A win is a win as they say and there were definitely some positives that one can take from the comeback win over Aston Villa at the Emirates yesterday but we cannot ignore the negatives and there are many.
The win looks good because it was with ten men and on two occasions Arsenal had to come back from a goal deficit but questions have to be asked why it was necessary to have to make a comeback in the first place.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
I did an article here and basically said that the 22-year-old is not good enough for Arsenal and should be sold next summer, a minority on this site took that opinion very personally and became very hostile with some very unpleasant comments, well, as I write this, I feel 100% vindicated. I accept he is out of position but it does not matter where you are being played you do not do reckless yellow card challenges and put your team in a precarious situation. His lack of judgement and poor tackling is on him and him alone.
Granit Xhaka
It is just bewildering why Unai Emery keeps on picking the 26-year-old, he genuinely is not fit for purpose, he rarely has a good game and it was very noticeable how the game changed once he was substituted. The fans should not be jeering him when he is subbed but that is down to Emery, he keeps persisting with a player that is simply not good enough for Arsenal, he was a huge negative yesterday.
Sokratis
Not only did he have a woeful game, but he also embarrassed himself and Arsenal with his appalling play-acting clutching his face when he was not even touched. Arsenal fans castigate the likes of Harry Kane when he dives and we have to be honest and call out our own players when they let the side down with cheating and I hate to say that but that is exactly what it is. And yeah, he had a terrible game as usual.
Nicolas Pepe
There was a huge positive for the 24-year old and that is that he scored his first Arsenal goal and so it is a bit of a contradiction to call his performance both a negative and positive but unfortunately that is exactly what it was. It was negative because outside the penlty he was basically anonymous again. He is said to be learning English, maybe he has yet to get to the words tracking back because he does none of that. For the most part, he looked disinterested and one-off bits of skill is simply not good enough. If he kicks on from the goal then the game for him yesterday will be a huge positive but if we get another lacklustre performance from him next time out then it is time to start worrying.
Unai Emery
Another one in both lists of positives and negatives and the reason is simple, he was positive with his subs and tactics in the second half but he was negative with his team selection in the first place that put Arsenal in trouble. Remember, before the red card Villa were dangerous and running the Arsenal defence ragged at times, why was that? Because Emery had his tactics and line up wrong from the get-go, he was lucky it was Villa and not Man City on Sunday.