Starting line-up brought no surprises. The game with Aston Villa started in a much more cautious manner than in the previous season. The Arsenal players were moving the ball in a medium pace. For example, Ben White, known to run with the wind behind Saka, almost never left his half. With Timber inverting into a defensive midfielder, none of our wide players had a support to utilise the free space. I am not sure what was Arteta’s plan to unlock Aston Villa’s defence, but there was no visible pattern of creating chances.
Martinelli had an unconvincing performance again. However, his rapid movements helped over stretch Matty Cash and caused a substitute into a young Balkan defender with a difficult surname, who almost never went forward. This change significantly eased up the job of Timber, who again looked very confident on the pitch. Looking at our back four, I couldn’t help but wonder who’s gonna be the one out from our current four and new hot expensive Italian signing.
The answer came on 25th minute, when under the first attempt of very intensive pressure, Gabriel took extra two seconds and helped to create a goal an unmissable chance for Watkins. We were very lucky that England forward is still out of form. Last spring he would bang it right into the net without even a courtesy of asking the goalkeeper’s name beforehand. I think Gabriel is the most often to crumble under pressure and could be the one to give his place on the pitch.
Right after that, we had our own moment, when Havertz after a brilliant penetrative run has shown immaturity in the box. The first half has probably ended fairly goalless. Since the change of Cash most of the Villa’s attacks were going through the centre, where young Rogers the after time waltzed past Partey. One of these waltzes ended in a very unfortunate deflected ball trajectory behind Raya, but David has again won over fans’ sympathies with a tremendous save that kept us in the fight for three points.
And then, one and only Leo BOSSard entered the room, once again proving to be the only Arsenal player to keep calm and deliver in the critical moments, sprinkling the cool finish with an even cooler celebration. Although, I am pretty sure Leo would want to play from the start, I quite like the current disposition: Martinelli tires down the opponent’s defence for 60 minutes and then technically capable Trossard comes on to finish the business using defensive mistakes.
While I was begging to have somebody fresh put into the midfield instead of Partey since around 55th minute to stop Rogers, I didn’t know that we were up for an exclusive event. After around a 100 attempts to launch the ball into upper space, Partey sent it past cocky Martinez and pretty much secured the three points. It’s worth noting that part of the goal setup was another Trossard run into the box, complemented with another Saka’s run into the box, who can also share the credit for the result. It’s still hard to ignore Partey’s decline and the need for a physically present midfielder (How is Merino doing there?) is quite evident.
Calafiori who appeared right after the goal, looked quite convincing as well and I was impressed that he didn’t fall for dirty Villa attempts to provoke a fight. I don’t understand at all why we saw Nelson again in the last 10 minutes. Fans are pretty much aware of his ceiling in contrast to Nwaneri’s that we can only dream of. I think 10 minutes at Villa Park would be very helpful to develop young Ethan into a first team player.
However, 3 points taken, revenge happened, one of the hard away games is past us and no new injuries. So, all in all, great Saturday evening!