… I thought Brentford were the better side. They outplayed Arsenal tonight. They kind of bullied Arsenal tonight and you don’t ever see Arsenal get bullied.”

He later added: “But you’re never going to win the Premier League easily, very few teams do…I still think they’re the best side and will win it, but I’m not as convinced as I was that they’d win it.”

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Arsenal were ‘garbage’

O’Hara, though, was still having none of it, replying: “I feel like you’re being very generous to Arsenal. I feel like you’re giving them more credit than I think they deserve.”

“What have I said that gives them credit?” Cundy shot back.

To which O’Hara said: “They were garbage tonight. You can’t get away from the fact that Arsenal were terrible. And let’s be honest, they haven’t been great for weeks.

“They score set pieces, and they’ve had a couple of decent results here and there.

“I know they’re at the top of the table, but in terms of performances from a championship winning team, I’m not convinced.”

Arteta credits Brentford

Speaking post-match exclusively to talkSPORT, Arsenal boss Arteta tried to keep positive and credited their opponents.

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He admitted: “The game had periods in the first 10-15 minutes when we weren’t very accurate and we lacked the composure.

“After that, we started to dominate the game a lot better and we had a lot of good situations…the second half we started phenomenal. 

“But we lacked some shots on target and finishing actions. We scored but then decided to give it away. We lacked some discipline to give free-kicks away.”

He added: “We have to give credit to them…the game started to be more open, we had two massive counters, they had one big chance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put it in the back of the net.”

On ensuring that his team stay positive despite dropping points, Arteta said: “We’ll be the same as we have been in the last seven months.

“We know we have to play, how tough it is for every team to win and win in places like this. So we just carry on, now we have another competition at the weekend.”

Next up for Arsenal is the welcome of Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup at the weekend before a midweek trip to basement boys Wolves.