Arsenal (0) 0 Aston Villa (0) 2

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Sunday, 14th April 2024. Kick-off time: 4.30pm

(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira.

Yellow Cards: Ben White, Gabriel, Kai Havertz

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 51%

Referee: David Coote

Assistant Referees: Tim Wood, Mark Scholes

Fourth Official: Paul Tierney

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Peter Bankes; AVAR Nick Hopton

Attendance: 60,350

After the excitement of the match against Bayern Munich at the Emirates last Tuesday, we return to our bread-and-butter games in the Premiership this afternoon, against Aston Villa, the 1982 European Cup winners, who, in a simple twist of fate, defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 in the final. Could this be a European Champions League omen for us? By the way, today’s match is William Saliba’s forty-third start of the season for us, the most of any outfield player for a Premier League team across all competitions in this season. What a magnificent player he truly has been in our defence this year.

The visitors started the match this afternoon, and within two minutes, a looping header from Ollie Watkins landed on the roof of our net. In return at the Villa end, an excellent Ben White effort went just wide of the post, and then David Raya swept the ball up nicely from a long ball that ended up just outside his penalty area. Bukayo Saka managed to get in behind the Villa defence but Youri Tielemans blocked his pass from getting into the penalty area, but shortly afterwards, a long throw from Lucas Digne got into our penalty area, but thankfully, following a foul, we were awarded a free-kick by referee David Coote, thankfully. Leandro Trossard slipped in a lovely ball for Kai Havertz, who fired a strong shot straight at Emi Martinez from an extremely tight angle. Bukayo Saka went down to the floor after a tough tackle, but he got up on his feet and continued playing, despite holding his hip for a while. Oleksandr Zinchenko played a ball over the top of the Villa defence to release Kai Havertz who ran onto the ball towards the goal. He took a touch and composed himself but Emi Martinez thought quicker and got down low to save at our man’s feet. However, shortly afterwards, our captain slid a beautiful pass along the turf for Bukayo Saka but the England frontman got his footing wrong and smacked the ball unceremoniously into the side netting. A little while later, Emi Martinez kicked his clearance straight to Oleksandr Zinchenko and with the Aston Villa goalkeeper stranded, our enterprising full-back hit the ball first time towards goal from the halfway line, and fortunately for the visitors, it landed just wide of the post. Again Kai Havertz was sent in on a one-to-one with Emi Martinez, but Diego Carlos somehow managed to get back and dispossess our man as he bore down on goal. The resulting corner from Bukayo Saka went nowhere, and although our pressure on the Villa defence was constant, they were successful in keeping us at bay. Ben White was booked for holding back Nicolò Zaniolo by his shirt, and after he collided with his own team-mate, namely Youri Tielemans, the match was stopped briefly whilst he received treatment; a couple of minutes later, Gabriel lost possession, only for Ollie Watkins to run at our goal, and his clever shot hit the inside of the post and back out across the face of the goal, which was a real let-off. We then had a couple of real good chances to open the scoring, firstly from Leandro Trossard who should have scored from about two yards out, but Emi Martinez made a miracle save, and then a clever left-footed shot from Bukayo Saka just went wide of the post. Gabriel was booked following a high tackle on Morgan Rogers on the edge of our penalty area, but the resulting free-kick went into our wall and back into play. Half-time saw us going into the break honours even, after two minutes injury time. 

We restarted the game following the hiatus, and within a couple of minutes, we had a penalty shout denied when Diego Carlos clashed with Gabriel Jesus in the Villa penalty area, and then we had a free-kick awarded to us when Youri Tielemans handled the ball just outside the penalty area, but the subsequent free-kick hit the Villa wall and out into play. The visitors had certainly made a better fist of things this half, and we have found things difficult at times, although a very good cross from our captain which looked like it was going somewhere, was easily picked up by Emi Martinez. A Bukayo Saka corner was cleared easily, but the resulting Ben White shot went way over the crossbar and into the crowd. Youri Tielemans hit the ball from the edge of the penalty area which hit the underside of the crossbar and came out into play, which was an incredible let-off for us. Emi Martinez made a fantastic save from the right foot of Gabriel Jesus, and a little while later play was stopped when Diego Carlos caught Martin Ødegaard in the chest when he attempted an overhead kick. Leandro Trossard and Ben White were replaced by Gabriel Martinelli and Takehiro Tomiyasu with twenty-three minutes of the match remaning, and still we were finding it tough breaking down this awkward Aston Villa team. Gabriel Martinelli run down the left-hand side and it looked like he had the beating of Ezri Konsa but the Villa man somehow managed to get in front of him and Aston Villa won a free-kick, which bounced off the wall and into the crowd, earning the visitors a corner, which was turned behind by Declan Rice. The second one was cleared well, and with twelve minutes of the match remaining, Emile Smith-Rowe and Jorginho replaced Martin Ødegaard and Gabriel Jesus, in order to get something out of this match tonight. Bukayo Saka then floated a ball over the top of the defence but none of his teammates could get to it, and it was eventually whacked clear by Pau Torres. With six minutes left of the match, Villa took the lead when an unmarked Leon Bailey tapped the ball into the net, and disastrously three minutes later, we lost the ball in midfield, and Ollie Watkins ran towards our goal and merely chipped the ball over David Raya and into the back of the net. Game over. On the stroke of full-time, Oleksandr Zinchenko was replaced by Eddie Nketiah for the eight minutes injury time awarded. We were constantly pushing and probing for a way through the Villa defence, but to no avail, sadly. Declan Rice took a whack at the ball from forty yards out of frustration, but it went over the bar and into the crowd, which was more or less the last effort of the match from our point of view. A matter of minutes later, referee David Coote blew the whistle to bring matters to a conclusion.

A very disappointing afternoon all things considered. We are now second in the Premiership table, two points behind Manchester City, and on the same points as Liverpool (who also lost today) but are above them on superior goal difference. After today’s result, we cannot afford any more slip-ups, we simply have to get maximum points from our remaining six matches, it’s as simple as that. It is common for teams to drop points on a run-in, but with the top three remaining so tight, the merest slip up could prove fatal; let’s hope that we are able to get ourselves together and recover our previous form quickly and firmly, otherwise we could be in for a spectacular crash, God forbid.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, 17th April at 8.00pm(Champions League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon