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Brentford came out 3-2 winners against an Arsenal side in a behind-behind closed doors friendly at The Emirates stadium this afternoon (Wednesday).

The match was the first in a series of warm-up friendlies for The Bees as they prepare to stage the opening match of the restarted Championship season on June 20th against West London rivals Fulham.

Arsenal fielded a strong side – having beaten Charlton 6-0 at the weekend.

Arsenal side v Brentford. June 2020. Emirates Stadium

Leno. Bellarin. Mustafi. Tierney. Ceballos. Willock. Saka. Pepe. Nketia and Aubameyang all started for the North London side with Ozil also coming on in the second half .

Brentford spread their players across both halves to give the full team a good run-out with Pontus Jansson, Mads Bech Sorensen (in for Jeanvier), Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma all making starts.

Good to see players laid up through injury make a comeback. Mads Bech Sorensen – who was on loan at AFC Wimbledon – played the full 90 mins. Kamo Mokotjo and Shandon Baptiste – who has been nursing a long term niggling injury – played the second half.

But there were a few notable absences for The Bees – Bryan Mbuemo and Julien Jeanvier being the most glaring. Also missing from the line up was long-term injured players Sergi Canos, Marcus Forss and Nikos Karelis.

Joe Willock opened the scoring for Arsenal just before half time.

Tariq Fosu for Brentford v Luton. Kenilworth Road. Feb 2020. Photo- officialbfcpics.co.uk

Tariq Fosu equalised 15 minutes after half time before Lacazette scored for Arsenal again to make the score 2-1.

Dutch forward Halil Dervisoglu then equalised once again for Brentford.

Halil Dervisoglu for Brentford v Leicester, Griffin Park. FA Cup 4th Round. Jan 2020. Photo – officialbfcpics.co.uk

And Shandon Baptiste put the icing on the cake – scoring the winner for The Bees to make it three goals from January signings for The Bees.

By all accounts it was a lively match with the Brentford players look lively and fit. Shandon Baptiste by all accounts had a blinder.

A great work-out for Brentford against a strong Arsenal side who must be a good couple of weeks ahead of the Championship side in terms of fitness.

They can now go into their next friendly confident that their pre-season is going to plan

First half
Raya. Dalsgaard. Jansson. Sorensen. Thompson. Nörgaard. Mathias Jensen. Marcondes. Joel Valencia. Ollie Watkins. Said Benrahma

Second half
Luke Daniels. Mads Roerslev Rasmussen. Sorensen, Ethan Pinnock. Rico Henry. Kamo Mokotjo. Dru Yearwood (Fredrik Hammar). Shandon Baptiste. Jan Zamburek. Halil Dervisoglu. Tariq Fosu.

We discussed Brentford’s pre season plans plus more in the latest Pride Of West London podcast

 

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