Ivan Toney causes carnage! Arsenal winners, losers & ratings as William Saliba run ragged to open door for Man City

Leandro Trossard

What a moment to score your first Arsenal goal. The reason Arsenal signed Trossard in January was to give Arteta another much needed option in attack and that paid off this afternoon. The hosts were struggling to make any sort of inroads into the Brentford defence, but Trossard changed that within minutes of coming on for Gabriel Martinelli in the second half. It may have been a tap in at the back post, but he made sure he was in the right place to turn in Saka's cross. Arsenal may not have held on to get the win, but it was still a big moment for the January signing, who looks set to play a major role over the second half of the season.

Pep Guardiola

Manchester City's manager will have been watching this with a smile on his face. There will have been times this season when Guardiola must have feared Arsenal were going to run away with the league, such was the consistency of their performances and results. But he will now know his side have a massive chance to ramp up the pressure on the Gunners with a win against Aston Villa on Sunday. Victory for City would move them to within three points of Arsenal ahead of Wednesday night's massive meeting between the sides at the Emirates. Guardiola's men passed up an opportunity to close the gap last weekend, he will do all he can to ensure they won't do the same this time around.

Ivan Toney

Brentford's striker was magnificent all afternoon. William Saliba has coped relatively comfortably with all the striker's he's faced this season, until today. Toney caused him problems from the first whistle and really should have helped himself to a hat-trick. The only thing you could criticise him for was his finishing because he wasted two great chances either side of half-term, but he kept getting into dangerous positions and deserved the goal he eventually got to make it 1-1.

William Saliba

This has to be the toughest test Saliba has endured all season. The Frenchman has snuffed out the threat of many a centre forward since August, but today he was given a pretty torrid time by Ivan Toney. Saliba's physicality and dominance in the air has been such a strength this season, but that counted for little against Toney, who won almost everything that was played up to him and consistently overpowered the Arsenal centre-backs, Saliba especially. To his credit, Saliba battled until the last minute, but he will certainly have been happy to hear the full-time whistle.

Gabriel Martinelli

It's just not happening for the Brazilian at the moment. Many wondered whether Arteta would leave him out against Brentford in favour of Leandro Trossard, but the Arsenal boss stuck with the winger despite his recent under-par performances. Unfortunately for Martinelli, he couldn't repay that faith and it was no surprise to see him replaced just after the hour mark. He's been electric for Arsenal this season, but there has undoubtedly been a drop off in recent weeks. He's yet to score this year and never looked like breaking that barren run against Brentford's well-disciplined defence.

Arsenal's momentum

It's three games without a win now for Arsenal in all competitions. It's far too early to call it a crisis just yet, but there's no doubt that their confidence has taken a hit over the past fortnight. The energy and intensity that they've shown all season has been lacking in recent games and that will be a worry, with Manchester City to come on Wednesday night. Mikel Arteta's side built up so much momentum during the first half of the season and they were clearly feeding off that. That has been halted now and questions are being asked of them, how they respond over the next few games will be key to their title hopes.

Aaron Ramsdale (7/10):

Commanded his box well and played the ball out confidently with his feet despite being put under pressure.

Ben White (6/10):

More like his old self after a couple of nervy performances. Solid.

William Saliba (5/10):

Toney caused him all sorts of problems.

Gabriel Magalhaes (6/10):

Tough afternoon, but stuck to his game.

Oleksandr Zinchenko (6/10):

Saw plenty of the ball. Lively, but couldn't prize an opening.

Thomas Partey (6/10):

Looked calm, always looking to play forward.

Granit Xhaka (5/10):

Worked hard, but couldn't really get into the game.

Martin Odegaard (6/10):

Did his best to get Arsenal on the front foot, but Brentford handled him well.

Bukayo Saka (7/10):

Looked as likely as anyone to make something happen, forcing David Raya into a couple of saves. Great assist for the goal.

Eddie Nketiah (5/10):

Struggled against such powerful centre-backs.

Gabriel Martinelli (5/10):

No real impact. Struggling for form at the moment.

Leandro Trossard (7/10):

Made a big impact off the bench, scoring his first Arsenal goal.

Fabio Vieira (N/A):

No impact.

Mikel Arteta (6/10):

Probably should have started Trossard. Showed faith with Martinelli, but wasn't rewarded.