Brentford vs Arsenal

A place in the League Cup fourth round is at stake as Brentford and Arsenal face off against each other in an all-London match-up at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Brentford needed a penalty shoot-out drama to overcome lower-league outfit Newport County in the previous League Cup round, having drawn 1-1 in regulation time. But they cannot catch a break against top-flight opponents this term. Thomas Frank’s men helped a downtrodden Everton side get into the win column for the first time this Premier League campaign, going down 3-1 at home over the weekend to extend their dreadful winless run in the division to four matches (D2, L2). The ‘Bees’ have developed a nasty habit of conceding goals in the latter stages, letting their adversaries get on the board beyond the 70th minute in three of their last four Premier League outings. Frank must stop the leak if he’s to halt Brentford’s three-game winless H2H run against Arsenal (D1, L2).

Meanwhile, visiting Arsenal squandered two separate leads in a goal-glutted 2-2 home draw against bitter North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. Though sharing the spoils with ‘Spurs’ wasn’t at the top of Mikel Arteta’s mind going into that contest, his men have at least preserved their 100% unbeaten ratio in 2023/24, all competitions included (W6, D2). Barring a hard-earned 1-0 triumph at Everton a fortnight ago, the ‘Gunners’ have been netting goals at a high rate, scoring at least twice in four of their last five competitive outings, including a 4-0 demolition of PSV Eindhoven last midweek. But they cannot take anything for granted after experiencing mixed fortunes across their two previous visits to Brentford (W1, L1).