Arteta stays calm as Arsenal stunned by Brentford in opener
LONDON: Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard got the goals as Brentford stunned Arsenal 2-0 in the opening game of the Premier League season on Friday to celebrate their return to the topflight after a 74-year absence.
“I know after the play-off final there were a lot of proud people, a lot of tears. It’s been a long journey,” Brentford coach Thomas Frank said of the London club that lost in the playoffs nine times before finally cracking it last season. “The fans were absolutely amazing. That was more than a 10/10 performance in terms of atmosphere. Constant singing. Amazing. If there was only one man-of-the-match, it’s the fans. I can’t name one of the team, they were all top.”
It was a long-throw that caused mayhem in the Arsenal defence and allowed Norgaard to head in the killer second goal after 73 minutes.
Canos, who blasted in the opener after 22 minutes, said: “This is amazing, I’ve been dreaming about scoring the first goal in the stadium and these people deserve it, we deserve it.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who was a ball of fury on the touchline almost from the start, had no real complaints as his side featuring several youngsters struggled to impose themselves.
“We started the season against a good opponent. I don’t think we deserved anything different,” he said. “They scored from a long throw-in and we didn’t have enough presence in the box.
“A lot of young boys were doing everything they can. For some of them it was the first experience in the league – that says a lot.”
The reason for some of them playing was the absence of Pierre-emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, who Arteta, seemingly unimpressed, said had been unwell.