Arsenal pays a heavy price following their victory over Brentford

The squad’s injury troubles deepened when Cristhian Mosquera and Declan Rice both left the pitch limping in Arsenal’s victory over Brentford at Emirates.

The Spanish center-back started alongside Piero Hincapié in central defense. However, just before halftime, Mosquera landed awkwardly after an aerial challenge and had to be substituted. Jurrien Timber replaced him, shifting out of his usual position to cover central defense, while Ben White continued as right-back even into the second half. In the final minutes, Arsenal received more bad news as Declan Rice suffered an issue with his leg or ankle and was forced off, making way for Viktor Gyökeres.

Coach Mikel Arteta was already without his first-choice center-back pairing William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães. Saliba missed the match due to a minor injury and was not even included in the squad for Brentford. Meanwhile, Gabriel sustained a thigh injury while playing for Brazil last month, expected to be out for at least a month but possibly returning in a few weeks.

Mosquera, the 21-year-old summer signing, started in the win against Bayern Munich and the recent draw with Chelsea, after Hincapié featured against Tottenham. Up front, Arsenal also faced a setbackas Kai Havertz encountered difficulties in his recovery from knee surgery and is unlikely to return before January.

Before the Brentford match, Arteta commented: “Saliba has a minor injury, it might only take a few days. We’ll see if he can return tomorrow. Gabi is also progressing well but still needs to be assessed week by week, similar to Havertz.”

He added regarding the squad’s condition and depth: “This season, we have suffered more losses in certain areas, especially in attack, and now defense. But we have learned from this and built a more reliable squad with more options. We understand that players must be capable of playing in multiple positions if we want to compete at this level.”

When Mosquera left the pitch, Arsenal was leading 1-0 thanks to Mikel Merino’s opening goal in the 11th minute. The move started with a combination between Noni Madueke and Ben White, before White crossed for Merino to head the ball into the net.

Bukayo Saka sealed the 2-0 victory in the closing minutes when his shot was blocked by goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher but still crossed the goal line before being pushed away.

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