Arsenal starting XI: Raya (GK); Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Declan Rice, Ødegaard, Partey; Saka, Havertz and Martinelli.

Aston Villa starting XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans, McGinn; Bailey, Watkins, Rogers. 

Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Dan Cook. Fourth official: Darren England. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: Eddie Smart.

Premier League 
Villa Park
Saturday 24th August 2024
KO 17:30 (UK)

The second Premier League game for The Gunners in the 24/25 campaign begins at Villa Park against tough opponents Aston Villa who practically ended Arsenal’s chances of winning the title. Timber returns to the Arsenal Starting XI for his second Premier League start replacing Zinchenko. Fabio Vieira is absent amidst transfer rumours of a season long loan to Porto.

Due to a disruption between the communication of Michael Oliver (Referee) and his other officials 15 minutes before kick-off there was a short 5-minute delay for the start of the game. Before the game began, there was applause for a number of former Villa players lost ahead of the game. Since the disruption issues had somewhat been resolved, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers kicked us off in the somewhat sunshine beaming over Villa Park. 

For the first few moments of the game, Aston Villa managed to hold on to the ball however, a ball across to Leon Bailey was deemed to be offside and we were able to gain possession. Whilst some issues of communication between the match officials were still trying to be fully resolved Amadou Onana required treatment after clashing with Jurrien Timber after a neat move from our Dutch defender who had taken Zinchenko’s role in inverting into midfield alongside Thomas Partey. 

We were able to retain possession trying to find pockets between the Aston Villa press and managing to progress up the pitch, however the ball was lost and Aston Villa broke away with Matty Cash pushing forward before Saliba made an important tackle playing the ball through to Gabriel Martinelli. 

Martinelli was able to push up the pitch, however his poor attempt of a pass across the 18-yard line went behind Martin Ødegaard. Bukayo Saka managed to recycle the ball back into the area where Emi Martinez parried his cross out to Declan Rice, whose effort was tame and went straight in the keeper’s hands. Our consistent pressure in Aston Villa’s half was not met as Villa’s backline remained sturdy enough to retain us from any promising chances. Martinelli managed to take Matty Cash down the line and floated in a cross which came to a corner however, Cash seemed to fall to the ground clutching his hamstring forcing an early change for Unai Emery’s side. 

The game restarted and we again applied more pressure as Martin Ødegaard played a disguised pass into Bukayo Saka who cut in and whipped a powerful shot into the bottom-left corner however, Emi Martinez was on par and tipped his effort around the post. Cash was replaced by Serbian teenager Kosta Nedeljkovic before the resulting corner. There was another injury concern for Villa as Leon Bailey went down after performing a step over however he was able to return to the pitch without forcing Villa into another early change. 

We still held the ball however, a ball to Gabriel from his centre back partner Saliba got stuck under his foot resulting in Morgan Rogers stealing the ball from him playing a ball across to the unmarked Watkins who had a clear shot in goal however, he scuffed his attempt past the post . We again managed to settle down after a few minutes of Villa pressure and were able to break away into Villa’s final third but Martinelli’s cross was only met by an Aston Villa defender. There was a small feud down by the Arsenal corner flag where John McGinn appeared to kick the ball into the mid-rift of William Saliba which our defender didn’t take much liking to. 

Again Gabriel Martinellli beat his man and fired in a low cross into Kai Havertz whose poor attempt went wide of the post. Aston Villa were able to overturn possession as their danger man so far in the game Morgan Rogers used his quick feet to make his way through our midfield however his cut back was cleverly intercepted by the safe hands of David Raya. 

Six minutes had been added and there wasn’t much going forward for either teams but Rogers for Villa, managed to break away again getting on the wrong side of Declan Rice and forcing the referee into booking the Arsenal midfielder. The half time whistle was blown by Michael Oliver reflecting a mild first-half between the two sides.

Half time views:

We can be happy with a solid first-half performance against a strong Villa side. Arteta will be looking for more quality in Villa’s final third however, will be pleased with the closing down of Villa’s danger man Ollie Watkins. The Gunners will be looking to build on a positive first half and continue to push on throughout the second half.

No changes made by Arteta from the first half starting lineup which was expected after a solid first half. We began the second half with again more possession trying to draw in the Villa attack and progress the ball up the pitch. More dominance from us, allowed Declan Rice to push forward which resulted in a smart counter attack  from Villa as Youri Tielemans quick feet allows him to play the ball out wide to John McGinn however the home sides attempt at a promising attack was shut down by our backline. 

Villa began to grow more into the game and a chance came as a ball across the edge of the box was met by Amadou Onana whose effort was deflected and looped over David Raya hitting the bar and bouncing back to Ollie Watkins whose header was astonishingly saved by the Gunners keeper establishing it as one of the saves of the season already. Raya’s heroics gave the home side’s crowd s chance to ramp up the atmosphere. 

Villa increased the pressure and we conceded a corner which was met by Onana who headed over. Villa were now much more in the front foot and were forcing us into a lower back line where again Morgan Rogers was able to shrug off Partey but,his shot went wide after a deflection. We were able to quieten down Villa’s few minutes of pressure and were able to create a chance of our own,  a nice ball was played through to Saka whose poor effort was mopped up by Emi Martinez. 

Both sides then made their changes, Villa replacing Watkins and McGinn with Jhon Duran and Jacob Ramsey. We replaced Martinelli with Leandro Trossard. Villa again went close as Ezri Konsa’s glancing header went over the heads of our defence and just wide of the post.

Switching to the other end, Ødegaard’s pass towards the byline managed to get to Bukayo Saka whose cut back was met by a 50/50 challenge between Rogers and Kai Havertz. The ball ricocheted to the left side of the box and was met by our Belgian magician, who had only been on the pitch for two minutes , Leandro Trossard who slotted the ball first time past Emi Martinez into the bottom-right corner. A vital goal for us as Villa seemed to have got on top but now we could have our moment as the Arsenal away end went wild. 

We then began to settle in possession as Onana was booked . Trossard’s entrance seemed to have been the opening that we had been looking for when infront of goal. Emery was forced into a double change of replacing Onana and Lucas Digne with Ross Barkley and Ian Maatsen. 

We were again able to break Villa’s shape as Big Gabi played an inviting ball over the top of the  Villa defence into Trossard who brought down the ball perfectly sending a whipping cross the face of goal to the other side of the box where Saka picked up the ball. Saka then cut in and played a short pass into Thomas Partey who’s attempt from just outside out the 18-yard box managed to squeeze into the bottom-right corner powering through the hopeless hands of Emi Martinez. This was a vital goal for us as it meant that we could bring on our new signing Riccardo Calafiori for his second appearance for the club for reassurance at the back. 

Again we managed to break away as a long ball was played over to Rice whose cut back was met by Ødegaard who surprisingly blazed over. The two goals had now put Villa on the back foot without any support from their usual loud atmosphere. However, they managed to feed through Jacob Ramsey who was through on goal but an incredible recovery challenge was made by one of the stand-out performers Saliba to deny Villa a goal and keep our clean sheet alive. Saka was then taken off after an impressing second half performance form our star boy and was replaced by Reiss Nelson.

 The game began to simmer out as 4 minutes were added and David Raya claimed his Man of the Match award for his astounding save denying Ollie Watkins. Michael Oliver blew the final whistle and a loud roar from our away end bellowed out as we had returned the favour of the scoreline of last season. 

Full Time Reaction :

A great three a points against a side who we struggled against last season. Another clean sheet proves how clinical we can be in attack and how solid we can be in defence balancing out our different attributes during tough games like today.

2 wins in 2 in our 24/25 campaign gives the players and us fans more confidence as in that second-half we saw how capable we were of capitalising on chances with quality from Trossard and Partey.

A special mention the Raya save,  which has to be one of the saves of the season, could prove to help us later in the season as at that point at 0-0 the game could’ve gone either way. Also a stand-out performer for me was Saliba especially for the tackle at the end to keep the clean sheet but also, his dominance and calmness when dealing with the ball or Watkins who is usually quite a handful.

Anyways onwards and upwards looking forward to the next game at home to Brighton next Saturday. 

COYG

Hudson

Following the launch of Arsenal's new 3rd kit, we had a few requests for a new #AFC shin pad design for 2024/25! Now available on the store…https://t.co/fleExGmosl pic.twitter.com/3Un37i70ok

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