Aston Villa 2 Arsenal 1
Unai Emery is still underrated in the Premier League. I feel like the job that Unai Emery is doing and has done so far at Aston Villa still doesn’t get enough credit by many in the Premier League, to come into a team fighting relegation under Steven Gerrard a couple of years ago to consistently fighting for Champions League spots is a task which most managers wouldn’t be up to but Emery is doing it year after year with this Villa team. The way they played against an Arsenal side who have only lost 1 game all season was what every neutral wanted to see creating a plethora of chances that could have seen them ahead sooner than the 95th minute. Whilst it’s probably a bit hopeful to challenge for the title this year for Aston Villa, you would imagine they’ll be in and around those Champions League spots for the rest of the season.
Aston Villa’s squad depth could be the difference this season. In seasons gone past when Villa have been in Europe they have struggled to balance between playing in Europe and then coming back to the Premier League but this season their squad depth can actually cover them in most positions. You look at the players Villa subbed on yesterday in Malen, Bogarde, Sancho, Lindelof and Buendia who ended up scoring the winner and you can see that Emery trusts his players on the bench to come on and make the difference which ended up winning Villa the game in the end.
How damaging is this result for Arsenal? By the end of the game I think Arsenal and Mikel Arteta would have taken the draw against a Villa side that is absolutely flying at the minute, that Buendia winner would have stung Arteta and you see how hurt the Arsenal players were after the ref blew the whistle. There’s no doubt that the injuries of Saliba and Gabriel are playing a big part in Arsenal’s performances at the minute but I still think they have an issue in the attack and who should be playing in that front 3.
Does Arteta know his best front 3? There’s no doubt that when Saka is fit he plays on that right-hand-side but the other 2 positions are becoming an issue for Arteta. Whilst Mikel Merino has been scoring goals for Arsenal is he really a striker? Arteta played Ebere Eze on the left in the first half which yet again didn’t work and you wonder if Eze and Odegaard can play together in these types of games, in the second half Arteta subbed on Trossard and Gyokeres which gave Arsenal more threat on the left-hand-side anyway with Trossard bringing Arsenal level in the 52nd minute. Again however Victor Gyokeres failed to impress in that second half losing the ball nearly every time it got played into him, Arsenal need him to improve fast if they are to keep up the pace at the top of the Premier League.
A good result for the Premier League, I think everyone who isn’t an Arsenal fan will be happy with this result, it leaves Aston Villa 3 points behind Arsenal and if Man City beat Sunderland later on they will go 2 points behind them. We want to see a competitive Premier League title race and this result helps that further, I still think that overall City are the strongest team in the league having mainly a team that’s won the league before, with that experience and Arsenal’s past experience of letting titles slip. Will it be a City Arsenal title race this season or could Chelsea and Villa suprise everyone this year?