Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal (Saka 30′)
Bukayo Saka’s ninth Premier League goal of the season was enough to secure an important 1-0 win for Arsenal against Aston Villa and consolidate the Gunners’ Champions League charge.
Despite missing both Aaron Ramsdale and Gabriel Martinelli due to a hip injury and illness respectively, Arsenal began the game in much more convincing fashion, pinning Aston Villa deep towards their own goal for much of the first half.
The visitors almost went in front after 10 minutes, only for their former player Emi Martinez to make a miraculous reaction save to prevent Ezri Konsa from scoring an own goal. Mikel Arteta’s side made their pressure pay on the half-hour mark when Saka netted his 10th goal of the campaign in all competitions.
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It was a landmark strike for Saka and Arsenal too, marking the club’s 2,000th goal in the Premier League.
An Arsenal free-kick into Villa’s penalty area was only cleared as far as Saka on the edge of the box and the winger readjusted his feet quickly before expertly controlling a volley that nestled in the bottom corner via a finger-tip from Emi Martinez who appeared to be unsighted by it.
Not long after, Saka was on the receiving end of a tough challenge from England international colleague Tyrone Mings which infuriated his Arsenal teammates. Despite protestations led by captain Alexandre Lacazette, referee Andy Madley decided to show Mings a yellow rather than red card and after hobbling his way through to half-time, Saka re-emerged for the second period.
It was indicative of Villa’s struggles that their first attempt on goal of any description did not arrive until the 61st minute of the game when John McGinn bent a shot with his weaker right foot narrowly wide of Leno’s far post. Moments later, Saka had a similar effort for Arsenal that had Martinez scrambling hurriedly across his goal.
Gradually Villa began to gain a foothold in the game and they were inches away from an equaliser when Ollie Watkins’ shot was deflected onto the base of the post by Kieran Tierney.
Saka perhaps still feeling the effects of Mings’ sliding challenge, was withdrawn after 68 minutes and having already witnessed a few dropouts from his squad including Ramsdale, Gareth Southgate will be hoping the 20-year-old will be available for England’s matches against Switzerland and the Ivory Coast.
Surprisingly given Villa’s lack of attacking spark throughout, Danny Ings was only summoned from the bench with 10 minutes remaining and he almost made the desired impact, looping a header from a McGinn cross onto the roof of the net.
That was as good as it got for Villa who only registered their first shot on target with the final kick of the game when stand-in ‘keeper Bernd Leno palmed away Philippe Coutinho’s free-kick.
For Arsenal, it was a victory that extended their advantage over Manchester United in fifth to four points and their hopes of securing a long-awaited return to the Champions League are further boosted by having a game in hand.
Player ratings
Aston Villa (4-3-3)
- Martinez – 6
- Cash – 6
- Konsa – 6
- Mings – 6
- Young – 6
- McGinn – 6
- Luiz – 6
- Ramsey – 5
- Buendia – 5
- Coutinho – 5
- Watkins – 6
Subs:
- Bailey – 6
- Traore – 6
- Ings – 6
Arsenal (4-3-3)
- Leno – 6
- Cedric – 7
- White – 8
- Gabriel – 7
- Tierney – 7
- Partey – 8
- Odegaard – 6
- Xhaka – 7
- Saka – 8
- Smith Rowe – 6
- Lacazette – 6
Subs:
- Pepe – 6
- Nketiah – 6
- Holding – 6
Saka: I need more protection when players are purposely kicking me
Speaking after the game, Saka admitted that it was “special” to score a milestone goal for Arsenal and revealed that he asked the referee to offer him more protection after being fouled on numerous occasions by Villa’s players.
“Yeah, that’s special,” he said on his goal. “It’s an honour to be among a lot of great goalscorers for Arsenal and hopefully we can get to 3,000 sooner!
“We created quite a few chances before that and after but that goal really put us in the driving seat and of course, helped us to win the game as well.”
On his half-time discussion with Madley he added: “I wasn’t obviously complaining but I just wanted to let him know that that’s my game, I’m going to run at players and sometimes I need a bit more protection when players are purposely trying to kick me so that’s what I was letting him know.”
Keown: Tottenham are still favourites for top four
“I think Spurs are actually the favourites to make it into the top four. Let’s see if they can do it,” said Keown on BT Sport. “Arsenal are in the box seat, I know, but when I look at the fixtures and see games away at Chelsea and Spurs, its [going to be] tough.
“It’s in Arsenal’s hands. If they keep performing the way they are, they can do it but there’s still a long way to go.”
He added: “Sometimes they’ve been guilty after having too many pats on the back of losing consistency. Is it different? they have to show that from game to game. Palace next, Patrick Vieira in charge of that team will want to do something against Arsenal. Lots of tough games coming up.
Premier League table
- Man City – Played 29, Points 70
- Liverpool – Played 29, Points 69
- Chelsea – Played 28, Points 59
- Arsenal – Played 28, Points 54
- Man Utd – Played 29, Points 50
- West Ham – Played 29, Points 48
- Tottenham – Played 28, Points 48
“They’ve won five games on the bounce away from home. They are showing that they’re resilient and a different Arsenal, but let’s keep our feet on the ground. Let’s enjoy the journey of course but there’s still a long way to go. I like the run-in for Spurs.”
Joe Cole disagreed with his fellow pundit, however. “I think this is false humility from Martin!” he joked. “I think Arsenal are in the driving seat. I’ve been critical of this team but I think today and in previous weeks they’ve shown resilience, a tactical awareness and I think Mikel Arteta and his staff deserve a lot of credit.”
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