Arsenal put in their most composed performance of the season thus far to beat Aston Villa by a 3-1 scoreline.
The Gunners brought Alexandre Lacazette back into the starting line-up for the first time in the league this tern, and he brought a positive energy to the side.
We dominated from the off, pushing up in numbers and pressing our rivals at every opportunity, so much so that Villa were not able to muster up a single shot in the opening 45 minutes.
Early into the first-half we thought we had broken the deadlock, with Laca dispossessing the defender in his box before knocking it through to Aubameyang to fire home, but the referee pulled it back for a free-kick.
We continued to push up, putting the visitor’s under constant pressure, but we were struggling to force a save from the goalkeeper either in honesty, but our first attempt on target put us ahead.
Emile Smith Rowe floated his corner in midway through the opening half, and Partey guided his header across the goal and into the net,
We looked to be going into the break with just the one-goal lead when the referee blew to take us into the break, but a foul in the dying moments saw VAR give us a penalty. Aubameyang’s initial effort was saved by Emi Martinez, but the Gabon international made no mistake with the rebound to make it 2-0 as we returned to the changing rooms.
Dean Smith opted to change up the formation by bringing on Leon Bailey for defender Axel Tuanzebe at the break, and they did improve.
Watkins broke free to finally get Villa’s first shot on goal early into the half, but our team was equal to his effort, and we swiftly got on top again.
We managed to make it three on the counter-attack, with Auba finding Smith Rowe’s forward run, and the 21 year-old will count himself a little lucky to have scored, having shot to the goalkeeper’s left only for defender Mings’s touch to take it in off the post to Emi’s right.
With 10 minutes to go we did get a scare when Jacob Ramsey placed his effort past Aaron Ramsdale, who reacted furiously after Leon Bailey was allowed to go unchallenged evading tackles across the edge of the box before laying it off for his team-mate.
A long throw-in shortly after looked dangerously set to reduce our lead to just one, only for both mings and Watkins to fail to get the touch inside the the six-yard box, but thankfully there were no more scares.
This sort of performance was exactly what we needed to see after Monday, and will hopefully be able to bring this level for our upcoming clashes.
Patrick
Great 1st half, awesome to see the high press being used. Seriously dropped off in the 2nd half again, a bit of a concerning pattern.
Gabriel was really solid, nice and calming effect. Saka looks almost dead, needed to be subbed Id say
Poor Martinelli, he must be wondering what he needs to do to get 20mins.
I’d really love to see Tavares partner Partey in the midfield, think that could be a killer combination. If he can tighten up his close control it could work.
Tavares is a converted winger pjsa, so there’s a lot more to come there. Been yelling for him to play for 2 months, but we know Tierney will walk straight back in.
Saka needs a rest – can’t fathom either why GM didn’t come on for him at HT.
Great game altogether.
Villa came with the game plan that “always” beat Arsenal:
Be physical and press.
But they met a team, that did it better to them.
We won by showing the right agressiveness and with a press, which was quick and purposeful for the first time (ever?).
Arteta’s tactic/ line-up were spot-on and Smith-Rowe is my MOTM. His understanding of the games is excellent and he deserves to play ahead of Grealish/ Mount for England
Our defenders were great and Lacazette was also very good in ground duels. We’re surely going to miss him if he leaves and Martinelli/ Balogun had better learn a lot from his tricks
Arteta has fixed our high pressing problem in the game and I hope we can keep pressing like that
Gai
Good game. I am impressed with Tavares understanding with Smith Roe.. May be he should be given more games to create competition with Thieney. Auba created good assist for Smith Roe I wish he do that more often like Harry Kane. Now is time for the team to be consistent which is now up to Arteta’s demand from his players. They could have scored more goals today.
Yes Sylva, I really enjoyed it. Tavares should play in Leicester, because Iheanacho and Daka could bully Tierney in the air
We’d better let Tierney regain his confidence first in the League Cup game
Aubameyang’s assist was world class and he’s done it twice to Smith-Rowe, but I don’t think he can be a false nine like Kane and Firmino
Lets start trying to be consistent as you said. We need consistent results to climb off the table.
We gotta thank Mikel for hiring some great footballers.Leno good? Emi better but Ramsdale the beast/best. End of the Emi/Leno debate, we now have the best and will be the main England GK for the next 5 – 8 years! Tierney was not missed as Nuno is a Portuguese national player. Tomiyasu makes us forget about Bellerin. Sambi so young has displaced Elneny. Good we don’t even remember the cheapos (cheap quality)Wenger hired- Kolasinac, Holding, Chambers, Elneny.Trust mikel to weed out the remaining moss and hire young hungry players. Always believed in Mikel and will do so till his term ends.Anybody still bitter about Ozil? We have a complete player in ESR.Thank you senor Mikel Arteta.
Loose Canon – How can you say kolasinac, holding and chambers are cheap quality, when kolasinac single handedly won us an F.A cup against Chelsea or when rob holding kept Diego Costa quiet in the cup final where were you and did you regard them as “cheap quality” then ?
Cut the players some slack for Pete’s sake.
Great response from Monday.
I guess lesson learnt that we can’t just sit back because we have one goal ahead.
I hope Lacazette is fine, I thought he added the energy we needed up front.
I’d like to see the same 4-4-2 formation continue.
Lokonga was class today. Enjoyed every bit of him today, and Partey was great too.
We still can’t keep our energy for more than 70′.
Martinelli should’ve come on earlier on fo Auba before Villa’s goal.
Great response from Tomiyasu too after his poor performance on Monday.
I used to envy City having Ederson, because boy I ain’t seen a GK with more passing accuracy than most Attacking Midfielders the last couple of years. He’s simply the best with his accuracy, but Ramsdale oh boy he’s giving me that Ederson vibe.
His accuracy today was top class too.
Saka still struggling, he’ll come good.
Might need a rest, that Means Martinelli hasto replace him and not Pepe.
Solid Midfield performance today, yet to be convinced by AMN though, Midfield crumbled soon as he replaced Lokonga.
Good performance in all, all we want is just more of this please.
I nearly forgot Nuno too, who was immense and brought something different.
Now this is what I’ll always support, good competition everywhere on the pitch.
COYG
Eddie I don’t see you saying we were bullied in the middle because xhaka is not playing or is today different.
Yeah see th difference is, I criticize every player and every performance when it is poor, and I credit every player and every performance when it is good.
I’m not the type who’d never say the truth about player’s performances, so sorry to break your heart by not mentioning Xhaka because the Midfield didn’t get bullied for the first time since his injury.
Also is today different?
Isn’t it different from other days? The two Midfield pairing did great and didn’t get bullied, and I’m happy with their performance as I want more of it, but what you expect is me bringing up Xhaka when today none of the midfilders deserves to be questioned?
Excellent analysis.
Well Artea did say his team knew how to play to beat Villa 🙂 Or was it just a couple of lucky bounces? What ever it is a huge relief to get over the line and keep the critics quiet for a day or so. Not gonna lie but 9th/11th after the first quarter is a little underwhelming but to be fair we had injuries and covid in the 0-3 start so that is perhaps why we are 3 points and 3 places adrift of where we could be. So we remain one of the 9 sides in the second tier contending for 5th/6th. Leicester another 5/6 contender will be a huge test next at the King Power. A few changes v Leeds. Leno Chambers Holding GabrielTavares Niles Sambi Martinelli Odegaard Pepe Lacazette and 5 young guns getting some minutes from the bench.
Transition, Project, Process and lots and lots of Patience come to mind.
Hi Fairfan. I am beginning to be optimistic about this team. we are not playing in europe. that is an added advantage.
Tomiyasu: wow, i love this guy. very good with headers. he knows how to chase opponents.
Ralmsdale: looks like someone who is very happy to wear the badge and he is doing everything right.
Lokonga: A pure talent. he has a bright future.
Tavares: A gem. a left back who can play with both feet. an interesting option in midfield. he has the energy, aggression and directness
Ben White: a ball playing defender. the way he progressed the ball from defence to attack with calmness.
I believe we have the players to make top4 this season. If we can keep ESR, SAKA and Partey fit, we will make top4.
A good game tonight.
Fairfan – forget the league position just look at the points. Yes we’ve played a game more but we are ONE POINT OFF FOURTH PLACE. Not all of the five between and fourth will get points at the weekend, so we are right in the mix. Only 3 – Chelsea, Liverpool and City are consistant, which none of us factored in a few weeks ago, so suggest you review your early season forecast, because none of Brighton, Spurs, West Ham, Everton and Man Utd are pulling up trees.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves; Arsenal too has to start showing consistency.
One game at a time.
Thanks ozie. 100% agree. Thiw is just one game. We are not therr. Lets get it step by step because we have see so much setbacks recently.
ESR was top notch today. Surely he will get his England call up.
Hé reminds me of Scholes….
Great game! Really impressed with Tavares especially. Good performance by the team and the gaffer.
Up the Gunners!
Probably the most complete performance of the season. I’ll have to watch it back to enjoy it as I was still nervous at 3-nil, not sure why as we were in control.
I know lots of folks will ask why we can’t do this every game. That would be great but I can’t see it happening for awhile given the number of kids we have. Consistency comes with experience, in the meantime strap in and enjoy the rollercoaster.
I can’t see it happening too. But comes from good coaching, tactics and ability to speak and actually get TRU to a player. Like what guardiola done with a previously useless sterling
Arsenal best game this season after Spurs game (first half).
Glad we score three past Martinez this time around.
Ramsdale distribution is encouraging. Impressive. Gutted he didn’t keep a clean sheet.
White drive is also good.. love his distribution and how he switches play from his pass(es)
Lacazette was huge to this victory I must say and Partey got his first goal alas.
Tavares was good too. We have two good LB it seems…
ESR Man of the match. Still young and can only improve…
Gabriel welldone. Love how he didn’t give Watkins any space and was strong too.
Tomiyasu the man… Strong RB. No nonsense RB.
Sambi kept the ball moving……
Saka should improved on his finishings as he gets into good position
AUBAMEYANG Isn’t finished yet after all. I like his press lately.
Martinelli will get his time. Wondering who’s gonna replace. I want to see him more anyway.
Good game. The boys didn’t disappoint. First half Villa didn’t have any chance on goal.. even second half we kept going. Would have scored more if the final pass was good…
Auba’s far from finished!
Most Premier League goals scored at the Emirates stadium:
◉ Robin van Persie (46)
◉ P-E Aubameyang (43)
Auba is closing in on the record.
Great comment, Uzi 👍
Well said Sue…
Only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (12) has scored more goals in all competitions for Premier League clubs this season than Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (seven).
I never for once doubt Auba, he’s just a victim of the coach tactics.
You and me both, Lenohappy!
All good comments Uzi – lots of really good performances, and although ESR gets my MOTM too, I thought Laca and Partey set the tone with their aggression.
Ramsdale’s passing was incrediible tonight.
Tavares is far better than Tierney at the moment – great full debut.
Ramsdale distribution is getting closer to the likes of ederson and Alison, he’s such a confident goalkeeper. Tavares is my mom, for a player starting for the first time against a team like villa, he really impressed me, all in all good performance, let’s hope this is not another spurs performance.
Agreed, Tavares was brilliant….my MOTM too.
This match is just like the Spurs one. Great first half helped by the opposition’s poor system, 5-3-2 in this case and then found wanting when they changed things in the 2nd half. Why should Villa be dominating in that 2nd when they are there for the taking?? We lack that full home dominance. We should not be sitting back and let them come at us. We should press and keep the intensity up. Leon Bailey for the mins he was on looked the best player on the pitch. It was a great win but it’s so annoying that we never seem to be fully dominating the game when it’s in our hands to do so. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see the opposition dominating the ball like that over us. It will cost us somewhere along the line.
Nobody can do high pressing for eighty minutes non-stop and our pressing in the second half wasn’t bad
Aston Villa’s three-CB formation wasn’t poor either. Arteta just found an effective way to break their defense and the inclusions of Lacazette/ Tavares helped us a lot
Agree 100% GAI.
Saka has a be rested against Leeds and Martinelli must be his replacement.
No favourite player tonight, they all deserve top marks.
Will mention Lacs and his performance was top notch…. give him a rolling one year extension.
About Lacazette’s contract, I think he’s been offered a short extension. I don’t blame him if he’s looking for a more lucrative contract elsewhere though
For somone who hasn’t had much game time recently Laca was unbelievably sharp on the turn. Will be interesting to see what happens next window, could see Newcastle throwing sillly money at him if they are in a relegation fight.
I wasn’t expecting them to do it for the full 90. I was expecting them to not be defensive in the second half. Why is the pattern always the same. Go back to all our previous games and you can see this
Bailey was the best player on the pitch? Cmon Kev!!! And also as in the Spurs game we put a lot into getting the 3-0 lead, and the incentives aren’t there when the game’s won. But unlike Spuds Kev, we scored in the second half, we also played well until the last 15 (it was the last 30 vs Spuds) but Villa played a lot better to salvage some self-respect. They DOMINATED the second half? What game were you watching? Did you even notice that we won?
We dominated the first half not the 2nd. We shouldn’t be putting many players behind the ball for Aston Villa. If we were so dominant we wouldn’t even have conceded in this kind of match. It is clear we are usually poor in the second half when teams properly adjust.
“This match is just like the Spurs one. Great first half helped by the opposition’s poor system,”
Jesus Christ Kev can you give the boys the credit they deserve without having to tie it the oppositions poor system?
What else do you want?
Simply all the boys pressed and played like they wanted the win after Monday’s letdown, Villa had absolutely no chance, and it’s only understandable that they come at with more hunger in the second half.
We were the best team today, and it had nothing to do with their system being poor or not.
FFS, we tear into this team every time give them the full credit today and just support them
Yes Eddie let’s give credit to this team, they really played well today
Coming at us with hunger in the 2nd half don’t mean they should dominate us in that way. Why are we putting so much players behind the ball for just Aston Villa? Also I don’t think we tear into them every time. Their whack system just helped us. This is why we have been poor since the first game and only improving here.
I agree with GOA nobody can do the high pressing for 80minutes, the most important thing is to make it count, even Liverpool who is the master of high pressing don’t do it for 80 minutes you just have to be wise on how you do it.
@kev.
I am also very critical about Arteta, and would not have complained if he ehad been sacked after the first 3 games.
But, come on.
Let’s be honest. This was a great game by Arsenal. With the intensisty, press and physical investment, that is needed in modern football.
Wouldn’t it be great, if this actually is a sign of things to come?
There is of course a real risk this is only occasional, but give some credit for this game.
It is deserved.
Oh I also loved Lacazette and Emi’s little clash with Lacazette telling him to go back before when he came over to chat shît as mind games.
Lol but he still saved it, thanks goodness for Auba not giving up.
Don’t care if he saved it or not, he conceded from the penalty opportunity didn’t he?
What an enjoyable evening!
Another home goal for Auba
Another motm for ESR – he’s wonderful! 🥰
Big shout out to the whole team – you were superb!!
Well done, MA, please keep it up…
And the fans… brilliant tonight!!
Unbeaten in 6 now… and we’ve never lost a PL game on Wenger’s Birthday (Happy Birthday!!)
Sue I missed my prediction by a whisker I wanted a 4-1 what a performance from the lads, more of this please 👌
So close, Kenya! We’re 9th now…
1 more to go! ^ ^ such a happy day!!
I wish the great Wenger an awesome birthday too. I hope he doesn’t go to Newcastle
He will NOT be going there. If he does, I WILL GIVE YOU £100, as I am so certain he will not even be offered the job and even if ,albeit only in theory he were, he would obviously decline it. AW would never work for a mass murderer!
I hope so Jon, otherwise what he said about values and being an Arsenal man aren’t true
yes jon. Arsene wont go to newcastle.
i dont see that happening. I dont even see Arsene coaching any english team at this stage.
Seeing how teams are being bankrolled by sugar daddies in recent times make me appreciate that invicibles team. playing all season without losing a match. An achievement Money city, Man united, Chelsea, PSG, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona even Bayen wont achieve in this era.
Can’t see it happening, gai
Great job. What a difference commitment makes.
Outstanding games from ESR who never stopped running, Tavares who AT LAST got a start, Laca who set the tone and terrorized Villa, Partey who finally got to play his favoured role as a box to box steamroller, White who barring the last 10, was the best I’ve seen him, and Ramsdale whose distribution was phenomenal. Very good games for Lokonga, Tomi, Gabriel and Auba. Below par only for Saka (he needs a break), Ode and AMN – to be fair to both the game was won and the rest of the team knackered when they came on.
Good game guys!
No complaints about how they played tonight, Tavares, Lakonga, Partey, ESR and Lacca absolute standouts. This can not be a one off, we couldn’t have played like that with xhaka and Odergaard in the team. The pressing game is hard to keep up and we dont do it every game, in fact its a rarity but with legs in the team of Saka, Esr, Lakonga, Partey and Tavares, it should be the way forwards. We were at home and Villa were poor first half but we contributed to that. One thing i must say is the way Lacca has been treated up to tonight is criminal, his work rate is better than Odergaard. Great game, lets hope its not a false dawn and we can actually move on.
I was unable to watch the game. Bad planning on my part
Nearly always respect your comments- even when we differ. Please god this is a turning point.
It has to be Sue, yes we are 6 unbeaten but tonights game was the first we really got it right. The two draws before were Really disappointing on many fronts. There is no going back now, we cant win them all but we have to be consistent in the way we play. This line up worked all over the pitch, it shouldn’t be by luck that we get there.
Yay Reggie, totally agree with your comments about Laca but I’ve always been a fan of his attitude. I don’t get the haters because his and Partey’s aggression set the tone for our control. IF he does go I will be really annoyed.
Also have to reluctantly agree about Ode. I’m a big fan of his but until this teams gets more mature and organised enough to carry him, he’s a luxury we can’t afford to play in any but the least physical games.
And yes, with the team playing as a unit and committed, Xhaka is redundant, because all he brings is a bit of muscle.
And what about Ramsdale? Have you seen any keeper with distibution like that?
One point off fourth place, tonight at least!
Partey had a proper helper in midfield and a lively front line, it makes a big difference. We have to win the midfield to win the games, thats where the base starts. Playing xhaka or Odegaard or Partey on his own is suicidal, Arsenal has always been strong in midfield, when we do well. Lacca sets the tone, thats so blatantly obvious, why has he been sat on the bench so long?
And why is he presumed to be leaving? The guy is extremely popular with everyone, great with the youngsters, and appears to be extremely happy here. It baffles me, but then again Arteta baffles me a lot…
Guy, our best striker last season was Lacca, last night proved ostracising him was a bad decision.
From the match today…I can confidently say that if the line up is maintained,we will be up there this season…
Gk: Ramsdale has brought calmness and confidence to the backline, am afraid Leno has lost the spot
RB: Tomiyasu is a gem..aerial duels ain’t a problem for arsenal anymore…he adds that extra man to the CBs
CB: White-Gabriel looks solid
LB: I hope arteta can take the difficult decision of giving tavares the spot over Tierney,as he owned that flank offensively and is an additional goal threat…Am afraid Tierney has to give way due to his injury history and one dimensional pattern
MD: Partey,ESR,Sambi is the way forward… odegaard can serve as a back up
FW: saka on the right permanently, with tavares playin auba can play LF and drift inwards…Laca can drop deep and press as well then link up with the kids as he’s always done in d past..
Happy times ahead as far as arteta sticks to a winning team…
Actually Tierney can cut inside too, but IDK why he’s not confident to use his weaker foot nowadays
He needs to fix his confidence issue first, otherwise Tavares had better play ahead of him
Very correct gotanidea, Tierney can cut in too and needs to improve with training, but Tavares is a natural winger with flair , good with both feet and rarely passes backwards too , always keeping the momentum of counterattacks……
We are currently building with a coach learning his trade, therefore many discoveries would made and drastic decisions taken to reach the goal of forming a formidable team….
Arteta has to be bold enough to take such decisions to be successful..
100% agree Instroo, but MA will probaly now reinstate Tierney, sell Laca for £100k in January, keep playing Odegaard as a DM in all the physical games, put Pepe back in (on the right) etc lol
Brilliant performance from the boys, the only disappointment was conceding tonight, a clean sheet would have been great but takes nothing away from the result and performance! Ramsdale is proving to be an excellent signing, he seems always switched on with great distribution so hats off to him 💪 Tavares was excellent and so was Laca and ESR, now let’s make these performances a regular occurrence 🙂
Yes. And love the fact he is unhappy when he concedes. I like how he yells at the defenders when they allow the opponent to come at them and how he applauds them when they do well and also when he makes a good save..
Our best of the season…by miles.. thanks for the performance lads.. goodnight from this side…
Great perf and not just in the first half, as one silly comment above says!
MotM and easily for me was ESR, a fast developing top quality TALENT. The quick passing and overall fluidity and energy was IMO due to several factors, not least of which is the most welcome absence of the static and slowcoach Xhaka.
No player was poor and almost all were either good or very good, esp ESR, Tavares, Partey, Gabriel, Tomiyasu and Laca.
Most of all, I am pleased for the ridiculously and unfairly underfire MA, who is steadily guiding our ship to calmer waters.
You need to learn to respect the views of others rather than belittling them and you must have not watched the game if you think we were great in the 2nd half. Your standards must be low.
kev Nonsense ! We played well and right through the whole game. It was just that Villa were better in the secnd half than the dreadful way they failed to turn up in the first. FYI, to disagree and say so is NOT belittling at all.
You sound like a woke snowflake to me!
“Guiding our ship to calmer waters”. ?????? Are you sure? After just another good 45 minutes?
I have a feeling this might come back to bite you Jon. And let’s face it. With your record on managers it’s pretty likely don’t you think?
I take it you actually watched the performances against Palace and Brighton? If you did, take a tip from me – start being a REALIST
Phil HAVE YOU EVER ACTUALLY SUPPORTED ANY OF OUR MANAGERS SINCE YOU STARTED COMING? If so, who and how long ago?
I am excessively delighted by today’s performance. Every Arsenal player was topnotch I must profess and if I am to go by today’s performance I see us finishing in the top five this season (depending on our consistency).
Starting to see some real depth with Laca, Lokonga and Tavares all taking their opportunity tonight. I suspect Martinelli will be next and then Arteta will have a tough time picking his starting XI. Not a bad problem to have. Let’s hope for a win on Tuesday to get more games to keep players happy.
Give Laca a new contract ….A la Willian….This team needs his energy and experience
Everyone got it right today, from Arteta down to the players.
We can play on the front foot, pressing and attacking, that’s why it’s so frustrating when we go defensive with 11 behind the ball.
Hunger, intensity, passion, cohesion, tactics, everything was there and clicking today. Well done all the way around
Yes but the proof is getting it right my design and consistently.
By design.
When we sold Emi Martinez it could have been a major cock up, but it’s clear that Aaron Ramsdale is way better than I thought he would be. In fact he is way better than Leno. He is sharp, starts many of our attacks, and commands the penalty area in away that Leno cannot. A surprise signing and a really good goalkeeper. He will be with us for years.
A mention for Tavarez today, who was so quick and sharp and combined with Man of the Match ESR fantastically.
Sean, the good thing about Ramsdale is how he high fives the defence in front of him when they do well and “ups them for the rent” when he is not happy with their performance.
I only have one caveat about this game.
ESR was excellent until Odegaard came on. Then he seemed to disappear into the background.
The same thing happened in the Palace game, where they played together. ESR seemed to be exiled out on the wings.
I would say that today’s starting line up might be our best, at least until Xhaka comes back, although I am till not sold on Ben White.
BUT, a great win, and may this form continue…..
Let me guess Chambers and Holding would be better
partnering Gabriel.
SMFH
BW isn’t the finished product yet but him alongside
Gabby is as good a tandem that has played @ the
Emirates is a long time.
White played well.. defended well and drives the ball forward with confidence. He has good passing range too……
Good start to the weekend
Partey MOM
3pts
In some sort of mix on the top half
obviously nice to get 3 points, especially when they come as a result of a decisive win…that said, Villa were rather listless for the better part of 70+ minutes, as they never looked like they were in it to win it until they potted one late
it seemed to me that they had their tactics all wrong and by the time any adjustments were made the game was too far gone
I think they’ve struggled getting the selection process right so far this year, as they haven’t found their best 11 since the arrival of their off-season acquisitions…thankfully we took advantage of their unsettled nature
as for our performance, there was some bright spots for sure:
Nuno and ESR led the way with their high energy outputs and their very direct approach whenever they were in attack mode
I thought Auba, with Laca tucked in behind, made good sense against this particular defensive group, as their movement caused them some problems, which in turn left some more space for those out wide
Tomi was definitely more composed today, after a couple of less than stellar performances and Ramsdale did some good things when it came to his ball distribution, especially with his hands
finally, the partnership of Partey and Lokonga looked much more in tune this time out and it was glorious to see Thomas finally contribute something in the final third
that said, it’s important to remember that we were quite fortunate on at least 2 of the 3 goals, with only one coming from open play and it likely wasn’t going in if it weren’t for the deflection…of course, when you’re struggling for goals, no one’s looking a gift horse in the mouth
the most important lessons to take from this result are as follows:
(1) it’s time we played Auba and Laca together again, until such a time as the results prove otherwise
(2) tactical flexibility is of the utmost importance, as the setup today made vastly more sense considering the particular attributes of our best players
(3) Nuno should get more chances to play, even if it means a healthy Tierney needs to accept a healthy scratch now and then…maybe it could be sold to him as a form of load management
(4) we simply must continue to attack in a more direct fashion and with pace, so this might mean that it’s time for Arteta’s beloved Ode to accept a more reduced role for the time being
(5) we need to find a different tactical approach whenever we have the lead, especially in the second-half of games…this whole 11 men behind the ball nonsense simply doesn’t work from a personnel standpoint
let’s hope that this kind of effort becomes the norm and not another outlier performance
The last sentence is the most important thing of all.
Great game from all the players and the coach, he realise his mistake and I hope it won’t happen again, of settling back after scoring 1 while our players were able to highly press against the other teams and score more goals. This is how I like to see my team every game, we should always play for the win and score as much as we can.
Here’s to hoping Brentford, Wolves and Leicester don’t win this weekend. They can all still jump us in the table.
COYG
I see Brentford is actually playing Leicester, great news! That will be a cracker of a game
Great win and a wonderful performance. Special mention to ESR, my MOTM, Laca, Partey, Tavaes, Tomi, ASL and Ramsdale along with Auba. If this consistency is maintained, top 4 could be a real possibility. Laca deserves a contract extension, his work rate, attitude and pressing is excellent. Martinelli should surely start against Leeds and I feel he should have replaced Saka today, the boy needs some rest. Anyway, an excellent win, credit to all including MA.
Our best performance of the season which only tailed off when Laca and the classy Lokonga had to be replaced by Odegaard and AMN who were virtually annonymous.I criticised Gabriel against Palace but I thought he and Ben White were immense last night against the dangerous Watkins and Ings.ESR, who seemed to be on the ball more than any other player was simply terrific, and in young Tavares we have made an excellent buy.In fact this lad has the potential to fit in as a powerful, pacy left sided midfielder if he can gain more composure on the ball.To me, Villa are a better side than Palace, and the result is a reflection of the improvement in our performance .Keep it up please.
Agree with everything you say Grandad, except for the criticism of AMN.
Not sure what you expected him to do, but from what I saw, he didn’t do anything wrong.
As I said after the spuds game, we should be doing this week in week out and if MA can do this, we will climb up the table.
thumbs up for players. kudos to MA for his selections. this shows he is listening. he should look at martinelli again. we need high pressing in our matches. lacazette/martinelli will give us that. let’s hope players and coach will always do the right things and save some of us from high BP.
Gabriel has improved immensely! Did anyone witness the moment when he ordered his teammates to move upfield to keep Aston villa offside when they tried to create a wall in our own half and that I think has been found missing in Arsenal for some time now. Alot of time we allow opponents create wall in our own half when a free kick is about to be taken which is quite annoying.
Arteta is good first half and Emery was excellent second halves.. (Albeit same players) don’t really know what this means and why is happening this way..
Am I the only one who wouldn’t want a selection headache for Arteta.. If without headache he finds it difficult to name a satisfied team, always chopping, changing and thinkery how much more then?
Another observation is that I feel Lokonga will always be underated as long as he plays next to partey, Arsenal fans very rarely praises his game or doesn’t give him credit like others if he has a good game.. E.g you will always here analysis like “Lokonga was excellent today alongside Partey”
when are we ever going to appreciate the young Belgian without mentioning Partey or anyone he pairs with???