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.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said, "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."