Brentford

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford are set to re-establish a multi-club system after the purchase of Spanish third division side Merida AD.

Merida has been bought by Brentford's holding company Best Intentions Analytics, rather than the club itself or owner Matthew Benham directly, but the west Londoners will be part of a multi-club system again after Danish side Midtjylland were sold in 2023.

Merida, fifth in the third tier and operating in the province of Badajoz in western Spain, will have access to the same innovative analytics systems that helped Brentford punch above their weight since Benham's purchase in 2007.

Best Intentions is currently seeking investment and valued at £400million.

Sources close to Benham say he prefers a minority partner with expertise in media, advertising and commercial spaces but could be tempted into a full sale should an offer be substantial enough.

When Brentford announced their new holding company in March, a statement said it was established to "modernise" the ownership model, "provide greater flexibility" and "better position the club for future growth".

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Arsenal's Premier League game against Brentford, which ended as a 1-1 draw.

Here are some of your comments:

Arsenal fans

Guy: I'm not surprised by a lack of victory. Arsenal have been poor all year in the league. Second flatters us. We just don't look like winning these types of matches anymore.

Rachel: Disappointed, but not surprised by the performance. It wasn't easy to choose a standout player, probably Thomas Partey who had a decent match. Lacklustre and below par, seems that this is standard for the time of year. No doubt Real Madrid is looming large on the horizon.

Bola: Lacklustre, uninspiring. Mikel Arteta blew it, he killed the momentum with the first substitutions after Arsenal's goal. Ill-timed, poor judgment.

Tony: The B team were doing so well. I really can't understand why Arteta felt the need to make changes, to bring on the A team. All went downhill from that point and Brentford seized the initiative. Points needlessly thrown away.

Shaun: It's amazing that Arteta hardly ever makes a sub until late in the game when he starts with his strongest 11. Yet against Brentford, he makes three after an hour and surprisingly it's three players who were playing well. We were far better before the subs. Leandro Trossard clearly can't play centrally, and worryingly, Martin Odegaard was very poor again. There was not a lot in the game, but yet again we've failed to secure a win after taking the lead - a total of 16 points now dropped this season.

Brentford fans

Keith: It just shows how far we've come as a club when you can nullify a team like Arsenal for most of the match and only concede on the counter.

Will: This is a point we'd have been happy with any day this season, and I felt like we played well and went toe-to-toe with the Gunners. We didn't have many chances but we found a way. I hope we will see more of Gustavo Nunes and Michael Kayode as I feel like they added a variety we seem to need right now to be creative and undo opponents. A set of very tough matches done, the run in looks promising and I hope we can achieve a top-half finish.

Highlights and analysis from Saturday's five Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Nottingham Forest 0-1 Everton

• Arsenal 1-1 Brentford

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Thomas Frank spoke to Sky Sports after Brentford's draw against Arsenal: "Of course, it is a very good point against a very good Arsenal team that beat Real Madrid four days ago. Fighting back to get to 1-1 shows the character in our team. I would have loved us to create more but they also defended very well."

On Yoane Wissa scoring again: "It is such a privilege. How many No nines have scored 15 Premier League goals this year for a team that, with all due respect, is not amongst best in the league? That is a big credit to Wissa but also the chances we create."

On his ambitions: "We would love to compete for Europe and aim for as high as possible in many ways. That is what we are fighting for every single year and game. We are never celebrating a point but it is a very good point. We will keep pushing."

Image source, Getty Images

Yoane Wissa scored his 15th Premier League goal this season, making Brentford the first side to have two players score 15+ this term (Bryan Mbeumo on16).

Were you at Emirates Stadium or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Arsenal's performance

What did you make of Brentford's display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

I wanted Arsenal to try to push Liverpool in the title race but boss Mikel Arteta clearly knew something I did not, resting his players against Everton last weekend and then demolishing Real Madrid the way they did.

Arteta will make changes again here before Wednesday's second leg at the Bernabeu, and the fact it will not be the Gunners' strongest side makes this quite hard to predict.

Brentford are very capable but I have a feeling the Gunners will still have enough to win, even though they are prioritising Europe now.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Read the full predictions and have your say

Five matches make up Saturday's Premier League action and BBC Sport will bring you every kick.

• Manchester City v Crystal Palace (12:30)

• Brighton v Leicester City

• Nottingham Forest v Everton

• Southampton v Aston Villa

• Arsenal v Brentford (17:30)

Kick-off times 15:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

Image source, Getty Images

There are lots of different perspectives in terms of how you watch a game of football, and I think for the majority of time the people in the stadium get the best atmosphere, but the worst views of how a game has actually gone.

You don't really get the chance to see multiple replays and have discussions about things, because you just get caught up in the moment.

With the incoming semi automated offsides, they did promise it earlier in the season - but I think the caveat was they're only going to do it when it's ready.

It is a positive that they didn't do it when it wasn't ready.

One upside to to the new technology is some of the arguments disappear. Previously you could say 'but it looks like it's this to me' or 'it looks like it's that to me'. When it is presented now, there aren't many people that will then be looking at the animation, going back to the video, and then going down a proper conspiracy rabbit hole.

So, it ends more arguments, not all arguments, but more arguments.

I think people, as a consequence, will be more accepting of it.

But, I still do believe that there's things for people to understand, because it can't be used in every situation. There are certain decisions which can still be a little bit more complex, and there's certain times where human intervention will still need to be brought in.

I wouldn't say it's as clear as, say, goal line technology, but it's a step in the direction to where most people feel more comfortable accepting the outcome and the speed of it as well will be encouraged.

It's not to say that it's going to be instant. If you believe this is going to be perfect, and always extremely fast, ask yourself, why do you think that?

Unless somebody has told you that from PGMOL, then take it with a pinch of salt and you see how it goes.

I think it's something that many people have seen before so hopefully there will be fewer arguments.

But, because it's football, there'll always be something to argue about the end of the day.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Arsenal (kick-off 17:45 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• There is "no new injury news" for Brentford as "everyone who was available for Chelsea is available again".

• Frank added: "The three guys who are getting closer - [Aaron] Hickey, [Igor] Thiago and Gustavo [Nunes] – are progressing and going in the right direction. Gustavo is the closest of the three. Let's see."

• The Bees boss hopes his side can "play as offensive as possible" when they face Arsenal, however, has acknowledged they will "need to defend a bit" against the Gunners, adding: "Hopefully we can be as much as possible in the middle and high pressure."

• Frank was at their opponent's Champions League match against Real Madrid in midweek and called the 3-0 win an "unbelievably impressive performance".

• On defending against Declan Rice's free kicks: "The second one was particularly difficult to defend but, of course, you could avoid giving the free-kick away. For the first one, I hope our wall would be a bit different, so he can't get around that side. That would be my expectation. But let's just avoid giving fouls away."

• He said that "no matter who Arsenal put on the pitch that it will be a "difficult game".

• Frank added: "We believe in ourselves and trust ourselves - we've done very well the last two times we've been there - 2-1 last season, we could've got something out of it, and 1-1 the year before."

• On Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta: "A great manager, they've got a lot of details and principles they've put into the team, and I like what they do."

Follow all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Image source, Getty Images

Christian Norgaard has either scored (two) or assisted (one) 50% of Brentford's Premier League goals against Arsenal (three of six).

He has also scored in two of his past three away games in the competition.

Brentford, Newcastle United and Wolves have watched 24-year-old Angers and Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana, ahead of a potential £15m summer move. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer news? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Adam Millington
BBC Sport journalist

Coaching on a matchday is a team affair for Thomas Frank. He has no qualms with stepping back to analyse the game and allowing the rest of his backroom team to deputise.

Frank constantly shifted back to the bench with his notepad in hand to speak to colleagues before stepping back to convey information to the players on the pitch.

He seemed to prefer the slightly higher vantage point from the bench. It also gave him the ability to intently watch replays of what was happening on the pitch, assess the game in real time and make any needed adjustments.

Enzo Maresca, however, was the polar opposite. He rarely retreated to the bench, instead spending the game pacing up and down - and often outside of - his dugout.

Maresca was regularly animated, shouting instructions towards his players and running backwards and forwards. Frank, meanwhile, was quiet and pensive in his technical area.

See what all the other managers did

Brentford and Nigeria midfielder Frank Onyeka, 27, will return to the club once his loan spell at Bundesliga side Augsburg ends this summer. (Florian Plettenberg, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

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This is something I do not want to write, but is a changing of the guard starting to happen at Brentford?

That was one question to come out of Sunday's goalless draw with Chelsea, for which Ethan Pinnock was dropped to the bench instead of starting for probably the first ever time when he has been fit.

Pinnock has been absolutely crucial to the Bees' rise over the past six years and always quite rightly been first choice at centre-half.

He is hugely popular, has played more than 200 games for us in all competitions, scored a dozen goals and has been one of our most consistent players since arriving.

Pinnock's timing and reading of the game has always been immaculate and to have only five bookings and one red card in all that time is extraordinary for a centre-half.

However, sadly this season at times his powers have seemed to be waning a bit.

Mistakes are so rare that when Pinnock does make them, everybody notices. After a couple early in the season, he was twice outpaced by Beto against Everton in February and then twice gave the ball away in last week's defeat at Newcastle.

He was substituted late on in that match and then left out on Sunday, in favour of Sepp van den Berg, who took Pinnock's place when he was out injured at the turn of the year.

It could be that Pinnock is still not fully fit and that when he is, he will be as good as new.

But it could also be that Van den Berg, who formed a solid partnership with the now undroppable Nathan Collins in Pinnock's absence, may have moved above him in the pecking order.

Find more from Ian Westbrook at Beesotted podcast, external

Bayer Leverkusen are interested in Brentford and Netherlands goalkeeper Mark Flekken, 31, with the Bees wanting about 15m euros (£12.8m). (Sky Germany - in German), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Brentford and Chelsea.

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Nick: Really strong first half from Brentford but we didn't create very many really good chances. We struggled to cope with Chelsea's changes and looked tired with no real attacking options on the bench. Thomas Frank doesn't get too much wrong, but not having a substitute forward seemed like a mistake. Kevin Schade looked knackered and Yoane Wissa was starting to cramp. Flekken looked assured, claimed the ball really well and made some good saves.

Mitchell: We played well without creating masses of chances. We lacked positivity with Yehor Yarmoliuk on but Vitaly Janelt helped. We missed two gilt-edged chances at the end, but a draw is probably the right result.

Mel: Another day of missed chances against a top-six team. Our defence once again showed defiance and stability. On balance, we should have nicked the game but a point was well deserved against a top-class side. Hint for Frank's staff: Schade needs some mental strengthening, he is a great lad who oozes speed and talent but sadly lacks confidence in his own ability. Well done Bees and great to hear our full-backs are nearing match readiness.

Chelsea fans

Ann: Rubbish again, Chelsea. What is the manager doing? He will lose his place by not putting his best players on. You need to do better.

Keith: We didn't lose is about all I can say about this game. There were some good performances but it is another two points dropped that were much needed.

Derek: Same old, same old. Enzo Maresca just serving up one course of football, and not offering any changes if something from the menu isn't working. He's been found out, he's out of his depth, and needs to be moved on for the club to hit the targets we are aiming for. My worry is that the owners aren't actually bothered about winning trophies - they're just in it to improve the club as a brand and make themselves richer.

Highlights and analysis from Sunday's four Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Crystal Palace 2-1 Brighton

• Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest

• Fulham 3-2 Liverpool

• Man Utd 0-0 Man City