Arsenal begin their Premier League 2021/22 campaign by kicking off the season at the Brentford Community Stadium as they welcome newcomers Brentford.
The Gunners are the favourites with Grosvenor Sport at 22/25 while hosts Brentford are 3/1 and a draw is 11/4.
An impressive pre-season under Ben White’s belt has been the talk amongst the Arsenal faithful as someone to spearhead the Gunners defence for the upcoming season.
He seems well suited to Mikel Arteta’s style of play already but there is a long way to go and we could see a leader in the making from the England international.
Brentford have been praised by various areas of the footballing world not just for their style of play but their management off the pitch too.
Their “moneyball”-esque business model has enabled them to turn huge profits in the transfer market as well as having a solid scouting system in place.
The target for Arsenal will be top six minimum while Brentford will be looking to show why their time in the Premier League is long overdue.
Tips
18+ | Gamble responsibly | begambleaware.org | Odds subject to change
Team stats
Arsenal have visited Brentford six times in their history – winning only once, drawing once and losing four times. However, their last league meeting was in the late 1940s.
Brentford will be the 50th different side to play in the Premier League and the 10th from London.
Only 11 from the last 49 participants have won their first ever game in the competition with 15 draws and 23 losses to complete the stats.
No London side has ever won their first Premier League match.
Player stats
White is the main talk for Arsenal fans as they look to improve their defences. The £50m centre-back was involved in a Brighton side that kept 12 clean sheets last season – the same as the Gunners.
Ivan Toney will be set to frustrated Arteta’s defence as he looks to make his mark in the Premier League after scoring 33 goals in 48 league appearances (including the play-offs). The former Peterborough United man picked up 10 assists last season too.
H2H
This will be the 12th meeting ever between the two sides and the first league meeting between Brentford and Arsenal since May 1947, which the Gunners won 1-0 at Griffin Park.
The two sides had to wait 71 years until they would meet again – a 3-1 win at the Emirates in the EFL Cup. Only Bernd Leno, Rob holding, Mohamed Elneny and Emile Smith Rowe are in the squad from the starting XI.
Brentford have the upper-hand in the head-to-head record with five wins, three losses and three draws.