Frank praises Bees after draw at Arsenal

A delighted Thomas Frank heaped praise on his Brentford side after they held Premier League leaders Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

Ivan Toney’s 74th-minute equaliser, after substitute Leandro Trossard put the hosts in front eight minutes earlier, earned the Bees a deserved draw as the Gunners missed the chance to open up an eight-point lead over Manchester City, who they face on Wednesday.

The Bees dealt comfortably with Arsenal’s probing attack, and after withstanding plenty of early pressure from the hosts, should have taken the lead when Toney shot against the bar after being teed up by Bryan Mbeumo.

Frank, whose side extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches, insisted Brentford were the superior team and should have sealed their first away win over Arsenal since 1938.

“What a performance,” boss Frank said.

“I said to the players this week they needed a top, top performance today and they did that.

“I will never celebrate a draw but you can be happy with a point, but if there was a winner it should have been us, we had three big chances before we scored.

“But coming here, coming from 1-0 down, it is the first time in a year they have not won when scoring first, against an Arsenal team that is very good, I am very happy.”

Frank said Toney’s display showed he was back to his best following some under-par recent showings.

The striker gave Arsenal defensive duo William Saliba and Gabriel all sorts of problems throughout the game.

“I think Ivan was very good, he is a fantastic player but played below average against Southampton last week,” Frank said.

“But we had a chat last Monday and I said he needed to be fantastic against Saliba and Gabriel who are top, top central defenders and he was.”