Football is back! The 2021/22 English Premier League kicked off last night with newly promoted Brentford taking on Arsenal at the Brentford Community Stadium in West London, England. Brentford fans are still on cloud nine and cannot believe their team is back in the top flight in over seven decades. They headed to their brand new stadium, seen in the background, in high spirits - and their night was to get even better...
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It was a thunderous night at the Brentford Community Stadium and the brand new arena - just 1 mile from their old ground, Griffin Park - was alive with noise and excitement. Having fans back inside stadiums following a relaxing of COVID-19 measures will make such a difference to games, and it did last night with the home side given tremendous support.
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The 16,479 capacity crowed were in fine voice all night and lifted the decibel levels to borderline deafening when they took a deserved lead midway through the first half.
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It was Brentford's Sergi Canos who broke the deadlock by driving his shot low past Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno at the near post.
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In the second half, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta threw on Bukayo Saka who was given a standing ovation by both sets of fans on his first Premier League appearance since the European Championship. The England man had received racist abuse online for missing a penalty in the final against Italy.
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But it went from bad to worse for Arsenal as Brentford's Christian Norgaard, center, grabbed the second goal of the night and the match ended 2-0 to the home side and it was a very well deserved win too.
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Arsenal's Kieran Tierney applauded the fans at the end of the match. It was a terrible start for Arsenal and the pressure is now on Arteta whose side's next two games are against Chelsea and Man City.
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Shell shocked... Arteta looked dejected after the match. He has been touted as being the first managerial casualty of the season and this was not the start he was looking for.
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Meanwhile, Brentford's head coach Thomas Frank was all smiles at full time. The charismatic Dane is a cult figure loved by Brentford fans for ending their 74-year wait for top-tier status. Now they are back in the big time, they are determined to enjoy every moment and this was a great way to start.
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