Arsenal vs. Aston Villa match report
Arteta and his Arsenal teammates travelled to Birmingham’s Villa Park to take on an Aston Villa team that has recently been on fire.
They defeated Manchester City 1-0 in their last match and have emerged as one of the teams to beat this season. Arsenal were also defeated 1-0 thanks to an early goal from McGinn, and Villa now sit third in the table, one point behind Arsenal.
The game started off very much Villa’s way, with them pressing Arsenal high into their own half from the start, and it only took Villa 6 minutes to score, after Leon Bailey made a run down the right wing, beating several Arsenal defenders and cutting the ball back into the box where John McGinn was waiting to thump the ball into the back of the net, beating David Raya and putting Villa 1-0 up.
Arsenal were on the back foot but kept trying to equalise in the first half. Martinelli created numerous opportunities, but it just didn’t feel like Arsenal’s night. Martinelli nearly equalised in the 35th minute when he lobbed Emi Martinez but couldn’t connect.
The ball was in front of a Villa defender, who cleared it off the goal line. Only a few minutes later, Havertz drove down the wing and somehow got a pass off to Odegaard, who was right in front of goal, but he smashed it straight at the keeper.
Arsenal pushed forward in the second half, attempting to equalise. Coming very close to an own goal after a corner was whipped in and some miscommunication between Ollie Watkins and Emi Martinez, but it was cleared from the goal line again and somehow into Martinez’s gloves. Arsenal pushed on, but it just didn’t feel like our night, and we needed some luck.
Saka broke through on goal in the 61st minute, beating the keeper and putting the ball into the net, but was quickly ruled offside. Again, in the 81st minute, the ball was in the Villa net when Havertz attempted to nudge it in but was ruled out due to a hand ball.
Villa walked away with all three points, leaving Arsenal chasing top spot after Liverpool beat Crystal Palace and Arsenal missed out on the chance to reclaim top spot. A game in which Arsenal had numerous chances but were unable to convert them. Villa played well and appear to be a dangerous contender this season. After dominating for the majority of the game, our Arsenal players were defeated.
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