Three Things We Learned This Week As Brentford vs Arsenal looms 

Here's Ian Mills with his regular series Three Things We Learned as Arsenal gear up for a tough trip to Brentford 

With both Manchester City and Aston Villa playing before us this week, the former could have cut our lead to three points by the time we kick off at Brentford.

Yet we still maintain a superior goal difference over both sides, and we just need to ensure we approach a tricky assignment in West London with the same desire, determination and will to win as we have displayed throughout the season so far - including seeing off a stubborn Sunderland side, who were brushed aside in convincing fashion at the weekend, as we kept our six-point lead intact at the Premier League summit.

1 - Leo the Lionheart:

– Leandro Trossard has been a revelation since joining the club in the 2023 January transfer window and he appears to be ageing like a fine wine. 

Against Sunderland he was quite simply magnificent throughout this game providing a great cross early on that Kai Havertz should have done better with.

He then supplied the assist for Martin Zubimendi’s goal and it was his clever pass that found Havertz who in turn passed to Viktor Gyokeres to add our third goal. He was a constant threat on the left wing and has seven goals and eight assists this season. When Gabi Martinelli entered the fray, it was on the right wing rather than Trossard’s position, so good is his current form.

Sadly, he had to leave this game early due to an injury which will hopefully not see him sidelined for too long. 

2 - Finishers are showing their quality:

 – once more, this game proved the quality of our squad and Mikel Arteta’s propensity for using ‘finishers’ to seal the game.

Gyokeres and Martinelli arrived together as second half substitutes for Gabriel Jesus and Noni Madueke.

Both made telling contributions as our Swedish striker received Havertz’ pass and, took a touch to control however he then slipped although in so doing he struck a powerful shot home for our second goal.

With the game stretched and Sunderland looking for a way back, we caught them on the break as Christian Norgaard’s clearance fell into the path of Martinelli who then put on the after burners to race into the penalty area before sliding the ball to Gyokeres to fire home his second and our third goal of the match.

Gyokeres now has more goal contributions than any other Premier League player in 2026 with six goals and two assists and he is starting to look much more confident and at home in an Arsenal shirt.

3 - Character shown in spades:

 – this game saw us play 24 hours earlier than Manchester City and at the same time as Aston Villa.

Despite dominating possession, we took until almost half time to break the deadlock against a solid opponent here.

We gave a thoroughly professional performance to seal an impressive and important win as those waiting for us to once again fall short in a title race were left disappointed.