Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka scored as Arsenal beat Brentford to restore their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

Manager Mikel Arteta made three changes to the side that drew with Chelsea on Sunday with Ben White, Noni Madueke and captain Martin Odegaard coming in.

And it was White and Madueke who combined in the build-up on 11 minutes with the right-back crossing for Arsenal's makeshift frontman Merino to head home.

Merino has had to play regularly up front because of injuries to Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Viktor Gyokeres and this goal was his 13th in 2025, the most of any Arsenal player this year.

Saka added the second in stoppage time after being played through on goal by Merino, and his effort bounced over the line despite the best efforts of Caoimhin Kelleher.

Brentford were pinned back for large parts of the game but went close to equalising when Kevin Schade's first-half header from a corner was pushed on to the crossbar by David Raya.

The only worry for Arteta was that Cristhian Mosquera and Declan Rice both had to be taken off with knocks.

The victory extends Arsenal's unbeaten run to 18 games across all competitions and was their eighth successive win at home.

The match against Brentford was always going to be tricky for Arsenal to navigate after recent games against Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Chelsea that required such a big effort.

Arteta resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes and kept key players such as Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Riccardo Calafiori in his starting XI.

Merino also kept his place up front and the Spain international scored another important goal to add to his collection with his first-half header.

He then assisted substitute Saka for his sixth goal contribution in his past five games (three goals, three assists).

The Gunners have struggled with injuries throughout the season and there will be a worry that knocks to Mosquera and Rice will further test their squad, before they travel to Aston Villa on Saturday (12:30 GMT kick-off).

"Rest, that's quite a positive word to use - we had to make some changes," said Arteta when asked about rotating players on Wednesday.

"We had a very demanding week at every level. We were asked to play three days later, with one less recovery [day] than them.

"Obviously it's never good news. Declan had to come off. We don't know. We have to see tomorrow what he's got.

"[Rice] can walk. He cannot play. The thing is, he's played a lot of minutes but as well, now we played Wednesday night and we have to play Saturday morning as well.

"We can play minutes but if they can please give us just a little more time to recover and to make the welfare of these players a little bit easier, that would be great."

Arsenal continue to build momentum and find ways to get results no matter the opposition they come up against.

Brentford manager Keith Andrews said before the match that getting a result against Arsenal would be a "tough task" but the away side did their best to make it difficult for the league leaders.

Andrews made five changes to his team as they reverted to a back five, looking to frustrate Arsenal and use the pace of forwards Dango Ouattara and Schade on the counter-attack.

Brentford, alongside Arsenal, are one of the league's most threatening sides from set-pieces and if Schade's header had not been turned on to the bar by Raya, the result may have been different.

The away side were more positive in the second half and made the home crowd nervy while they were only one goal behind.

But Brentford could not find an equaliser before Saka made sure of the points for Arsenal. The Bees have still only won once away from home in the league this season.