Arsenal vs Brentford LIVE: Premier League match stream, latest team news, lineups, TV, prediction

Arsenal vs Brentford LIVE: Premier League match stream, latest team news, lineups, TV, prediction

Gunners must keep the momentum up before another huge Real Madrid test

Arsenal vs Brentford in the Premier League

Arsenal vs Brentford LIVE!

The Gunners are back in action under the lights at the Emirates Stadium as they refocus on the Premier League title race after a remarkable win over Real Madrid in midweek. Mikel Arteta will be desperate to keep the momentum up ahead of the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, so has a few team selection decisions to make.

Bukayo Saka started against Madrid and surely returns to the substitutes bench, with free-kick hero Declan Rice joining him. That would see Leandro Trossard and Jorginho come in, while the likes of Ben White will hope a start tonight may boost his chances of getting the nod at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday. A win will cut the gap to Liverpool to eight points.

Thomas Frank’s side are more than capable of frustrating, and beating, any team on their day but they have lost six of their eight Premier League derbies against Arsenal. Is there an opportunity for the Bees tonight? Follow the game LIVE below with our dedicated match blog, featuring expert insight and analysis from Simon Colligns at the Gtech Stadium.

Arsenal vs Brentford latest news

Kick-off time: 5.30pm | Emirates Stadium

How to watch: Sky Sports

Early Arsenal team news

Early Brentford team news

Score prediction

Live updates

Latest match odds

Despite the changes, it should be a fairly straightforward evening for Arsenal.

To win

Arsenal: 8/13

Draw: 16/5

Brentford: 4/1

(Odds provided by Betway, subject to change.)

Simon Collings checks in

Our man in north London.

So, five changes by Arsenal but Saliba, Kiwior and Rice keep their place.

Partey also starts again, but moved to right-back. There is no Ben White in the squad.

Just the one change for Brentford as Janelt comes in for Yarmolyuk.

Confirmed team news in full

Arsenal XI: Raya, Partey, Saliba, Kiwior, Tierney, Jorginho, Rice, Zinchenko, Nwaneri, Martinelli, Trossard

Subs: Neto, Timber, Lewis-Skelly, Henry-Francis, Odegaard, Saka, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Merino

Brentford XI: Flekken, Ajer, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter, Nørgaard, Janelt, Damsgaard, Schade, Wissa, Mbeumo

Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Mee, Kayode, Jensen, Yarmoliuk, Konak, Nunes

Brentford XI

And the visitors!

Arsenal XI

Here’s how the hosts look.

Team news to come in a little over five minutes.

Where does Merino play?

Mikel Merino has enjoyed a remarkable couple of months since being tasked with the role of playing upfront for Arsenal.

He scored the third goal against Real Madrid and has six goals in his last 10 games.

But in the match before at Everton, Merino was tasked with playing in midfield as Arteta made changes to the team.

Leandro Trossard was given a start as the striker, operating as a ‘false nine’, and the same could happen against Brentford.

The move forced Merino to drop into midfield, but it allowed Arteta to rest Odegaard for the Real Madrid game.

Merino missed the first two months of the season with a shoulder injury and seemingly has plenty of miles left in the tank.

Bukayo Saka was in fine form on Tuesday as he marked his first start since December with a brilliant performance.

The winger terrorised Real Madrid’s left side and gave David Alaba a torrid time.

Arsenal have carefully built up Saka’s minutes as he makes his way back from the hamstring injury that kept him out for more than three months.

The 23-year-old got 25 minutes off the bench in the win over Fulham last week and then 45 at Everton, before starting on Tuesday.

Saka was forced off towards the end after picking up a knock and, as a result, Arteta may be wary about risking him from the start against Brentford.

He is still only just working his way back to full fitness and Arsenal will need him firing at the Bernabau

Does Arteta risk starting Saliba?

Arsenal are short on centre-back options after Gabriel was ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.

Takehiro Tomiyasu will also not return this season due to a knee injury and Riccardo Calafiori is still sidelined.

It means Arteta has just three fit centre-backs in Ben White, Jakub Kiwior and William Saliba.

Arteta will surely be tempted to give Saliba a rest given he is the key man in the backline.

But White may be needed to come in at right-back as Jurrien Timber was struggling with an injury last week that forced him to be on the bench for the draw at Everton.

Therefore Arteta may opt to just stick with the centre-back pairing of Kiwior and Saliba, which has started the last two games.

The Arsenal boss has shown he is not afraid to risk Saliba and earlier this season started him at Preston in the Carabao Cup.