Arsenal failed to capitalise on Liverpool’s shock defeat at Anfield with a shock defeat of their own, losing 0-2 at home to Aston Villa
The starting XI for the home side was changed around slightly. Gabriel Jesus started back upfront with Kai Havertz pushes backwards to make up a third of the midfield three, Leandro Trossard started on the left of the front three with Oleksandr Zinchenko behind him at left-back.
The game began at a relatively slow tempo, perhaps due to tension surrounding the game and three magnitude of the occasion for both sides. Arsenal were the first to force a save from a goalkeeper when a Havertz effort was struck straight at Villa and ex-Arsenal stopper Emiliano Martinez. Jesus was also presented with a goalscoring opportunity, planting his header into the side-netting as Arsenal began to dominate opening proceedings
Villa, despite being on the back foot, should’ve took the lead when a gift was given Ollie Watkins when Gabriel’s ball smashed off the back of Zinchenko and the ball fell straight to Watkins whose effort smashed the inside of the post and thankfully for Arsenal, went out. And straight up the other end the home side missed an even better opportunity when a Jesus cross was played across to Trossard for a tap in but Martinez made himself big to save excellently. Bukayo Saka also came close with a low curling effort just after as the game sprung into life. However, the sides went into the half-time break at a stalemate.
Arsenal needed a big second half, however it was the visitors that looked most likely to open the scoring in the early stages of the second period. Villa hit the woodwork for the second time in the match when a Youri Tielemans strike smashed a combination of bar and post after a poor error in possession from Zinchenko. The Ukrainian attempted to play out inside his own penalty area but was robbed of the ball by Villa and was almost punished.
Gabriel Jesus forced Martinez into a strong stop with a first-timed effort from the edge of the Villa penalty area. However apart from that, Villa remained mostly in control
of the ball in the second half, a complete turbo hand from the first period. The Gunners just couldn’t mount a clear cut goalscoring chance and eventually just beyond the 80th minute, they were punished for a poor 2nd half showing when the ball found Villa substitute Leon Bailey at the back post who steered home into an empty net to give the away side a deserved lead.
And two minutes later, things got from bad to worse for Arsenal as Watkins was played through on goal and chipped David Raya superbly m to double Villa’s lead and confirm a superb win for them away at the Emirates. For Arsenal however, the result represents a massive blow. And although talk of a title win cannot be put out of question, the reality is it will take a tall order for Manchester City to let anyone else back to the top at this stage.
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta will need to brush this off and go again as a massive UEFA Champions League game away at Bayern Munich awaits.
Player Ratings:
David Raya: 6 – Had little to do and could do nothing about the goals
Ben White: 6 – Didn’t do anything particularly wrong
William Saliba: 6 – Was mostly solid
Gabriel: 5 – Almost cost Arsenal with an uncharacteristic mistake in the first half
Oleksandr Zinchenko: 4 – Had a really poor afternoon and nearly cost Arsenal on multiple occasions
Declan Rice: 6 – Was decent and made a number of surging runs up the pitch
Kai Havertz: 6 – Worked hard and got into good areas but didn’t really threaten too much
Martin Odegaard: 8 – Comfortably Arsenal’s best player. Passing was brilliant and was the only one who really looked like making a difference
Bukayo Saka: 6 – Whipped in a number of decent crosses but failed to properly threaten the Villa goal
Gabriel Jesus: 5 – Spent most of the game offside due to Villa’s high line
Leandro Trossard: 5 – Was ok first half but faded dramatically in the 2nd