Defoe Slams Eze's "Not Good Enough" Showing as Arsenal Squander First Half in Brentford Stalemate

Arsenal's grip on the Premier League title grew looser on Thursday evening after being pegged back to a 1-1 draw at Brentford, with Manchester City's earlier 3-0 demolition of Fulham whittling the gap between the pair down to just four points.

Noni Madueke had given the Gunners a flying start with a brilliant header, only for Keane Lewis-Potter to restore parity and hand Keith Andrews' Bees a well-earned point. The hosts were particularly threatening after the interval, exposing what many felt was an uncharacteristic Arsenal display.

Jermain Defoe, the former Spurs frontman, pulled no punches in his assessment of the performance, singling out summer recruit Eberechi Eze for particular criticism. "Eze was not good enough," Defoe told Premier League Productions. "Although I still feel like he's playing with the handbrake on. I know he hasn't played games and probably is not match fit, but you still expect a little bit more."

The England international, signed as part of Arsenal's over £250m summer recruitment drive aimed at finally ending three successive runners-up finishes, has struggled to make an impact. Across 20 Premier League outings, he's managed just four goals—three arriving in a single match—and two assists.

Defoe attributed the Gunners' below-par showing to the mounting pressure of the title race. "It's a difficult place to go, you know what you're getting when you go to Brentford," he explained. "It's not going to be easy but you have to try to make it easy. You have to cut out individual mistakes, in terms of the concentration levels they have to be high. You have to limit them of chances, they didn't do that really."

He reserved particular praise for Brentford's second-half dominance while criticizing Arsenal's first-half wastefulness. "I thought Brentford were better in the second half, I thought Arsenal wasted the first half," Defoe said.

Theo Walcott echoed the sentiment, suggesting Mikel Arteta would be far from satisfied with what unfolded at the Gtech Community Stadium. "He will not be happy with that. He will be unhappy with a lot of players as well tonight because they were indifferent," Walcott reflected, though he maintained that Arsenal's destiny remains in their hands with plenty of football still to play.

"It's still in their hands. They have plenty of games to make up the points, of course. Everyone will look at that game when they play each other," Walcott added, referring to the crucial clash between the title contenders still to come.