Arsenal secured their place in the Carabao Cup fourth round as Reiss Nelson’s early goal clinched a battling 1-0 win over Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Nelson finished coolly in the eighth minute following a misplaced pass from Brentford defender Zanka, with Mikel Arteta's much-changed team then holding off a second-half rally from the hosts.

The Bees went closest through Yoann Wissa, who saw a low strike brilliantly pushed onto the post by Aaron Ramsdale, back in goal for Arsenal for the first time since losing his place to David Raya.

Jakub Kiwior then pulled off a goal-line block from substitute Lewis Keane-Potter as Arsenal withstood more late Brentford pressure to ensure a winning response to their north London derby draw with Tottenham which sets up a trip to West Ham in the next round.

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How Arsenal edged to victory

Arsenal got off to an ideal start when Zanka's woeful backward pass allowed Eddie Nketiah to cut the ball back for Nelson, who found the bottom corner after Nathan Collins had failed to intercept.

The hosts struggled to shake off their early sluggishness and nearly fell further behind when Emile Smith Rowe, making his first start in 16 months, darted into the box having exchanged passes with Jorginho and saw a low shot well saved by Mark Flekken.

Arsenal continued to dominate possession but Brentford had an excellent chance to draw level when Christian Norgaard picked out Wissa in the centre of the Arsenal box, only for the striker to fire a rushed, first-time effort well wide.

Brentford improved as the first half wore on and that continued in the second as they pinned Arsenal in their own half, forcing a series of blocks from Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu before Ramsdale's full-stretch save from Wissa.

Arteta sought to weather the storm by turning to experience on his bench, throwing on Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard, with young debutant Charles Sagoe Jr one of those to make way.

Arsenal threatened a second goal intermittently, with Nelson firing a low effort narrowly wide from a Kai Havertz cut-back and Eddie Nketiah seeing an angled shot charged down by Flekken.

But the visitors were mostly required to defend in the latter stages, with Ramsdale making another athletic save to stop Frank Onyeka's long-range effort and Kiwior then pulling off his vital block from Lewis-Potter.

Frank: Arsenal very lucky to get away with win

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank:

"I hate losing, so it's always tough to take. But I'm very pleased and happy with the performance and that is the most important thing, the thing we can build on. If we got a lucky 1-0 win, of course I will sit here and praise it, but if they hit the post five times and miss five penalties, I would probably be pretty irritated and it would be difficult to get around that.

"Now I can confidently sit here and say that was a good performance. I think Arsenal are very lucky to get away with this.

"The amount of chances we created in the second half, the high pressure, the energy - everything was very good, except the most important thing: to make sure the ball went into the back of the net."

Arteta: A game of two very different halves | 'When we don't play well, we need big defensive moments'

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta:

"I'm really happy. With this competition, you are in or out - we are in. Two very different halves; in the first half, we had lots of control, scored a goal and had some chances to put the game away and we didn't.

"In the second half, they had a more aggressive approach and we struggled to progress the ball and travel together. We were too direct and then it became a difficult game because there were a lot of duels, free-kicks, long throws we had to defend, bring everybody back every time and try to get out and win territory from there.

"When we don't play that well, you need to have some big defensive moments and we had some big blocks in the box and Aaron making a big save as well."

What's next?

Brentford resume their Premier League campaign away to Nottingham Forest live on Sky Sports Premier League on Sunday from 1.30pm; kick-off 2pm.

Arsenal are away to Bournemouth on Saturday with kick-off at 3pm at the Vitality Stadium.

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