Arsenal made it two wins from two to start the new Premier League season in an impressive 0-2 victory away at Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.
Mikel Arteta made one change to his starting XI from the opening game win at home vs Wolves, with Jurrien Timber starting at left-back in place of Ukrainian Oleksandr Zinchenko. The Dutchman making just his second Premier League start since his move to North London following his lengthy knee injury.
Villa Park these days is one of the toughest away grounds to visit, evident with Unai Emery’s team boasting one of the best home records in the Premier League during the 2023/24 campaign. Therefore, Arsenal needed a strong start to avoid an early Villa onslaught. The Gunners started well in possession. Dominating a large part of the ball during the early stages and keeping the majority of the play in the Villa defensive half. And they almost took the lead in the 15th minute when Bukayo Saka cut inside onto his left foot in the Villa penalty area and struck a strong effort aimed at the far bottom corner, however Emi Martinez pulled off a strong stop to keep the shot out just as it looked like it was destined for the net.
However, the home side began to grow into the game following the Saka chance, with Morgan Rogers in particular causing issues for the Arsenal midfield with his dribbling and ball-carrying skills through the pitch. And it would be Rogers who would help set up the big chance of the first half for Villa as the English forward robbed Gabriel of the ball and squared the ball to Villa striker Ollie Watkins for a tap-in however the striker surprisingly hit his shot wide of David Raya’s post. The miss being a let-off for Arsenal who despite controlling the majority of the play during the first action, couldn’t find the breakthrough and the score remained 0-0 going into the interval.
Following the break, the home side started strongly, with Arsenal pinned back. And the big chance of the opening stages of the second period would again fall to Watkins, as new signing Amadou Onana’s shot deflected onto Raya’s crossbar and back towards Watkins with a header from only a few yards out with Raya stranded to the ground. However, the Spanish keeper somehow managed to jump up and claw out Watkins header when it looked certain that the Englishman would give his side the lead. And that chance would see Arsenal wake up and on the 65th minute, they would get that all important goal to make it 0-1. A pass from Martin Odegaard was played through to Saka who just managed the keep the ball in play, and the winger’s cross fell into the path of substitute Leandro Trossard who stroked the ball home with his first touch since coming on for Gabriel Martinelli to send the away end wild.
That goal from Trossard not only gave Arsenal the lead, but also gave them the confidence boost needed in order to regain control of the game for the first time since the break, and one would soon turn into two as a strike from the edge of the box by Thomas Partey found the near bottom corner despite the best efforts of Martinez in goal to double the Arsenal lead and send them right on their way to an impressive away victory.
And 0-2 is how the contest ended as Arsenal held on to claim another three points and clean sheet to make it six points from six in the opening two games of the season. And Mikel Arteta’s side will look to make it three wins from three when they return home to face Brighton And Hove Albion at Emirates Stadium.
Player Ratings:
David Raya: 9 – Produced one of the best saves from an Arsenal keeper in recent years to help claim another clean sheet
Ben White: 7 – Another solid White performance, although booting the ball against John Mcginn was an incredible moment
William Saliba: 9 – Sloppy vs Wolves but back to his brilliant best in a complete rolls-royce style performance including a superb last-ditch tackle on Jacob Ramsey in the second half
Gabriel: 7 – Almost caught out in the first half but improved the in the 2nd half, was involved in the 2nd goal with a superb ball to Trossard
Jurrien Timber: 7 – Came in for his first start of the season and was solid both on the ball and defensively
Thomas Partey: 8 – Struggled off the ball vs Rogers but was good on it and scored the 2nd goal
Declan Rice: 7 – Not too involved but fitness was clearly stronger than last week and played a number of quality passes
Martin Odegaard: 7 -Missed a big chance to make it 0-3 but kept things ticking throughout
Bukayo Saka: 8 – Nearly scored the opener but played a strong hand in both of the goals including assisting the 2nd
Gabriel Marinelli: 5 – Failed to properly threaten before being substiruted for Trossard on the hour
Kai Havertz: 6 – Had a pretty quiet afternoon but worked hard throughout