Arsenal dropped points in the Premier League for the second week running after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Brentford.
Thomas Frank’s Bees maintained their marvellous big game record this season with a deserved point at the Emirates Stadium.
Manchester City can close the gap on Arsenal to three points on Sunday should they beat Aston Villa.
Brentford should have taken a fifth-minute lead on the counter attack when Ivan Toney’s low cross was met by Rico Henry, whose shot from six yards sailed wide with a touch off of Aaron Ramsdale.
The hosts saw the majority of the ball and carved out a half-decent opening after the Bees failed to clear a corner, with Oleksandr Zinchenko half-volleying over from just inside the box.
Bryan Mbeumo had the ball in the net in the following minutes after muscling Gabriel Magalhaes off the ball to reach a Toney header, slotting in at Ramsdale’s near post, but the goal was chalked off as the Cameroonian was adjudged to have committed a foul on the centre-back.
Arsenal were furious that they were denied a penalty when Henry clumsily brought down Bukayo Saka, but given the winger tried to honestly stay on his feet before going over, Brentford got away with the decision.
Toney then rattled the crossbar from close range after meeting Mbeumo’s cutback before being denied by Ramsdale with a 25-yard dink as a fast but goalless first half continued.
The first sweeping move of the afternoon for Arsenal came shortly before the break. Ben White’s deep cross was headed back by Granit Xhaka and volleyed just over the bar by Gabriel Martinelli.
Just after half-time, Saka switched to the left flank to try and catch Brentford napping, firing a shot towards the near post, only to be denied by David Raya.
Martin Odegaard was next to test Raya with an effort from inside the box as the Bees started to look a little more open defensively.
Some sloppy defending from William Saliba saw Toney flash another shot at goal, this time finding the side-netting.
But despite their many frustrations, Arsenal took the lead on 66 minutes. Saka’s deep ball through the six-yard box was tapped in by substitute Leandro Trossard for his first goal in Gunners colours.
Their lead didn’t last for long though, as Toney equalised seven minutes later. Arsenal failed to clear Mathias Jensen’s free-kick from a wide area, and Christian Norgaard eventually managed hook it back for the striker to nod in from point-blank range.
Brentford managed to survive nearly ten minutes of stoppage time to claim their first ever point at the Emirates Stadium.
