Arsenal kept the initiative in the Premier League title race with a routine 2-0 win over Brentford, with Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka scoring for the north London side.
There was none of the chaos of Manchester City’s 5-4 win at Fulham 24 hours earlier, which moved them temporarily to within two points of the Gunners.
Instead, it was business as usual at the Emirates.
Arsenal extended their unbeaten run to 18 matches in all competitions with an eighth straight home win, another clean sheet, and stretched the gap at the top back to five points.
TRENDING
Stories
Videos
Your Say
With his side having played Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea over the past week, boss Mikel Arteta took the opportunity to give a rest to Saka, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze against the Bees.
The changes worked almost immediately with fit-again Noni Madueke and forgotten man Ben White combining down the right after 11 minutes.
White, making his first Premier League appearance since the opening day, collected Madueke’s flick around the corner and stood up an inviting cross which Merino emphatically headed home.
It was the Spaniard’s second goal in two matches and his fourth since he was pushed into an emergency striker role following an injury to Viktor Gyokeres last month.
Mikel Merino scored the opener
|GETTY
Madueke then saw a snapshot saved by Caoimhin Kelleher with Arsenal totally dominant in the opening stages.
Yet Brentford were inches from equalising from a corner.
The Gunners goalkeeper, David Raya, facing his former club, spectacularly tipped Kevin Schade’s header onto the crossbar.
White went marauding forward again, and when he overran the ball inside the box, Gabriel Martinelli took it off his toes only to blaze over the top.
LATEST SPORT NEWS
Bukayo Saka scored the second
|GETTY
However, the Gunners, already without first-choice centre-halves Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba through injury, were dealt a blow when another one, Cristhian Mosquera, limped off just before half-time.
Brentford boss Keith Andrews had made five changes to his side, notably leaving top scorer Igor Thiago out of his starting line-up.
The 10-goal Brazilian was sent on after an hour, along with midfield duo Jordan Henderson and Mikkel Damsgaard, while Arteta threw on Saka and Eze.
Kelleher was forced into a good save from Riccardo Calafiori’s low drive and then an even better one to deny Declan Rice from the edge of the box.
Cristhian Mosquera of Arsenal leaves the field with an injury during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Brentford
|GETTY
Rice had run himself into the ground when he was taken off with 10 minutes left.
Gyokeres had another run-out with Merino going back to the day job in midfield.
Saka made the points safe in stoppage time when Kelleher got a hand to his shot but was unable to prevent it from looping into the net.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter