Arsenal 4 Aston Villa 1
What a statement performance from Arsenal. I billed it up beforehand as a mini title-decider but Arsenal really put their foot down in this game as the team to beat this season. They have now recovered most of their players and it shows in their bench when they’re subbing players like Gabriel Jesus and Noni Madueke leaving Ebere Eze and Kai Havertz on the bench for 90 minutes not even needing them, Arsenal have by far the best squad in the league and it will leave them fighting on all fronts as they are currently top of the Champions League table and the Premier League on top of being in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. Even with their new striker Victor Gyokeres struggling it doesn’t matter as their senior players are stepping up and leading the way as some of their new signings bed their way into the team, it’s going to take some season from Man City to stop Arsenal winning the league this year, it’s going to be an exciting title race as both teams don’t look like slowing down any time soon.
Martin Odegaard is back to his best. I think it’s fair to say that over the last year or so we haven’t really seen the best of Martin Odegaard in an Arsenal shirt whether its been injuries or lack of form but over the last 2 matches he’s been unplayable and yet again he was unbelievable in this game. He was the best player on the pitch against Brighton and the assist tonight for Martin Zubimendi to make it 2-0 was sumptuous and exactly what Martin Odegaard is all about, the hesitation just before the pass opened the lane between the two centre-backs and left Zubimendi one on one against Emi Martinez slotting it into the bottom corner. With Declan Rice missing this game it was even more important for Odegaard to step up and captain his team to a win and that’s exactly what he did, Arteta will hope Odegaard can keep up this level of performance to strengthen their position at the top of the league.
Aston Villa’s 11 game win streak comes to an end. It was gonna happen at some point and I think there was clues in the game against Chelsea that the streak was probably going to end at the Emirates. I said in the Chelsea review that the suspensions of Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara would hamper Villa and that’s exactly what happened. Leandro Trossard got the better of Bogarde and the Villa midfield really struggled without Kamara in there, there’s no shame losing to Arsenal at the minute but Emery must have been especially upset to not shake Arteta’s hand at the end of the match. Villa are still firmly in the top 4 and that’ll be the goal for Aston Villa for this season when most people didn’t have them to finish in the top 4 before the season started. You just hope for Villa’s sake that this doesn’t start a run of dropping points that could leave them in a fight for top 4 like what happened to Nottingham Forest last season, Emery will be keen to avoid the same thing happening to Villa this year.
Gabriel Jesus is ready to start for Arsenal. I don’t think it’s controversial to say that Victor Gyokeres is struggling in an Arsenal shirt at the minute, he’s a willing runner and presser up front for Arsenal but it’s just not working even though Arsenal are winning games. With Gabriel Jesus back fit and firing I think it’s time he gets a run of games up front for Arsenal to show Arteta that he can do a better job than what Gyokeres is currently doing. Obviously Jesus is a better footballer than Gyokeres and can bring more on the ball connecting with Saka, Trossard, Odegaard etc but there’s still that question mark about how ruthless he is in front of goal, if he can continue scoring like he did tonight he has to be starting games for Arsenal going forward in the New Year.
Could Arsenal pull away in the title race? I suppose this will be answered in a few days after City play Sunderland and Chelsea but Arsenal are now 5 points clear before City play a tough game away to Sunderland and then have Chelsea at home which won’t be easy leaving Arsenal to play a Bournemouth team that hasn’t won in 10 matches and can’t stop conceding goals, Arsenal could easily be at least 4 points clear after Sunday if City were to drop points and you wonder if Arsenal could now build up a gap between them and City before they play again in April at the Etihad which could easily be an actual title-decider if there’s nothing between them come then. You do get the feeling that this year is different when it comes to Arsenal, in that their squad is that strong that players could be out and you don’t really even notice it when they play like with Declan Rice tonight, Arteta has built a squad that can compete in every competition and it makes Arsenal the favourites for any competition they’re in, I suppose we’ll wait and see if they are lifting any trophies at the end of the season.