Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal
Match report: Ollie Watkins missed a sitter in each half, while a mirculous David Raya save prompted the turnaround that led to Arsenal winning courtesy of goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey. Ben Fisher reports from Villa Park …
Unai Emery: “In football the most important thing is to create chances,” says the Arsenal boss, when asked about Ollie Watkins’s uncharacteristic lack of sharppness. “It’s not the finishing we want but I am very happy with how he progressed after the first game he played against West Ham. Today his processes were working better even if he didn’t score. Ollie watkins in the future will score those chances.”
Unai Emery: “You have to accept the process of where we are,” says Arsenal’s manager following the obligatory evening greeting. “Arsenal are more experienced, more mature, they are strong and in the last year they have been very competitive in the Premier League.
“Today was a test for us to see how far away from them we are and I think we competed, we could win, we could draw and we could lose, which we did. I think this performance is going to give us a lot of information about the team, the squad, the players and I hope we can close this week, the transfer window and finish this mopnth of August playing in Leicester trying to get points.”
Morgan Rogers: “Outside both boxes we had the better of it through the majority of the game, I felt we were really good, I felt we we competed,” Villa’s man of the match tells Sky Sports. “Obviously we know they are a good team so we had to give up some areas, but we contained them really well.”
On Ollie Watkins’ missed chances: “He’s our talisman, we rely on him, we know he’ll score them,” he says. “We’re not going to question that. It’s one of those things, it happens. We gave a good account of ourselves. It’s one of those games we have to dust ourselves down and move on.”
Mikel Arteta: “We had to change the momentum of the game,” says the Arsenal manager, upon being asked what prompted his inspired decision to introduce Leandro Trossard when he did. We had 10 or 12 minutes where we suffered in the second half and we had to change something.
“Leo’s got that ability to change the game; his end product is unbelievable. I think he had two shots, two great balls into the box and that could have been another goal or two. That’s what you need, when it’s not enough with the [starting line-up] someone has to come in and finish the job.”
David Raya: “I think of what I remember, it’s a shot from outside the box,” says Arsenal’s goalkeeper upon being asked to talk us through his save. “I’m on the floor so I try to get up and I can’t reach it. I just see Ollie going in there so I react as quickly as possible I put my hand there and there’s no one there to get the ball.
“It’s just a repetition of things. You do drills and have to save one ball and get up to save another. This time it paid off. This is a reaction one, I don’t think it’s my best save. I try to help the team as much.”
He goes on to recall making a better one when he was at Brentford but doesn’t go into detail. I wouldn’t mind seeing that one.
David Raya: “Everyone is a hero here,” says David Raya, upon being told he’s likely to be the hero in the Arsenal dressing-room by Sky Sports' reporter Patrick Davidson. “It’s not just me, saving the ball, it’s Leandro scoring and Thomas scoring as well.
“But yeah, it was crucial moment of the game when we are 0-0 and I though we controlled very well the game but obviously they had their chances and I was there to save Ollie’s header.”
Arsenal: Having lost home and away to Villa last season, Arsenal have already clawed back the three points that cost them the title last season. Just the 36 games to go after this early statement victory.
Some reader correspondence: “Martinez put a stronger hand on Calafiori’s face than he did on Partey’s goal, showing his true calling,” writes Zach Neeley.
“Morgan Rogers was an absolutely stonking piece of business; £15m from Middlesbrough in January about a week after he ran rings round Villa in a cup game. He’s what the American kids might call a ‘total baller’. An upgrade on Diaby and just a quarter the price!” writes Benjamin Gravestock.
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Full time: Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal
They could and probably should have been two down but for the uncharacteristic profligacy of Ollie Watkins, but David Raya’s incredible save from the Villa striker sparked the turnaround that led to Arsenal’s victory.
On as substitute, Leandro Trossard scored the first and played a major roled in the creation of the second that was bagged by Thomas Partey. Arsenal have two wins out of two and have kept their second clean sheet of the season. It’s small wonder Mikel Arteta is grinning like a cheshire cat as he and his players applaud the travelling army of happy Gooners.
90+3 min: On the plus side, Villa can at least console themselves with the fact that they created such good chances. There are lots of positives for them to take from tonight’s game, not least the excellent performance of Morgan Rogers, who has been hugely impressive with his direct play and show of strength. That’s it at Villa Park, where Arsenal have won.
90+1 min: A penny for the thoughts of Ollie Watkins, the Villa striker who missed two of the kind of chances you’d expect a player of his quality and precision to score in his sleep before Arsenal troubled the scoreboard operator. He’s unlikely to sleep too well tonight!
88 min: Arsenal substitution: Bukayo Saka has been splendid today, particularly in this second half and now makes way for Reiss Nelson. He has to take the scenic route back to the Arsenal bench and gets a standing ovation from the visiting fans, before being roundly booed by the locals. He’s such a good player and his consistency is remarkable.
86 min: Arsenal free-kick, wide on the right between the edge of the penalty area and the touchline. The ball’s sent in to the penalty area, with Odegaard trying to pick out Calafiori. Emi Martinez plucks the ball from the air and holds it in one hand, before pushing the Italian in the face with his free one. Does he get a yellow card? Of course not!
83 min: Arsenal are now in total control of this game and threatening to run amok. But what’s this? Jacob Ramsey is played clean through in behind the Arsenal defence, only to be put off his stride by a splendid recovery tackle from William Saliba, who had made a lung-busting run to get back. Ramsey manages to get a scuffed shot away but it was going wide before David Raya intervened.
82 min: With his luxurient locks slicked back and held in place by an alice band, Ricardo Calafiori is on for his Arsenal debut, replacing Jurrien Timber at left-back.
80 min: Odegaard blazes a shot high over the bar from 12 yards after running on to a pull-back from Declan Rice, who’d been played in behind by Trossard. The Belgian has transformed this game since coming on and Arsenal should be three up.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal (Partey 77)
Arsenal double their lead! Trossard gets in behind Nedejkovic to pounce on a ball over the top and drives the ball across the face of goal. It finds its way to Saka, who holds it up before laying it off to the onrushing Partey. His low shot somehow squeezes into the bottom right-hand corner. I’m not sure if Emi Martinez got a hand to it but he certainly should have kept it out.
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75 min: Aston Villa double-substitution: Ian Maatsen and Ross Barkley on for Lucas Digne and Amadou Onana. It’s Barkley’s second spell at Villa, having previously spent a season on loan at the club.
74 min: Rogers takes the ball on the half-turn in midfield and goes on another gallop upfield. On this occasion he runs into traffic and surrenders possession before he can pick out a teammate.
72 min: Amadou Onana takes one for the team and is booked for an illegal lunge on Bukayo Saka, who was trying to escape down the right flank on a counter-attack.
72 min: Villa corner. Leon Bailey’s delivery is poor and the ball is cleared at the near post by Declan Rice.
70 min: Saka did superbly to chase an apparent lost cause, prevent the ball from going out of play and pull it back into the Villa penalty area. Havertz and Rogers tussled for the ball, which found its way to Trossard, who made no mistake with his first time shot from about 12 yards.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal (Trossard 68)
Arsenal lead: Just on as a substitute in place of Martinelli, Leandro Trossard fires home a heroic Bukayo Saka pull-back from the byline that was – perhaps inadvertently – helped on its way into his path by Havertz, who was tussling for the ball with Morgan Rogers.
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66 min: Villa double-substitution: Jhon Duran and Jacob Ramsey replace Ollie Watkins and John McGinn. If Villa don’t win this match, Watkins won’t get a wink of sleep this evening after those two misses.
64 min: Bukayo Saka dawdles over a shot after being played in behind by Odegaard, tries to take the ball around Martinez and a half-chance goes begging. I think he was offside when Odegaard played the ball his way.
63 min: A Villa Park crowd that spent long periods of the first half fast asleep have the scent of blood in their nostrils and are roaring their team on. Arsenal are looking vulnerable.
61 min: Morgan Rogers, who has been superb for Villa, shrugs off challenges from Rice and Martinelli before sending a low, weak shot wide of the far upright. It takes a nick on its way wide and Villa have a corner. Arsenal clear, but only as far as Nedejkovic, who is forced backwards.
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59 min: Gabriel has been booked for a late challenge on Onana, who has just headed over the bar after making a late run from deep into the Arsenal box.
57 min: Watkins cannot believe he hasn’t scored and almost certainly would have if he’d steered his header towards either corner. The thing is, I think he thought scoring was a mere formality if he got his header on target, as he thought Raya was out of the game.
55 min: Wow!!! An Amadou Onana shot from outside the penalty area takes a wicked deflection, loops up in the air and cannons off the cross-bar. Ollie Watkins dives to send the rebound past Raya with his head, but the Arsenal goalkeeper, who had been on the floor after trying to save the original shot, somehow gets back to his feet and denies the Villa striker with a world class save. That is brilliant goalkeeping.
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53 min: Pau Torres plays something of a hospital pass to John McGinn just outside the Villa penalty area and the Villa skipper is lucky enough to be fouled by Thomas Partey, who had pounced and was trying to dispossess him.
50 min: Arsenal are completely dominating possession in the early stages of this second half but struggling to break down their hosts, who are defending obdurately. Martin Odegaard is the latest Arsenal player to run down a dead end after looking up and seeing no available options.
47 min: For appearances sake, Declan Rice jogs in pursuit of a long ball from deep that’s massively overhit and sails straight to Emiliano Martinez. The Arsenal No41 was never going to get near it.
Second half: Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal
46 min: Arsenal get the second half under way and it is to be hoped both teams will show more quality in this second half. Neither have been particularly bad but both sides have been far from their best.
Clarification: Leon Bailey didn’t literally break his neck getting back to make that key clearance. The Villa winger seems fine, despite a different injury scare.
A tweet: Dan Bardell, a Villa fan and valued member of the Football Weekly podcast squad, has this to say …
Good half from #AVFC, the better team for me.
— Dan Bardell (@danbardell) August 24, 2024
Rogers is wonderful, I love Tielemans and Onana just gives us a bit more stability in midfield.
My favourite part of half was Bailey breaking his neck to get back and making a key clearance. Growth in his game under Emery is superb.…
An email: “Notoriously pro-London as Guardian coverage generally is, perhaps, just perhaps Villa will get some fairer coverage this season,” writes Chris, who clearly didn’t take the time to read any of the largely fawning coverage afforded to Villa in the Guardian and most other British media outlets last season, but still feels qualified to complain about it.
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Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal
Half-time: An extremely scrappy half that won’t live long in the memory of anyone involved in it apart from Ollie Watkins draws to a close. The deadlock remains unbroken, due in no small part to an inexplicable miss from the Aston Villa striker.
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45+5 min: Saka is fouled by Onana as he tries to turn, prompting Mikel Arteta to lose the plot with the fourth official because the Villa midfielder didn’t get booked. The Arsenal manager gets a ticking-off from referee Michael Oliver.
45+3 min: Declan Rice is booked for an agricultual challenge on Morgan Rogers, who is causing Arsenal all sorts of problems on the edge of the final third. He’s been a constant menace for Aston Villa.
45+2 min: Onana heads a Martinelli dink from the left into the Villa penalty area clear.
45 min: Youri Tielemans gives the ball away to Declan Rice in midfield as the fourth official reveals there’ll be six minutes of added time. I won’t lie, I thought there’d be more.
43 min: Morgan Rogers tries his luck from distance but his shot cannons off the legs of Watkins, who had played the ball to his feet in the first instance and was sprinting through the Arsenal penalty area on a decoy run. The ball breaks to Bailey, who tries to curl a shot into the top corner but can only send it sailing into the gloves of Raya.
40 min: Running across the face of his own six-yard box with the ball at his feet, Torres is challenged by Havertz, who trods heavily on his foot. The Villa defender just about manages to get the ball back to Martinez before going to ground clutching his instep. He’ll live.
39 min: Martinelli tries to square the ball across the Villa penalty area from the left after running on to a lovely pass in behind by Rice. It’s blocked by Pau Torres and put out for a corner before it can reach the near post.
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34 min: McGinn smashes a loose ball into the midrift of Saliba, who was lying on the ground after a tussle for the ball with Watkins down by the corner flag. There’s a bit of a flare-up between the pair but Michael Oliver calms them down without feeling the need to produce any yellow cards.
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33 min: Bailey is on hand to intercept a low, inaccurate Havertz cross into the Villa penalty area that threatened to find its way to Saka.
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32 min: John McGinn dives in to try to dispossess Saliba out by the touchline and knocks the wind out of the Arsenal defender. It was a robust challenge but also a fair one.
31 min: William Saliba steps out to intercept a dangerous Morgan Rogers pull-back towards Leon Bailey and clear Arsenal’s lines. Good defending.
30 min: Half an hour in and this game still hasn’t really got going but Aston Villa should be ahead after squandering that glorious scoring opportunity.
29 min: The camera cuts to Watkins, who chooses that exact moment to evacuate the contents of his nose with a couple of high velocity snot-rockets.
28 min: It’s difficult to believe Watkins missed that opportunity to fire his side ahead. He shaped to shoot and sent David Raya the wrong way, only to see his effort roll the wrong side of the upright. If anything, Clive, he had too much time to think about what he was doing.
25 min: Oh my! A mistake from Gabriel allows Morgan Rogers to burst into the Arsenal penalty area and square the ball for a completely unmarked Ollie Watkins. With the Arsenal goal gaping and only David Raya to beat, he sidefoots the ball several yards wide of the left upright. That’s a shocking miss.
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24 min: There’s another short break in play as Declan Rice fiddles with a rogue contact lens and slides it back into place under the supervision of referee Michael Oliver.
23 min: This game kicked off late and has been very stop-start for various reasons. Arsenal are marginally on top but the match has yet to settle down and find any kind of rhythm.
22 min: Bailey has received treatment and looks like he’s OK to continue in this match, which is good news for him and his side.
20 min: Onana goes on a marauding run through the centre and plays the ball outside to Leon Bailey, who immediately pulls up with what looks like a twanged calf muscle or hammy. That’s extremely unlucky for Villa but lets hope it’s nothing more serious than a soft tissue injury. He was turning extremely sharply when he pulled up.
17 min: Kosta Nedjkovic has come on to replace Cash and make his Villa debut. He’s an 18-year-old from Serbia who began his career at Red Star, in case you’re wondering.
15 min: Saka plays a give-and-go with Odegaard and then tries to pick out the far corner with a low diagonal shot. Emi Martinez gets down to save splendidly. The Villa goalkeeper goes to ground at the subsequent corner and is given a free-kick, despite nobody appearing to have fouled him. Never change, Emi.
14 min: Cash limps off the field accompanied by two physios and looks thoroughly fed up. He’ll need to be replaced but for the time being, Leon Bailey has dropped back to fill in at right-back.
13 min: Matty Cash, who was an injury doubt ahead of this game after tweaking his hamstring last weekend, is lying flat on his back, holding the back of his right leg. Play pauses again so he can receive treatment.
11 min: Matty Cash tidies up at the back for Villa as Martinelli threatens to run on to a long ball from deep. The Villa right-back plays the ball to the feet of Martinez, who boots it upfield.
9 min: Villa get on the ball but struggle to get it out of their own half. Arsenal are quick to close them down and deny them space whenever they threaten to cross the halfway line.
8 min: Gabriel Martinelli drives at the Villa defence but plays a wayward pass inside instead of taking on his man, Matty Cash. The ball comes back to him but he shoots tamely at Martinez.
7 min: On the subject of players named “Emi”, it’s good to see Emi Buendia back on the Villa bench after a year out with a knee injury.
5 min: Timber plays a backpass from near the halfway line to David Raya and the Arsenal goalkeeper sends his team on their way upfield again. Within seconds, the ball is at the feet of Raya’s opposite number Emi Martinez.
4 min: Amadou Onana is passed fit to continue and play resumes. The Villa midfielder seems to have hurt his neck but looks OK for now.
3 min: Amadou Onana goes to ground holding his face after an accidental collision with Jurrien Timber. The physios come on to treat him, prompting a break in play.
2 min: Arsenal win an early free-kick deep inside their own half and Gabriel sweeps the ball inside to William Saliba, who gets an early touch.
Aston Villa v Arsenal is go ...
1 min: The game kicks off around five minutes late, with Villa on the ball. The match was preceded by a minute’s applause for several former players and staff connected to Aston Villa who have passed away since the end of last season.
Not long now: A couple of minutes behind schedule due to gremlins in the VAR machine, referee Michael Oliver finally leads the players out on to the pitch for the first game of the season at Villa Park.
They don’t come much bigger and Villa won the corresponding fixture last season, although it could be argued that Arsenal deserved at least a draw from that particular encounter.
Mikel Arteta: "Timber has "worked so hard"
“He was very happy with the news and he deserves to start because he’s worked so hard,” says Arsenal’s manager upon being asked about the inclusion of Jurrien Timber, who has fully recovered from the kne injury that kept him sidelined for a year. “He looks really good and he’s got his opportunity today. He’s got a lot of qualities and we think we’re going to need him. He’ll work really well for the game that we have to play here.”
Aston Villa: Unai Emery has said Villa must be mindful of Newcastle’s struggles after qualifying for the Champions League and said his side’s focus is on closing the gap to Premier League title contenders such as Arsenal. Ben Fisher reports …
Unai Emery: "We are very motivated"
“Good afternoon,” says the Villa gaffer in his pre-match interview with Sky Sports. “Yes it is going to be a very difficult match but we are very, very excited. We are very motivated about how we can start playing this season at home with our supporters.
“Against Arsenal, of course we’ll see how we can test ourselves asgainst a team who are going to be one of the favourites to win the Premier League. We have to try to feel strong, to feel comfortable with our supporters and to do our best in everything.”
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Today’s 3pm kick-offs have ended: You can join Scott Murray for the post-match reaction on an afternoon when Erling Haaland scored his tenth hat-trick as a Manchester City player, West Ham hit two goals without reply at Crystal Palace, and Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur also recorded their first wins of the season.
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Mikel Arteta: "I don't take things personally"
Arsenal: The Arsenal manager would love to get one over Unai Emery after last season’s losses proved catastrophic for their title hopes, writes Ed Aarons.
Today’s match officials
Referee: Michael Oliver.
Assistants: Stuart Burt and Dan Cook.
Fourth official: Darren England.
VAR: Peter Bankes.
Assistant VAR: Eddie Smart.
Emiliano Martinez: "I'm just a normal guy"
Interview: The Aston Villa goalkeeper on his on-pitch persona, competing in the Champions League and facing former club Arsenal. Desperately trying not to laugh while the Argentinian innocently denies being a master of the dark arts: Ben Fisher.
Those teams: Unai Emery fields the same 11 players who started against West Ham last weekend, despite Jhon Duran’s goalscoring contribution from the bench. The Colombian striker was always unlikely to displace Ollie Watkins and will almost certainly have to settle for cameos as long as Villa’s first choice striker is fit.
Mikel Arteta makes just one change to the side that beat Wolves, bringing in Jurrien Timber for Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back. Gabirel Jesus is not in today’s match day squad after picking up a minor groin injury. Eddie Nketiah, who has been linked with a £30m move to Nottingham Forest, is among the substitutes.
Aston Villa v Arsenal line-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Onana, Tielemans, McGinn, Bailey, Rogers, Watkins.
Subs: Gauci, Diego Carlos, Maatsen, Nedeljkovic, Barkley, Buendia, Jaden, Ramsey, Duran.
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Havertz.
Subs: Ramsdale, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Calafiori, Jorginho, Nelson, Nwaneri, Trossard, Nketiah.
Your Aston Villa squad for our home opener. 👊👊#AVLARS || #UpTheVilla pic.twitter.com/l5SR9R6BgA
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 24, 2024
⚫️ 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 🔴
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 24, 2024
💪 Timber starts at the back
⚖️ Rice features in the middle
⚡️ Saka out wide
Ready to work - COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
Early team news
Tyrone Mings is back on the training ground grass over a year after suffering last season’s opening-day knee injury that has kept him sidelined since. Having missed pre-season, the central defender is not expected to return to action until some time next month. Villa midfielder Boubacar Kamara is also out with a similar injury he suffered in February but is obviously way further behind in his recovery.
Arsenal defenders Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain sidelined, while midfielder Fabio Vieira is back in full training after recovering from a groin injury but is unlikely to make today’s squad.
Premier League: Aston Villa v Arsenal
Arsenal travel to Villa Park to face what could be an extremely tough assignment against a team that beat them at home and away last season, doing their title chances irreparable harm in the process. Both sides kicked off the current campaign with victories, with Arsenal seeing off Wolves at the Emirates shortly before Villa beat West Ham at the London Stadium.
Despite their obvious superiority, neither team’s wins were hugely convincing and both Emery and Mikel Arteta will be hoping to see better performances from their respective teams this evening. Kick-off at Villa Park is at 5.30pm (BST) but feel free to stick around for team news and build-up.
