Morning all.
Fresh in our minds no doubt was how sick we all felt when Aston Villa scored their winner in added time at Villa Park just a few weeks ago. That feeling has bubbled away just under the surface since as Arsenal has struggled to score the goals we probably deserved, goals which would perhaps have calmed our frayed nerves. With that recent blow uppermost in the memory of the Arsenal players in particular, the fans most certainly and importantly, the manager Mikel Arteta the most awkward of opponents Aston Villa made the return journey to North London for last night’s showdown.
Revenge was in the air…
Arsenal had a mixture of injury news going into into yesterday’s re-match with an arguably much stronger squad than had travelled to Birmingham a few weeks ago but one absentee sent shivers down our collective spines such is his influence. Returning to the squad and onto the bench was Kai Havertz and Ben White after their protracted layoffs whilst also returning after a short absence was Jurrien Timber to rejoin the King of Brazil who returned to partner William Saliba and thus giving us our strongest defence for quite awhile. Myles dropped down to the subs bench and Ethan missed out altogether. The fly in the ointment was the absence of Declan Rice.
Arsenal went for it from the off whilst Aston Villa spent an inordinate amount of time over goal kicks, throw ins and questionable injuries, disrupting the flow of the game.
After 7 minutes Hincapie got free and charged down the left flank putting over an inviting cross which Gyokeres could only loop over the bar with his well maintained haircut. Arsenal continued to probe but worryingly Villa would spring forward dangerously following turnovers and one of these was when Gyokeres was easily dispossessed which led to Watkins missing a sitter, putting his shot the wrong side of the post – too close for comfort. That was on 13 minutes and soon after Rodgers came close, Villa were waltzing through our midfield far too easily at that time as Villa looked supremely confident and Arsenal looked edgy.
Arteta made a few tactical changes but we still seemed vulnerable as was the case on 31 when Odegaard took a free kick into the Villa box and was snatched out of the air by Martinez and moments later the ball was down the other end and Villa earned a corner. Finally on 35 Trossard clipped a nice cross into the box following a mazy dribble but Gyokeres lifted his header over the bar after skilfully avoiding his marker. As the game approached half-time Sancho burst clear and put over a teasing low cross that had Watkins salivating but a big Saliba toe knocked it away, a great interception that in the end didn’t matter as Sancho was offside.
Half-time 0-0
Arteta made no changes at half-time – which I thought he might – but as it turned out he didn’t need to because his words and instructions had the desired effect on the players as the Arsenal we know and love emerged from the tunnel.
On 47 minutes a Saka corner was arrowed into the goal area and despite Martinez making a meal of it Big Gabby forced it home, no VAR and Arsenal were flying. On 52 Odegaard stole the ball from a dithering Sancho and slide a wonderful pass into the heart of the Villa penalty area where Zubimendi just ran onto it and passed it into the net around a flailing Martinez, the Arsenal fans were in raptures now.
On 62 a quick throw in and some slick interplay from Timber and Saka saw Odegaard narrowly firing over the bar with Martinez nowhere. 3 minutes later an invigorated Odegaard got free in the Villa area and his low shot was just tipped wide by Martinez. A couple of minutes afterwards Odegaard broke free and as Gyokeres pulled to the right taking the Villa defence with him the space opened up on the left for Hincapie bursting into the Villa box but he inexplicably tripped himself over as he received the ball, tragically missing his moment to be a hero.
On 69 minutes and following more incessant Arsenal pressure the ball ran across the face of goal and it found itself at the feet of Leo Trossard who just hooked his shot around a Villa defender and into the net as Martinez stood flat-footed. There were two offside checks by VAR and we all waited and hoped that after winning the Ashes that our Aussie VAR man Jarred would feel a tad more sympathy towards us suffering North London Poms. He did and it was 3-0.
Mikel Merino who’d been cautioned already committed another foul and was walking a tightrope so on 73 minutes Arteta sensibly took him out of the firing line, sending on the reliable Norgaard who had a very solid 20 plus minutes. Then on 77 minute Arteta finally made a couple more changes as on came Jesus for Gyokeres and Myles for Big Gabby who’d taken a couple of big challenges, he’d been absolutely massive.
Barely a minute after coming on Jesus carefully caressed the ball past a static Martinez to make it 4-0 after good work by Zubimendi and Trossard who clipped a tantalising cross to the man who belongs to Christmas. 2 minutes later Saka drove just over the bar as Villa wilted and the Arsenal fans cheered their ole’s.
But it wasn’t over as on 92 Watkins, who never stopped working, headed a chance onto the Arsenal post with Raya seemingly nowhere. The ball rebounded to McGinn who had to score, but Raya saved his effort and the Arsenal fans then began serenading Martinez with some interesting little ditties.
Finally on 94 Malen wriggled past Jesus and Saliba and as his low shot evaded Raya and who was there to score his goal, Watkins. A minute later Arsenal were at the other end and almost made it 5-1, but in the end it ended 4-1 and that’s pretty cool.
The second half was one of Arsenal’s best performances since we beat Tottenham and Bayern and it signalled the end of our recent stuttering run. In past seasons our campaigns have suffered irreparable damage during these runs, but not this time.
It also sends a well-timed message to those arrogant Etihad financed 115 charges merchants in Ardwick and it says, we’re gonna get ya this season…
We march on…
**By Kev.**