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By IAN HERBERT Published: 04: 25 AEST, 13 April 2025 | Updated: 05: 27 AEST, 13 April 2025 36 View comments They were still living the Real Madrid dream in every imaginable way, from Martin Odegaard’s eloquent programme notes, to the half-and-half scarves from last Tuesday’s game which were going for a song on Benwell Road. ‘We made a beautiful night, ’ Odegaard wrote and when the stadium announcer came to Declan Rice’s name, there was a quite exceptional cheer. But something Mikel Arteta had said in the immediate aftermath of that legendary 3-0 win was far more relevant to the match which then ensued here. When Mail Sport asked him, late last Tuesday, how such a majestic win could have come three days after an unprepossessing draw at Everton, Arteta declared that the Premier League was ‘a completely different game. ’ It and the Champions League were ‘two different walls of football and demands. ’ How appropriate that assessment proved to resolute, intense well-drilled Brentford, hunting for the Europa League football that a sixth-place finish might bring. When the sun had dropped in the sky and game was beginning to run into the sand - Arsenal at a virtual stand-still, knocking the ball aimlessly around in front of 11 green shirts – a moment’s genius was required from someone and Rice delivered again. The thirty seconds it took him to bring the ball from in front of this own box – taking the ball David Raya rolled out to him – to the periphery of the Brentford area was a study in awareness. He needed barely ten touches to drive it up the field, all the while scanning the landscape, looking for his teammate’s movements, waiting for the challenges to evade. His eventual lay-off to Thomas Partey, who drove Arsenal ahead, concluded something just as fine as those two free-kicks in midweek. The goal belonged to Arteta, too. It was he who had the vision to play Rice higher up the field. ‘Every time you score a goal you have the feeling you’re going to score one again, ’ he said of Rice last night. But that ‘different wall’ Arteta described meant that a moment of excellence was not enough. Brentford fought back to hold Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates on Saturday evening Thomas Partey opened the scoring for the Gunners but the hosts failed to preserve their lead Brentford hit back courtesy of striker Yoane Wissa's 16th goal of the 2024-25 season Within 15 minutes, Arsenal allowed their defensive intensity to slip and were punished. In the blink of an eye, Nathan Collins had beaten William Saliba in the air, nodding back to Yoane Wissa, who swivelled around the ball to score because his instincts were sharper than substitute Jurrien Timber’s. ‘We have to be critical. It’s our fault, ’ Arteta reflected. Wissa mimicked Myles Lewis-Skelly’s ‘zen’ goal celebration, just like Lewis-Skelly mimicked Erling Haaland’s, and Brentford’s fans sang a song about how Arsenal were going to win nothing at all. Real Madrid this was not. Arsenal’s frustration was compounded when Bukayo Saka, arriving from the bench, immediately spurned a gilt-edged chance to put them straight back ahead. Saka seized on goalkeeper Mark Flekken’s mis-control to take the ball towards goal but substitute Michael Kayode put in a vital block. Arteta raged against the decision not to send off Christian Norgaard’s for a challenge on Gabriel Martinelli, launching into him from behind in a scissor movement, though there were no studs. It didn’t seem reckless violence. Saka came close at the death, curling a shot a foot wide, but Brentford were leaving the Emirates turf as heroes on this occasion. Collins, whose defensive contribution repelled the late surges. Kristoffer Ajer, who defended obdurately and drew a sharp save from Raya when sent through by Bryan Mbeumo. ‘For sure, now it’s all about Wednesday, ’ Arteta said last night but sooner or later Arsenal will be back confronting the task of bringing this title home. They will need to find something better than this. No 3 Kieran Tierney thought he had given Arsenal the lead after finding the net in the first half But the goal was disallowed after a VAR review, with the decision shown on the big screen Semi-automated offside technology was used to prove Tierney had been in an offside position Partey broke the deadlock for real by firing past Mark Flekken to finish off a counter-attack But Mikel Arteta's side were pegged back and failed to collect maximum points yet again ARSENAL (4-3-3): Raya, Partey (Timber 69), Saliba, Kiwior, Tierney (Lewis-Skelly 62), Zinchenko (Odegaard 62), Jorginho, Rice (Merino 75), Nwaneri (Saka 63), Trossard, Martinelli Subs unused: Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Francis, Neto Scorer: Partey 61 Booked: Odegaard BRENTFORD (4-4-2):  Flekken, Ajer (Kayode 69), Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter, Mbeumo, Norgaard (Nunes 90), Janelt (Yarmoliuk 69), Damsgaard (Jensen 80), Wissa, Schade Subs unused:  Pinnock, Mee, Valdimarsson, Henry, Konak  Scorer: Wissa 74 Booked:  Norgaard, Schade, Yarmoliuk 

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