Aston Villa beat Arsenal by one goal to nil, but controversially?
Saturday (06/02/21), Villa completed the double against Arsenal with a 1-0 home victory.
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Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game in just 73 seconds, after a mistake by Arsenal Full-Back Cedric put Bertrand Traore in space to tease the pass up for in-form striker Watkins. The striker handed Villa the perfect start, turning home his tenth Premier League goal of the season.
Arsenal absolutely dominated the rest of the half possession wise, but could not get much chances from open play. Their only real chance, was when Granit Xhaka forced keeper Emi Martinez into an acrobatic save.
We came close to doubling our lead, when Traore was in on goal with debut keeper Mat Ryan, but he decided to attempt a cheeky chip which was easily read by the Aussie keeper. That really should have put us two up.
Arsenal was NOT happy, when they thought Ezri Konsa tripped up Bukayo Saka when he was about to go in on goal. The referee gave Konsa a yellow card and the free-kick. Pictures after the game, show Saka kicked the Centre-Back and went down.
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Villa started the second half brightly, with Watkins and Barkley both giving Mat Ryan a good test within the first five minutes.
Failing to double their lead, Villa almost lose it when 72-million pound signing, Nicolas Pepe, put his shot wide.
Arsenal was piling on the pressure, but Villa defended heroically, reminder of how we defended against Southampton. Putting bodies on the line and clearing every cross that went into the box.
8 minutes to go, and Watkins puts Villa's last chance of the game just wide of the post.
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Ross Barkley came off the pitch, but he didn't seem too happy about it...
Some fans had their thoughts on his actions, after he kicked a bottle in frustration, right in front of the manager:
"I admire he wants to stay on the pitch and play but there is a time and place to show raw emotion in front of the gaffer."
Another said:
"Not a massive fan of it, comes across as a little petulant, exactly can discuss it at length with Smith at a later date".
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Player Ratings:
Emi Martinez: 8.0 - Made some good saves when it came down to it, but only had one shot on target to save. Didn't foul Lacazatte, and has now beaten Arsenal twice and kept two clean sheets. Step up ;)
Matty Cash: 8.5 - They couldn't get past him! Willian, Aubameyang, Smith-Rowe, Saka and Pepe all tried and none of them could. Cash was phenomenal defensively.
Ezri Konsa: 8.0 - Thought he was sollid, Definitely wasn't a red card, and he put his body on the line many times.
Tyrone Mings: 9.0 - Thought Tyrone Mings was brilliant, I think this was his best Premier League performance by far in a Villa shirt, just was always in the right place and Arsenal couldn't get past him!
Matt Targett: 8.0 - Thought Targett was again on top of his game, he really has been one of the most consistent players this season, really impressed by him.
Marvelous Nakamba - 8.0 - Thought Nakamba came in and did really well, Intercepted everything that came his way and proved that he is going to fight to keep the shirt off of Dougie.
John McGInn: 8.0 - Meatball played well, think he summes his game up when he drove through the Arsenal defence late on to win a foul, he had more energy about him today.
Bertrand Traore: 7.5 - Played well, was alert from the first whistle and got the assist for the goal, did some good work defensively.
Ross Barkley: 7.0 - Didn't think Ross was still at his best today, and his reaction to coming off showed that I think, I want to see better from Barkley and I think he still has so much more to offer.
Jack Grealish: 7.7 - Think we saw a different side to Grealish's game today, he wasn't all that brillant going forward but he won fouls at important times and tracked back alot to help Targett double up on Saka. Good disciplined performanc from the Captain
Ollie Watkins: 8.5 - Thought Watkins was great again today, scored his 4th goal in 5 games and once again showed what a good player he is, he caused Arsenal problems all game and I thought his hold up play was top class. What a player.
Subs:
Trezeguet: 7.0 - Thought the sub was made at the right time, Trez came on just as Arsenal had stepped it up a gear, he helped out even more defensively and played his part.
Jacob Ramsey: 6.5 - Showed good energy, and gave us a bit more of a threat in the second half, when he replaced Barkley, had a good run, and probably could have scored.
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Villa take all three points after a very good defensive display at Villa Park. Next up, Brighton at the AMEX.