Arsenal hosted Aston Villa this weekend, hoping to keep pace with Liverpool, whose late late show at Brentford kept them rolling at the top.
Arsenal looked comfortable after going 2-0 up through Martinelli and Havertz, but then sloppiness invited Villa back into the game and they pulled it back to 2-2. The Emirates thought Merino had won it late on but VAR dubiously disallowed the goal because of a Havertz handball.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa match report and see the goal here
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Painful, deserved a narrow win.
Will Arteta ever realize TP at right back is almost always disastrous? I mean honestly, this goes beyond being stubborn
Well, the only alternative I guess is to go with a Gabriel / Kiwior center back pairing and keep Timber out there, but that’s about it.
Which is surely better. Yes, whenever we have TP at RB we always play badly and most of the times we don’t win.
Lewis Skelly is so good right now I think he could play on the right flank.
That would have been a better option.
Kiwior up against Watkins and Duran? Hard to prove something that didn’t happen would have worked better I suppose.
I think kiwior is good enough would have been a better choice for me as we keep on dropping points with TP as RB
We conceded two goals anyway, can’t imagine any worse with Kiwior. Also, if he does not now, why is Kiwior in this team. Party at RB hardly ever works. Partey in midfield has been doing very well, so keep him there perhaps. That said, injuries are really forcing very tough decisions on the manager.
I think it’s telling that he’d rather play Partey at right back than Kiwior at centre back, and reflects Kiwior’s performances so far this season.
Kiwior is poor..
Yeah it might be—to be clear, I wasn’t suggesting it would be worse. Just figure that’s the only viable alternative really.
It would way better than what Partey offers at rb. He is ok while we are in possession but defensively he has been terrible this year. Too much time ball watching while someone runs right by him.
Kiwior has generally done ok for us when called upon and would have been a better option. TP should never be used as a full back these days, too many mistakes in his game.
I agree but I don’t think Arteta likes two lefties in the centre pairing, but Partey at RB – how many more times.
He hasn’t got a lot of options currently tbf, eh? Kiwior at RCB is basically the only one and a lot of managers are hesitant to start a left footed CB in the RCB position. And it’s not like Kiwior has been super solid recently. Partey generally has been pretty solid defensively in most of his games there just not very effective in getting that side ticking offensively.
Maybe Rice at RCB should be considered (until White/Saliba return). Or buy a right back.
For years we had two right footed CB pairings. What’s wrong with two left footers? Getting sick of seeing TP at RB, robbing us of overlapping fullback runs, defensive stability and creativity in midfield.
I’m with you on everything apart from overlapping fullback runs. When do our fullbacks ever overlap?
In the good old days when we had Tierney and a fit White.
Generally I would agree it’s better Partey doesn’t play right back as we too often miss his qualities in the centre, but I thought he was excellent today. He pushed up high and central in front of their box and played some lovely progressive and line splitting passes while still being secure defensively. Partey playing right back tonight wasn’t what cost us the win.
Not having a proper striker is stubborn
Thought 2/10 was pretty harsh tbh.
Yeah – 5/10 for me.
It was silly. He did have some decent passes tonight.
Tross had two asiss not one. For me the best player tonight.
*assists
would’ve been helpful if he had two arses, might have helped us sit on that lead
I agree
Easily our MOTM. The missed chance at the end shouldn’t take away the two goals he created out of almost nothing.
He think he might of been a millimeter offside even if he scored at the end there.
Blogs standard negative Trossard bias. Assisted both goals and seemed like the only way they would get a 3rd was through him. Also worked his tail off all game.
I don’t think Blogs did the player ratings though! He was at the match. The author isn’t “Arseblog” to the article as well.
One game in ten isn’t going to do it though
Blogs is doesn’t like people with grey hair. Trossard absolutely cooked tonight—easily best on pitch—and the ‘missed chance’ at the end was clearly offside.
Norm
Silly autocorrect. I typed MOTM
He was immense. One of his best games in an Arsenal shirt.
💯 he was easily our best player tonight. 9/10 for me. The chance he missed at the end was offside anyway and would have been ruled out quickly.
It was his best game in months… but that miss at the end
I have nothing against Sterling personally, but I sincerely hope he’s our last Chelsea “punt” signing, for quite a long, long time.
Same. He’s just not doing it- whatever the non negotiables were- they’re clearly out the window for sterling and it’s getting tiresome that we persist in giving him minutes.
Nobody else with all the injuries. He wasn’t getting any minutes when there were no injuries
We’ve got academy players that surely have a future at the club or at least have some resale value- sterling has neither.
Reiss can do everything Sterling has done thus far, difference is Reiss cares for the badge and doesn’t shy away from tackles.
Well, injuries. When fit, Nelson or Eddie would be better, sure.
I was thinking of Reiss’ last minute goal for us a few seasons ago -during the match
Reiss has been out with a bad hamstring injury for weeks I believe. Regardless, I remember when sterling signed and a good number of dudes on here were happy…I was not. I was fkn furious and got a telling off from blogs about being too negative about him! Ha ha. Unfortunately, I think I was right…disgraceful signing.
Nelson any day over this version of Sterling.
Either way, it is an horrendous signing.
Same goes for City punts. Sick and tired of Arsenal picking up other big clubs’ unwanted scraps just bc they have “PL experience.” There’s a reason their old clubs don’t want them anymore.
I believe he is finnished though maybe should never left city just for his extra cash
No hart and I couldn’t believe we went for him
Maybe harsh but I think it is true
As an England supporter I’ve found him next to useless for years. If only he could have remained annoying for England rather than for Arsenal.
Would be great to never see Party at RB again, but Arteta is way to stubborn to do that. At some point, Arteta need to be looked at for how he manages his players, or fails to manager I should say.
The only real alternative is Kiwior at RCB and Timber at RB, would you have done that?
I think I might have, but hindsight and all.
Yeah but what other option was there today?
Timber at RB and Kiwior as CB?
Partey in midfield with Rice
Kiwior at LB, MLS at right back.
what’s could he have done here? I’m just guessing he doesn’t trust Kiwior enough for 90 min as CB, so Timber had to fill in, which leaves us with whom as RB?
I would’ve preferred Kiwior and keeping Timber at his natural position honestly, would’ve been maybe one weak point but at least our 3 best defenders in their natural positions instead of this makeshift back 4.
Timbers natural position is CB. You do have a point though, as the shift in Timbers position meant TP was playing out of position. I think Kiwior at CB may have been a better option, don’t know. Maybe he’s off in January, hopefully as a make weight for a striker. Who’s knows.
yeah, I meant Timber’s natural position with us, the one he’s played by far and has had his best performances at, the one he’s used to playing. Back 4’s are such a weird sensitive thing, you need all of them to have such instant intuitive synchronisation with each other, that if you swap one of them you might disrupt that a little bit, but if you then move another one around it can all start getting a bit chaotic because no one is 100% sure who should be covering who and which area in the heat of the moment. Which… Read more »
You understand Timber’s natural position is CB right? Has played CB in 66% of games throughout his career versus 25% at RB.
Therein lies the problem
Why not trust Kiwior who’s a natural center back?
Kiwior may not be the best option at CB but I don’t see how Party at RB is better. Hell, I’d rather see Rice at CB. Besides that, Merino was laboring after 60 mins but he kept him out there. Could have put Tierney or Zinc out there to help. Instead he did nothing except bring in arguably the 1 person on the bench who would hurt the team in attack. I just don’t have faith in Arteta to win anything because he cannot adapt in game.
Merino seems at this point to have been a poor choice of transfer
Merino almost won it for us twice, and would’ve if not for PGMOL, so I’m not having that part of your argument.
If not for PGMOL? Do you mean disallowing the goal that hit Havertz on the arm?
I don’t understand the Zinny situation. Yes he is not a great defender, but he can surely be given a game or two when there are so many injuries. Also, why not bring him on when we need a goal, he is a creative player. Sub a Merino or Partey, and give him an opportunity?
The lack of players is also down to those above the manager- what was edu doing all summer?
Hate to say this but maybe if Arteta had been a little more willing to play ESR and Nelson last year they would have stayed around. Both would be better options than Sterling right now.
ESR just scored today too.
ESR would’ve been a better option if Arteta had not decided he was a central midfielder.
Agree. Always wanted that last year, and agree we’d reap the rewards this year. And arsenal boys too.
But .. we were within one game of the title, I guess we had to go for it. Which meant all in for it. But it cost us a year of player development. And same the yearbefore. (and some signings mightve been more long termers).
He was selling three quarters of the team, and buying two average players who are constantly injured…
Thought this was actually Merino’s best performance for us…
Liverpool (H)
I think blogs really dislikes Partey. Merino is clearly at fault for their first goal that changes the game. He had an excellent chance in the first half from a Partey cutback that he misses. He should score the goal that hits the upright. What exactly did Merino do well in a familiar position whereas Partey was in playing in an unfamiliar position and yes he is at fault for their second goal but he surely played better than Merino
Havertz missed the header on their second goal. He was equally as culpable.
Can understand why he’s not liked. But 2/10 is not a reflection of his performance at all. Better to just not score him maybe…
Who else was supposed to play right back with all the injuries. We have 75 left backs and all but one are injured are terrible. We scored 2 goals which was great but the problem was we needed 3. Up by 2. At home. Yet we get stretched and are pressing. We leave massive gaps in the box. Why not sit back and play on the counter. Or play possession football by leave 3 at the back rather than 2. Lost all composure. Or fatigue hit. I watched on my laptop. Still, it didn’t look like it hit havertz hand.… Read more »
It did his his hand. Good points made though, agree
We could’ve played Timber at RB, and started Kiwior, which is his role in the squad as back up CB? Yes he’s no Saliba, but at least Timber would’ve put more pressure on Digne or kept a closer watch to Watkins? This draw is on Arteta. He also assembled this threadbare squad and failed to properly rotate in the start of the season, causing untimely injuries to star players.
Not sure why all the blame on the first goal is resting on the right back. Martinelli’s position was ridiculously far infield before the ball got switched. I was worried before the pass to Digne was even played that there was too much space for him.
Kiwior or Rice. Hell KT would be better at CB than TP anywhere in the backline.
We can’t play on counter attack, this team lacks pace, is very poor in attacking transitions and likes to retain the ball for slow buildup. I can hardly remember counter attack goals scored by this team.
Your point about pressing is something I was concerned about at 2-1 (and before that, to be honest). Why did we decide in this game to press so high and hard? And why did we persist with it in the 2nd half when it was allowing Villa to get to the other end of the pitch with 1-2 passes so often? Especially when we were in front.
I don’t like Emery’s Aston Villa.
Is it possible that some of our female players are allowed to play for first team? I think that we can find several much better than Sterling.
“Better” isn’t the operative word here- we just need someone who will TRY.
From the angle that I see on TV the ball struck Havertz’ belly. Strange.
I agree. I cannot understand why it was ruled out. Even if it came off the arm, the arm was tight against the body so that’s not a reason to disallow the goal either. Very, very strange.
The angle they showed on NBC it was very clear it his his hand. Camera was directly behind Merino.
Yup on my feed it clearly struck Kai’s forearm.
But was the arm away from the body or tight to the body?
I don’t know why Sky (who love talking about ref decisions more that football) didn’t show definitive replays? We just had to rely on G Nev telling us and we have to just accept it. Whilst the tedious VAR replays do your head in I think for such an important decision it should have been definitive for the goal to be overturned and it was decided in 30 seconds and we didn’t see what VAR saw.
You can be unlucky once, twice, maybe even thrice. But soon, unlucky is not longer what it is. Aren’t these performances becoming a “typical Arteta’s Arsenal”?
I am only comforted in my view that Arteta might not be the one to bring this club forward from where we are now (thanks to him).
The board have blood on their hands for hanging Arteta out to dry, from time TIERNY is our best attacking option of the bench shows we don’t deserve to win the title, Liverpool have jota and Nunez to come on , we have Sterling. Ggs
That’s only fair if you imagine Salah, Jota and Nunez all injured.
I’m sick of Thomas Partey being at the club. Merino needs to start improving quickly, too slow on the ball still. Martinelli and Trossard’s form is one of the only points of solace right now. Mon Kai, there’s the goal now go get more. Raheem Sterling has led me to watch Reiss Nelson’s famous goal on loop. Reiss Nelson is twice the player he is. I’m not even Nelson’s biggest fan admittedly.
Bukayo Saka, I miss you and I need you bbz xx
I think we played well in general & were definitely the better team for whole of 90 minutes. We were unlucky not to win it comprehensively.Lack of Squad depth costed us.
The third goal we needed is the ghost of the goal threat Saka would have brought.
If we do not buy any striker this in this window, we can as well kiss the season goodbye.
It is shocking how light we are in attack and we are not even considering am attacking transfer.
We need a 20 goal striker if we are ever going to win a major trophy but I am not even sure Arteta knows this.
No team can sustain a title challenge with the number of injuries we have. With Saliba in this game, we win convincingly. It’s time to plan for next season. With Zubiimendi apparently in the bag, get another right winger and a striker and go again.
There is a league title in the horizon.
We got Emery’d
It’s clear that the team with the fewest injuries wins these days. They huffed and puffed, but we don’t have enough quality. Those that do are exhausted because of internationals and a small squad.
We are 6 points front the first. Calm down and support the team. We are playing against the refs and the gods of football ffs
A hard game to judge because overall I thought we played well and their goals kind of came from nowhere. The second in particular was a moment of sheer madness from Partey. Was telling who they were able to bring on to change the game compared with us. Without more of our squad back, we’re just going to be very limited in what we can do.
I’m just sick of Arteta – still no closer to attacking reinforcements – not that it matters now. It’s his behaviour that is so irritating and am sure it makes us a target for crap decisions and media focus. Thank you Mikel for removing the toxic elements at the club and improving the performance of the team but you need to look at your peers – wenger particularly and look how he conducted himself. I like the passion but this is detrimental. I would also be interested to know what is now wrong with Calafiori – a left sided version… Read more »
I mean, considering he’s a large reason we even have these “opportunities”, I’m happy to give him until his contract ends and re-assessing. He’s more than earnt it.
How is his behavior detrimental in your opinion?
Tough luck this season. The injuries are beyond absurd now. That we are still in second place is a testament to how strong the club is. More or less a miracle. We only need to look at how other teams (Man C, Spurs, Liverpool -last season) have coped with this level of injuries to understand how well our boys and Arteta have performed.
Look at the bench. The team is desperately begging for bodies. Good bodies but, it is what it is.
All teams get injuries. Arsenal have been extremely lucky with injuries for the last few seasons (Odegaar, Saka, Gabriel mainly). Yes, Saliba, but still, the club’s been lucky. This season is more a matter of back to normal. Arteta and his team banked on continued luck, it seems. Should count against them in the assessment.
But is it what it is ?
Is it unreasonable to expect a manager to plan for such an occasion by having depth in his squad ?
Injuries are unfortunate but they have shown just how shallow our squad is – no cover for Odegaard, White, Saka or Saliba. I get the feeling that he thought we would be as lucky with injuries as last season.
You cannot blame the manager for injuries but you can lay the blame at his feet for failing to plan for them..
I don’t think the manager did not want to bring in more bodies. Let’s not act like we have unlimited resources to buy. No manager can plan for this level of injuries. It is a lot of we honest with ourselves.
At the start of the season there was enough cover for every position except odegaard although if that injury came later in the season I’m sure Ethan would have stepped in, his injury just came too early.
You can’t write just how many injuries we’ve had without seemingly any reprieve, as soon as one comes back another goes down.
To be honest, fair play to this team and the coaching staff. They absolutely play and fight for eachother. Look at the state of the squad in terms of injuries atm. We dominate games against sides who can cause problems with key starters out. We made Villa look very average today (maybe that’s more frustrating). Partey made a couple of big mistakes today, but also created a very presentable chance for Merino first half with a lovely disguised ball. More questions need to be asked of Merino. I even question his so called ‘engine’, he was out on his feet… Read more »
What is MLS’s best position? Incredible, he was everywhere, even CF sometimes. I think he will score soon.
Alongside Nwaneri the only positive thing this season.
Weird. All I state is that I don’t think Arteta is the man, anymore. That disturbs you? Weird. But ok. Have a good life and happy bubble
We dropped 12 points now from winning positions that is just not good enough to win the league
About six points robbed by PGMOL. This team is fighting and winning every point the hard way.
This one really hurts.
I thought they fought valiantly today. Pressed hard to get the winning goal that never came.
Please stop using Partey at right back. Has it ever worked?
I think we are one the most unlucky teams right now. We created enough to score at least 4 today.
We really need a stronger bench.
It baffles me that no one has mentioned that Rice used to fill in very well at CB for West Ham, perfect replacement for Saliba. Do that and then you have timber rb where he’s needed. Options for midfield and LB are generous still in that scenario. To not lose Rice’s drive in midfield I’d move Skelly in there are LCM and play zinny or Tierney at LB, looks way more balanced to me.
Good call on Rice being able to play CB 👍
Thomas Partey was horrible. The sooner our fullbacks are fit the better, he’s a liability in defence.
I can’t wrap my head around it when we’re ahead, why do we still have to play so we’re still incredibly open at the back and susceptible to counter attacks. Surely there must be a balance there.
Usually we excruciatingly sit back and defend a 1 goal lead. We’re finally 2 goals up and we decide to press high up the pitch. I struggle to understand the thinking behind it.
I’m expecting this to be down voted, and I really like Odegard. But when was the last times he’s thread a ball through for a player to go in goal. The runs are being made and I see them from the stand. I’m getting so sick and tired of this hold the ball and sideways passing game. Odegard as our main man needs to step up, he gets likened to KDB and we all know the amount of time KDBs produced when it mattered. And there’s moaning about the fans not creating a better atmosphere, but the team pass the… Read more »
Good points, agree.
He had a few through balls against Sp*rs a few days ago.
I thought Odegaard was non-existent in this game. I still think he has some sort of fitness issue (I suppose it could be a lack of confidence), as he hasn’t been effective at all since his first few appearances since coming back from injury. It’s not that he isn’t still involved a hell of a lot, it’s just that he doesn’t seem to want to make those low-percentage passes that he’s usually able to pull-off. Most of the key passes everyone has been banging on about over the last 3 games have been those crosses from the corner of the… Read more »
He did not have a good game today. He was non existent in midfield I thought.
Havertz is blamed for the goal? Seriously? Striker comes back and fills the correct position in the box to deal with a cross but it went over his head and he gets blamed?
Yeah totally, he went up for that ball and should have won the header, he’s a clear 6 inches taller than the striker.
I can’t remember the last time we had a fast break. Even on a counterattack, we always seem to find a way to slow it down and pass back.
Can I let you into something personal? I’m not too hurt by today’s result.
Why?
Because we were never in the title race. If we were then the club would have signed at least two quality players by now. The transfer window opened almost 3 weeks ago.
The owners don’t give a damn about the title: they just want our money. That’s why Arteta is under no pressure when he absolutely should be.
We will win nothing again this season. And next year we will just reset and do the same thing again.
Shame.
Lots of comments asking why not Kiwior at CB, I agree even if he hasnt convinced me this season that he’s progressed since his decent run at left back last season.
However if Arteta really is wedded to the idea of a right footed centeback then surely sticking Rice in between Timber and Gabriel would be better than Partey at RB, would keep him at CDM where I think on the whole he’s been good this season.