Another match, another 2-1 win that belies just how dominant Arsenal were. Aston Villa, having started their season with three losses and a single win, traveled to the Emirates on Wednesday. Their mission was to end Arsenal’s perfect run, but even with plenty of help from the officials, they couldn’t do so. The Gunners thoroughly dominated, and would have routed Villa on another day. They now look toward a trip to Old Trafford on Sunday with 15 points in hand. Below are three Hits and three Misses from Arsenal’s fifth straight win.
HITS
Sambi Lokonga
With both Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny out injured (and for a while, it looks like), Sambi was called upon to fill in. At the base of midfield, the Belgian competently kept things ticking. Defensively, he was solid: he won all of his ground duels, two of his three aerial duels, and finished with three interceptions as well. In buildup, he was more useful than Elneny had been against Fulham, playing some nice forward passes. All in all, it was an encouraging performance. Arsenal may go on to sign another player in that position in the final day of the transfer window, but it certainly is not because of Sambi’s performance there.
Granit Xhaka
In a word, Xhaka was marvelous against Villa. He played a little deeper to support Sambi, but he was still key to Arsenal’s chance creation on the night. Leading up to Saka’s missed sitter, Xhaka charged forward with the ball, muscling Jacob Ramsey off him with ease before playing Gabriel Martinelli into the penalty area. Gabriel Jesus’ goal came off the back of a shot by the Swiss midfielder that Emi Martinez palmed into the Brazilian striker’s path. His won aerial duel could have set Martinelli up for the goal of the decade were it not for a good save by Martinez. Xhaka found the perfect balance between joining the attack and staying back to limit Sambi’s defensive exposure. He has become the top-class box-to-box midfielder Arsene Wenger always knew he was.
Bukayo Saka
Yes, he missed an open net early on in the match. But Saka was involved early and often against Villa. And he gave them fits. On a few occasions, he collected the ball and burst forward in trademark fashion, galloping away from multiple Villa defenders at once. The Englishman was vibrant and dangerous, and was immensely unlucky not to find the back of the net. However, he still managed to pick out Martinelli at the back post for the winner in the 77th minute. Hopefully, Saka can kick on from here.
Gabriel Martinelli
The Brazilian has been in sparkling form to start the season, and that continued on Wednesday. More in sync with Kieran Tierney than he was on Saturday, Martinelli was electric on the left wing. Off the ball, he tracked back and pressed superbly, and even pushed to win back the ball when he lost it. In attack, he deserved a better haul than he finished with. Martinelli slipped a great ball across the face of goal that Saka should have tucked away. He also put Xhaka in on goal ahead of Jesus’ strike. He was unfortunate not to slam home a spectacular volley from Xhaka’s knockdown to him. But in the end, Martinelli deftly pounced for the winner, taking him to three goals in five matches.
MISSES
Thomas Partey
This might be harsh. However, a feature of Partey’s tenure at Arsenal has been a lack of availability. The regular occurrence of his soft tissue injuries has hindered the team time and time again. It happened in his first season at the club. It happened last season when Arsenal needed him for the most critical part of their top four challenge. And now, after only three matches, Partey might be out of action for a significant period of time. Even if he isn’t, it is hard to believe the injuries will end there. He appears unable to handle the workload demanded of him, making him unreliable. Arsenal are reportedly looking at players they can recruit to fill in for the Ghanaian. Perhaps it is time to find a player who can take over for Partey on more of a long-term basis.
Robert Jones
The official took charge of a match involving Arsenal for the first time on Wednesday. To mark the occasion in style, he seemingly decided to rewrite the rules regarding what a foul is. He allowed Saka’s shirt to be tugged in Villa’s penalty area before also deeming Tyrone Mings’ slow-motion Suplex of the winger fair play. Jones decided that John McGinn planting his studs in Martin Odegaard’s ankle was not a red card offense, and generally allowed Gerrard’s men to “get stuck in” and kick Arsenal players to their hearts’ content. For his third missed penalty call of the night, Jones watched Martinez put Jesus in a headlock and then awarded the Villa keeper a free kick. To top it all off, he ignored established rules and let Villa’s goal stand despite Aaron Ramsdale being pinned and unable to save it. At almost every turn, Jones made ludicrous calls, to the point where they threatened to give Villa an undeserved result. Is this the best the PGMOL has to offer?
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