Arsenal continue their push for the Premier League title against London rivals, Brentford.
Victory will cut Arsenal’s title deficit down to eight points before Liverpool play on Sunday, whilst Brentford can reclaim 10th with a win if Crystal Palace fail to win elsewhere.
Team News
Raheem Sterling could return for Arsenal after he was suspended for their 3-0 first-leg victory over Real Madrid in their Champions League Quarter-Final.
Declan Rice (foot) and Bukayo Saka (knock) are doubts and will face late fitness checks.
Gabriel, Kai Havertz (both hamstring), Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu (all knee) remain absent.
Brentford have no fresh injury issues after their goalless draw against Chelsea but could welcome Gustavo Nunes back into contention, following the Brazilian’s recovery from a back injury.
Josh Dasilva (knee), Fabio Carvalho (shoulder), Igor Thiago (joint) and Aaron Hickey (hamstring) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Arsenal host Brentford at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday 12 April at 5:30pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Arsenal have lost one of their last seven league meetings against Brentford (W5, D1, L1).
- Brentford are yet to win away at Arsenal in the Premier League (D1, L2).
- Arsenal are yet to keep a Premier League clean sheet at home to Brentford.
- Mikel Merino has scored in both of Arsenal’s last two London derbies at home (W2), which came in victories over Chelsea and Fulham either side of the last international break of the campaign.
- Kevin Schade has scored in each of Brentford’s two London derbies so far in 2025 (W2).
Prediction
At the start of the week, I was expecting Arsenal to make several changes with focus primarily on their Champions League Quarter-Final against Real Madrid, but I now do think that they will initially go for a strong line-up to try and get this game wrapped up early after a dominant first leg over the European champions.
Brentford though won’t make this easy if they defend like they did in their goalless draw against Chelsea where a lack of clinical finishing cost them victory, but these Bees can’t be underestimated given their form in London derbies this year so I do expect them to be difficult to beat.
In fact if Brentford can once again deliver a strong defensive display then I can see them holding Arsenal, especially with the Gunners’ focus now more on Europe.
Prediction: Arsenal 1-1 Brentford
