Accusations about their desire to finish in the top four cannot be aimed at Arsenal right now.
As their rivals have faltered in recent weeks the race for the final coveted Champions League place has looked like one nobody wants to win.
But successive victories since their return after the international break have signalled Arsenal’s intention.
Bukayo Saka was on target for Arsenal as they beat Brentford 2-1 at the Emirates on Saturday
Saka scored his seventh Premier League goal in 22 appearances this season for the Gunners
Having started the season with a 2-0 humbling at Brentford and three defeats without scoring Mikel Arteta’s side have clawed their way back into contention.
This victory, secured following goals from their two home-grown heroes Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka, took them to within a point of fourth-placed Manchester United.
They will have three games in hand too once this latest weekend of action is completed.
Arteta may have swerved the subject when the suggestion was put to him but you can understand why Gunners legend Thierry Henry claimed this week that it would be a failure if they failed to make the top four.
Emile Smith Rowe opened the scoring for the Gunners shortly after the half-time interval
For his part, Arteta has urged his players to ‘maximise’ the position they have got themselves into. They seem to be doing just that.
Goals had been hard to come by for Arsenal so far this year and the pattern initially continued against Brentford though it was not for a want of trying.
Arsenal racked up the possession, attempts on goal, corners and penalty shouts though for 48 minutes a breakthrough evaded them.
Ben White had the first of many Arsenal efforts with a blocked near-post header three minutes in.
Smith Rowe is Arsenal’s top scorer this year after getting his ninth league goal of the campaign
Arsenal are now level on points with West Ham and just one point behind Manchester United
Arsenal then had two spot-kick shouts, following Josh Dasilva’s challenge on White and Kristoffer Ajer and Pontus Jansson’s double tackle on Alexandre Lacazette, dismissed.
The Frenchman then had a goal ruled out for offside before he and the impressive Martin Odegaard were left ruing wrong decisions.
When a shooting opportunity emerged as he drove into the Brentford box Odegaard unselfishly, but ultimately unwisely, decided to pass to Saka instead and the move fizzled out.
Soon after, Lacazette then did shoot when he had two better placed runners, Emile Smith Rowe and Saka, either side of him.
Alexandre Lacazette reacts to his first half strike being ruled out for offside by VAR
There were some important defensive interventions from Brentford too to keep Arsenal out, including an early interception of Saka’s cross by Kristoffer Ajer and a Pontus Jansson block to deflect Odegaard’s effort wide.
Yoane Wissa was also a little fortunate that the officials chose not to punish him when he appeared to block Cedric Soares’ shot with his hand.
With their back five sitting deep and midfield patrolling not too far in front of that Brentford struggled for an outlet and to get out of their half for sustained periods, though Bryan Mbeumo got two blocked shots off at the end of a couple of rare counters.
The Arsenal pressure was near constant and their final total of 16 first-half attempts was a Premier League record for the season. When the half-time whistle blew, Brentford were no doubt relieved to have reached that point unscathed.
Mikel Arteta’s side have two games in hand on Manchester United and are one point behind
It was a disappointing afternoon in the end for his opposite number Thomas Frank
But they remained so for just three minutes after the break. Arsenal finally managed to pull Brentford’s defence out of position and create a situation where they did not have a back five to break down. Lacazette played the ball wide to Smith Rowe who drove at Ajer, cut inside and bent the ball around Jansson and beyond David Raya to score his 10th goal of the season.
Brentford’s need to alter their approach and take off the shackles led to more gaps appearing for Arsenal to try and exploit.
Smith Rowe had a spring in his step after scoring and Saka tested Raya from distance. There was a momentary scare for the home side when Mbeumo almost latched onto a through ball but could not quite gather it in as the game headed into the final 20 minutes.
Martin Odegaard was particularly impressive throughout the game at the Emirates
Arsenal’s failure to put the game to bed left Brentford with sufficient hope and they enjoyed a spell of increased confidence that suggested they still believed.
Christian Noorgard’s scrambling challenge to stop substitute Nicolas Pepe tapping in after Odegaard’s effort had been saved kept those hopes alive.
But they were finally extinguished with 10 minutes left when Arsenal broke, Thomas Partey released Saka and he thumped in Arsenal’s second off the far post.
Norgaard tapped in an injury-time consolation to deny Arsenal a clean sheet but it was too little too late
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