Thomas Frank insisted Arsenal were ‘lucky’ to have emerged victorious from last night’s Carabao Cup third round tie against Brentford.
The Gunners made significant changes to their starting line-up and handed opportunities to the likes of Jakub Kiwior, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson who have featured only sporadically so far this season.
Mike Arteta also handed a debut to youngster Charles Sagoe Jr, while Aaron Ramsdale returned in goal having been dropped by his manager for the last two Premier League games.
Ultimately, Arsenal were indebted to their goalkeeper who made several fine second half saves to thwart Brentford who were unable to find a way past the returning England international.
‘It was a good performance in the first half and excellent in the second half,’ said Frank, whose side have now endured rare back-to-back defeats at home. ‘I think Arsenal were very lucky to get away with this with the chances we created in the second half.’
He added: ‘We created good moments, pressed very well and high and won the ball back a lot of times.
‘We created all the chances that you can ask for in a game like this and on another day they go in the back of the net.
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‘It’s very tough to take that we didn’t get something out of it, but tomorrow – with the 24-hour rule – I won’t be too disappointed. We need to look at the positives and move forward.’
Arsenal, meanwhile, face another difficult London derby away from home against West Ham in the next round but Mikel Arteta is delighted to still be in a competition that offers a realistic chance of silverware.
He said: ‘In this competition, you’re either in or our, and we’re in. Two very different halves – in the first we had a lot of control and scored the goal, and we had some chances to put away, and we didn’t.
‘And in the second half, they had a more aggressive approach as well, and we struggled to progress the ball and travel together.
‘We were too direct and then it becomes a difficult game, because there are a lot of duels; there’s free-kicks and long throws you have to defend every time and bring everybody back to try to get out and win territory from there.
‘They are really good at that. When we don’t play that well, you need to have some big defensive moments and we had [them]. We had some big blocks in the box and Aaron making a big save as well.’
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