18 January 2025
Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 2
It was the pick of the games on the weekend, Mikel Arteta’s side welcoming Aston Villa to North London for a key game. In the past Unai Emery has seemed to find a way to get results against his old team. The hosts were still without Saka in attack and were having to make do without the less than prolific Jesus also. This would test the managerial abilities of The Gunners’ boss.
Coming into this game, a harsh stat underpinned why for many Arsenal are not realistic title contenders. They have a conversion rate of 38% of their ‘big chances’ this season, that is surely not good enough to be crowned the best in the land. After all, even Brentford and Wolves can better that stat and they do not have such delusions of grandeur.
Arsenal started on the front foot and Rice swung a teasing ball into the back post. Martinelli was completely unmarked but his volley was never going to test Martinez, the self-proclaimed ‘best keeper in the world’. One thing was for sure, he would have a lot of work to do on this cold evening in the capital if he was to come away with a clean sheet.
Trossard was the next player to test him, trying a curling effort from outside the box. It was too close to the keeper to trouble him, but in true Martinez style, he made an elaborate one-handed save when he could have probably just caught it. However, you will not get people buying into your self-righteous claims if you are not making things look better than they need be.
An insane throw-in from Partey gifted the visitors their first chance of the game. Raya was off his line and out of position and Watkins tried to lift it over him with an instinctive effort. Sadly for the travelling fans, he got too much on it and it drifted over the crossbar. Aston Villa were going to need to show their clinical edge to come away from the capital with anything.
The Gunners passed it around and found Trossard out wide. He put in a superb cross into the middle and Martinelli ghosted in to volley home. Questions will be asked of Maatsen, who didn’t even seem to know he was there. In addition to that, the Brazilian’s effort hit Martinez in the face and he could not react quickly enough to claw it out of the goal before it crossed the line.
This gave Arteta’s side a renewed confidence and after the interval it was the Belgian causing problems again out wide. His cross picked out Havertz in the middle, whose shot was straight at Martinez. He could not sort out his feet quickly enough and just diverted the ball into the far corner of the goal. At this point it was debatable if he was the best keeper in Birmingham, let alone the world.
Sometimes you can feel like you are falling into a bout of mental instability, listening to pundits and commentators on these Premier League fixtures. For example, as this effort hit the back of the net it was labelled as a superb finish by Havertz and the goal of a true striker. Who they are trying to kid is another thing, Martinez should have saved it.
Ironically, after all the abuse he had got on social media of late, the German held his finger against his lips as a celebration. Most thought this was directed at the travelling fans but in reality, it was more likely to be towards the Arsenal faithful. After all, it was apparently The Gunners’ supporters making horrific comments about him and his family.
With an hour having gone in the game, everything seemed to be smelling of roses for Arteta. That was until Tielemans said ‘hold my pint’. Digne, who came on at the interval for Maatsen, swung in a delightful cross into the middle and the Dutch midfielder got in front of his marker to head home and silence The Emirates.
Moments later, Tielemans struck a sweet shot from the edge of the box but it sclipped the base of the post and went wide. Arsenal had gone from looking in complete control of this game to having all the confidence of a teenager driving a car for the very first time. Aston Villa could sense that this was their chance to pile the pressure on the hosts.
Cash then swung in a delightful cross into the back post, where he found a completely unmarked Watkins. He volleyed home from close range to send the away end into raptures. It was poor defending from Partey who had stepped out to leave him in acres of space. For a side with such a solid defence, if you listen to Martin Keown, the visitors were opening them up with ease.
Aston Villa countered again and despite The Gunners having seven players behind the ball, Bogarde got a sight of goal. His shot was well saved by Raya, who had to collect it at the second time of asking. At this stage, it was Unai Emery’s side who looked the more likely to score. Arteta needed to show why he is as good of a manager as Arsenal fans think he is.
Rice did well to cut a cross into the box from the byline. The visitors struggled to clear their lines and Merino drilled a shot into the ground from the edge of the box. Martinez was committed to a dive into the corner when it struck Havertz and went into the other side of the goal. The Emirates erupted but were soon to be silenced by a VAR review, the German was adjudged to have handled it.
Deep into added time, Merino hit the post from close range before Trossard’s follow up was well saved by Martinez at his near post. The Gunners were to create one more chance but the Belgian dragged his shot wide of the target. As the final whistle blew, there were boos and jeers from their own fans. Stay humble Arsenal.
Post-match, all of the Arsenal podcasts were littered with fans stating how the owners need to invest as they had no one on the bench to effect the game late on. While one part of that statement is true, they have invested heavily in Arteta and the main reason that there is no quality and depth is down to the Spaniard spending £670m poorly.
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