24 August 2024
Aston Villa 0 Arsenal 2
Aston Villa welcomed Arsenal to The Midlands for a mouth-watering clash. Unai Emery’s side are looking to cement their status as a top four side after an impressive season last campaign. They beat both today’s visitors and Man City at Villa Park last season. Fans had come to expect more of the same from their team this time around.
It was the visitors who created the first opening of the game. Martinelli did well down the left and put in a dangerous cross to the near post. Havertz attacked it and got there first but could not capitalise as he shot wide of the target. The German is a dividing character, he certainly misses more than he scores but if you speak to Arsenal fans, he is the next Jurgen Klinsmann.
For large periods of the first half, these two teams seemed to cancel each other out. That was bad news for the fans as they were forced to watch what was quite a damp squib of a game. Gabriel was caught on the ball in his own half and the ball was superbly threaded into the path of Ollie Watkins. As Raya sold himself diving early to his left, the England striker pretty much had half an empty goal to aim for.
Now last season, even with two keepers in the goal, you would have put your house on Villa’s front man scoring. Somehow, he scuffed his shot wide of the post when it seemed easier to score. While he laughed off the miss, you wondered whether Emery’s side would come to rue this opportunity later in the game. Morgan Rogers was having an outstanding game, with The Gunners making him look like an in-form Messi.
Another player who has looked on top of his game in the league so far is Leon Bailey. He seems to have gained a yard of pace over the summer. We have yet to see a full back who can comfortably deal with his lung bursting runs from his own half into the opposition final third. Timber was finding it just as difficult as anyone else.
Into the second half and Aston Villa continued to take the game to the visitors. As the ball was laid off into the middle of the park, Onana struck a shot from distance which took a deflection and came back off the crossbar with Raya at full stretch. As it came back out Watkins was there to surely head it home but somehow The Gunners’ keeper got to his feet to make an outstanding save.
Watkins just lay on the floor in disbelief wondering what had just happened. He, like the rest of the people in Villa Park, were certain the striker would score. The keeper was even still on the floor when it came to him. It was a brilliant save from Raya and he deserves all the plaudits he gets for it. Even the biggest Aston Villa fan could not have anything bad to say about that piece of goalkeeping.
Rogers then went on another mazy run, looking to pass the ball into the bottom corner of the goal from outside the box. He just got his angles wrong as the ball narrowly missed the far post with Raya scrambling. Villa were starting to dominate this game and just needed a goal to give their fans the just reward their performance was demanding.
Then the unthinkable happened. Arsenal came forward and a loose pass was missed by everyone. Saka sprinted after it and managed to cut it back before it went out. The ball came across the box all the way to Trossard who side footed his effort into the bottom corner of the goal. The panda-eyed forward just stood there stone-faced with no celebration in a real confident manner.
Things then went from bad to worse for Unai Emery’s side. As Arsenal grew in confidence Saka laid the ball back to Partey on the edge of the box. He struck a shot, not so sweetly, which caught Martinez out and he could only palm it into the bottom corner of his goal. He really should have been saving that and looked far from one of the best keepers around right there.
None of this mattered to Arsenal, who had turned this game on its head in a matter of ten minutes. You could not see any way back into the game for Villa, despite there still being twenty-three minutes left to play. The Gunners had absorbed all the punches the hosts had to throw at them and they had not been able to penetrate their defence.
Arteta’s side should have added a third when Trossard got to the byline and cut it back into the middle for Odegaard to run onto. He looked to put his foot through the ball and got it terribly wrong as it ballooned into the stands. You expect a lot better from their Norwegian midfield maestro. He stood there with his head in his hands, knowing what a chance he had just missed.
The hosts managed to carve out one more chance as some nice interplay saw Ramsey set free. He sprinted down the left wing and cut inside towards goal but his shot was well saved by Raya. Arsenal held on for a big three points and they have their keeper to thank for it. Aston Villa could have been out of sight before Trossard scored his goal and Emery will be haunted by that thought this week.
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