Arsenal met Brentford in the only Premier League game that was played on 1st January 2025. Mikel Arteta named his squad and there were some significant changes in that squad. Kai Havertz was totally missing in the squad despite the fact that he is the one who scored the one and only goal against Ipswich.
Ethan Nwaneri was also given his first ever starting role in the starting lineup. The game started on a very high note but Arsenal fell short after Mikkel Damsgaard gave Bryan Mbeumo a good pass that led to the opening goal of the game.
Gabriel Jesus pulled the goal back for Arsenal before half time. The first half ended in a 1-1 draw. The second half started on a very high note and it was very evident that Arsenal wanted nothing but a win in that game. Mikel Merino scored the second goal for the Gunners that kick-started their second half in a great way.
Three minutes later, Gabriel Martinelli added the third goal for Arsenal that sealed the game for Arsenal. Mikel Arteta then made some substitutions which looked very technical in order for him to protect the lead that he was having.
He substituted Riccardo Calafiori and replaced him with Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri with Leandro Trossard, Mikel Merino with Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard with Jorginho and Gabriel Jesus with Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Thomas Frank also made some substituions in his squad. He substituted Christian Norgaard and replaced him with Mathias Jensen, Sepp van den Berg with Kim ji-soo, Yoane Wissa with Kevin Schade and Mikkel Damsgaard with Paris Morgan.
The game ended 3-1 in favor of the Gunners and the club managed to start the new year, 2025 with a win that will really steer the club to greater heights as they fight to win the Premier League title this season.
