5 Things we learned from Arsenal’s tense win over Aston Villa
Does it get any more boring than that? Honestly I understand that football is about winning and the result is the only thing that matters to most people but how can you enjoy watching that game tonight? The first half was torturous to watch at times with Villa probably coming the closest with Emi Buendia hitting the bar from outside the box but it probably would have been ruled out for a pretty clear foul just before, Arsenal dominated possession but were so poor in the final third not even managing a shot on target in the first half. As the first half came to an end I wouldn’t have blamed anyone just switching to the Barcelona game which was far more entertaining and you can read more about that one on the La Liga page in a few hours, Arteta made one change at half-time brining on Ebere Eze for Christos Tzolis who came very close to being sent off in the first half for stopping a counter attack whilst already being on a yellow card. We got our first flashpoint of the second half ten minutes in as Maatsen brought down Saka just outside the box but the referee pointed to the spot awarding a penalty, VAR had a look and overturned the referee’s initial decision awarding a free-kick which just whistled wide of the post from Odegaard. Five minutes later Arsenal did open the scoring as Mosquera found Eze on the left of the box who found Calafiori in behind with the Italian firing the ball across the box to Saka who slid in to put Arsenal 1-0 up, for the next thirty minutes Villa huffed and puffed but couldn’t manage a shot on target against a near impenetrable Arsenal defence. Another three points for Arteta’s men who don’t even look close to conceding a goal, maybe Chelsea will get past it on Sunday.
A perfect start to the season from Arsenal. I’ve made it pretty clear that I think the way they play is boring but wow is it effective, the first half was diabolical up against a Villa side that conceded four last week but they were never going to be as bad this week at Villa Park. I’d still expect this Arsenal team to be so much better going forward but they still don’t have that world-class attacker in their ranks, Christos Tzolis started the season well but he was absolutely terrible tonight and arguably should have been sent off in the first half. You can’t expect someone to come in from Club Brugge and solve all your problems in attack, you could make the argument that Arsenal’s attack has gotten worse this summer with Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus leaving the club whilst just Tzolis has come in. Elsewhere on the pitch the defence was more than comfortable up against a toothless Villa attack not even giving them a shot on target whilst also being a threat going forward with Calafiori getting yet another assist for Saka’s goal, Declan Rice did come off with what looked like a bit of an injury but Bruno Guimaraes came on and looked brilliant so Arsenal do have that option this season if they want to rest Rice in certain weeks. Overall this game will quickly be forgotten but Arsenal have started off the season strong, lets see how they look against Chelsea on Sunday.
Thing will get so much better for Aston Villa. I know things are looking bad after yet another poor performance but I promise you when Villa get their players back from injury and get the new signings involves this team will be so much better, the team on paper today looked like a mid-table side and played like it today but once you add in Johan Manzambi, Ibrahim Mbaye, Brian Madjo etc this team will look so much better going forward but it just depends on how quick Emery can get those guys playing. I’m sure it was hard to watch at times for Villa fans tonight having to watch players that clearly aren’t at the level like George Hemmings and even Alejandro Garnacho who was arguably worse when he came on but Mbaye will level up that left-wing massively when he plays, the same for Manzambi who we haven’t seen since the group stages of the World Cup but again is a top quality player that goes straight into the starting 11 when he’s fit. Emery and Villa need those two to be firing immediately along with Nicholas Jackson who I thought was probably their best attacker tonight although that’s not saying much, this is by some distance Emery’s hardest challenge at Aston Villa so far but you wouldn’t bet against him turning it around. I’m more optimistic about Villa than a lot of people but it might get worse before it gets better, we’ll have to wait and see.
I cannot believe that Arsenal aren’t going to sign an attacker. We heard yesterday that Arsenal were looking to sign Malick Fofana from Lyon at left-wing but it looks like they aren’t even going to bring him in just as an extra option in the attack, for the second game running Arteta has refused to bring on Viktor Gyokeres which I think shows a lot about just how low Arteta rates the Swede but surely they had an option lined up before the deadline tomorrow. This was a perfect game to show why they needed that extra attacker as although Arsenal were in control a one-goal lead can slip at any time and they had absolutely no threat on the counter-attack as they have no pace in the frontline, Julian Alvarez has made it quite clear that he has no interest coming back to the Premier League so Arsenal are going to be left with just Tzolis, Saka, Havertz, Gyokeres and Madueke for the frontline. Eze showed today that he can also play left-wing but that’s not his natural position so Arsenal do look extremely light up front and are lacking real quality in there, it might be enough for another Premier League but I can’t see them getting near a Champions League with that frontline. Who knows I might be wrong but are they beating the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, Bayern Munich etc over two legs with that team, I don’t think so.
Any more business to do before the window closes tomorrow? For Arsenal I obviously said my opinion above but I don’t expect anyone to come in before the deadline tomorrow, I mean there could be a surprise but that would most likely be panic buy which Arsenal do very rarely these days. I would expect Ethan Nwaneri to leave either on loan or permanently as he hasn’t made the squad in these first few games but other than that I think Arsenal’s window is closed, I’d say the same for Aston Villa who have been busy over the last week bringing in Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Southampton and Ibrahim Mbaye from PSG. Whether they bring anyone else in we have to wait and see but this has been a mental window for Aston Villa so I’m sure they’ll be relived when its over, who do you think has had the best window out of Arsenal and Villa? Villa for me but it all depends on how they all gel, should be exciting though.