The really worrying thing about this for Arsenal, what will have kept their fans awake last night, is that Mikel Arteta’s team suddenly seemed afraid of winning.
The teams play badly. Mistakes are made. Opportunities are lost. It happens all this time. But when teams play like Arsenal did here, just as they come within sight of a glorious drive to the goal line, then it tends to hint at something deeper and more meaningful. It tends to hint at psychological weakness.
That is a notion that Arteta’s players must dispel quickly and before it takes root. They are in Munich with the Champions League quarterfinals tied 2-2 on Wednesday night. That would be a very good place to start his recovery.
This afternoon’s story was simple. Arsenal, who had the chance to turn a three-horse race into a straight fight with Manchester City after Liverpool’s home defeat to Crystal Palace, were absolutely fine in the first half. They didn’t score but they played pretty well. They dominated the ball and territory and created a couple of very good opportunities that they narrowly missed.
But then, sometime between the end of the first half and the start of the second, something changed. It was as if a different group of players emerged from the locker room during the second 45 minutes.
Ollie Watkins scored a sublime goal to help Aston Villa seal a 2-0 win against Arsenal
It was a depressing defeat for Arsenal, who missed the chance to climb to the top of the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta demanded that his players respond ‘with character and leadership’ after the match
Arsenal have been in fine form of late, but here a cloak of confidence worn so easily during an impeccable run of wins and clean sheets fell to the ground as quickly as the sun can disappear behind a cloud. And when darkness came, it stayed.
Fear. There she was. Anxiety. That too. You could see it in her faces, in her body language and in his football. Forward passes became lateral passes. Ambition turned into caution. Hope turned to fear.
And, by the time the Emirates emptied in added time, all of Arsenal’s deepest worries had risen to the surface again.
It’s just a bad result. The Premier League table still offers hope. It’s all very tight up there. But the truth is that, in the second half, Arsenal were worse than Liverpool against Palace. Liverpool, despite their own problems, had continued to press against Palace. There was something calamitous and vaguely comical about its ending.
Arsenal? They barely created any opportunities during a second half that Villa dominated. In the end, Villa pushed for more goals. After falling behind with six minutes remaining, Arsenal never seemed to want to rescue a single point.
In fact, it had been different before. When Arteta raised his arms towards the crowd towards the end of the first half, it seemed a little unnecessary. The home fans were understanding and calm, and his team’s football was equally determined.
After neither team could take the lead, Leon Bailey scored the first goal with a low shot.
The 26-year-old came on as a substitute and scored his ninth Premier League goal of the season.
Martin Odegaard was the best player of the match, but his frustrations were visible during the match
Villa had not been in the game in the first half. Ollie Watkins had hit the base of the post in the 39th minute, but that was due to a rare raid and indeed a mistake by Arsenal defender Gabriel. It was an atypical moment, nothing more.
Arsenal had played all the football. Martin Odegaard, situated deep in Declan Rice’s orbit, was the game’s best player.
His passes, especially to the feet of Kai Havertz, were impeccable. On the right side, Bukayo Saka seemed to have the number of Villa defender Lucas Digne and it seemed that the goal would come once the English player got the weight of his deliveries right.
It almost happened in the 18th minute, when Gabriel Jesús headed a cross from Saka into the side netting at the far post. Havertz was also denied twice by Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez after being released by Odegaard. Saka then played a one-two with Ben White before moving onto his left foot to fire a shot just inches wide.
Meanwhile, how Martínez saved Leandro Trossard from just six yards five minutes before half-time, perhaps only he knows. It turned out to be a hugely significant intervention from the former Arsenal goalkeeper.
On the sideline, Villa coach Unai Emery looked stressed. He was Arteta’s predecessor in north London, of course, and it was not a happy 18 months. This must have brought back some unpleasant memories.
Thinking about it, Arsenal only needed one goal. They needed something to calm them down and draw Villa into a more open game.
Youri Tielemans could have put the visitors ahead, but his shot hit the crossbar.
Oleksandr Zinchenko had a difficult game and allowed Tielemans to shoot on goal
As it was, the enormity of the possibility of not winning the match seemed to dawn on the Arsenal players collectively at around 5:30 pm. Things were never the same from that point on.
While the first half had played the ball so cleanly and positively through Villa’s lines, the second became an exercise in parallel lines. The ball was going back and forth, back and forth, in front of Villa’s ranks.
All intelligence disappeared. All attack instinct submerged. It became easy for Villa to the point that Arsenal’s only notable shot during this period was a low one from Jesús which Martínez deflected from 18 yards.
Moments before, Villa had given notice of his growing ambition. Oleksandr Zinchenko meekly lost the ball in a challenge with Youri Tielemans and the Belgian midfielder launched a wonderful shot from the corner of the area that hit the crossbar, fell to the post and somehow bounced back.
Twenty minutes later, Villa did score. They had enjoyed increasing possession and with that had come confidence and threat. So when Digne crossed low from the left and both Arsenal central defenders failed to intercept, it was no surprise to see Leon Bailey pull away from a hesitant Rice to score at the far post.
After a heavy blow dealt by Emery’s excellent and persistent team, Arsenal had six minutes of normal time to respond. Instead, Jorginho passed the ball straight to Tielemans inside three minutes and when Watkins ran from his own half towards the pass, he stopped Emile Smith Rowe to produce one of the best finishes of the season, lifting the ball over his shoulder by David Raya. and towards the far corner with the right foot.
When teams play like Arsenal did here, it tends to hint at something deeper and more meaningful.
Interestingly, this result will have given Liverpool a lot of hope after losing to Crystal Palace.
Arsenal will have closed the curtains wondering if last season’s horror story would be repeated.
It was a world-class finish, which catapulted Villa into the box seat ahead of Tottenham in the fight for fourth place and put Arsenal in that horrible place where the senses are scrambled and where what had been previously ordered suddenly seems to have no effect. reason.
This is what City does to you, of course. This is what the relentless nature of their football and their victories does to those teams that try to live with them. Arteta knows it. After all, he used to work there.
This, interestingly, was a result that will have given Liverpool hope. They will have gone to bed feeling better. Meanwhile, Arsenal will have closed the curtains wondering if last season’s horror story was about to repeat itself again and again.