On Saturday, Manchester City made mince meat of Luton Town, propelling the Cityzens to the top of the Premier League, with fellow title rivals, Liverpool and Arsenal having home ties on Sunday.
We all watched Liverpool miss chance after chance against Crystal Palace, and it’s fair to say that Eberechi Eze’s goal was against the run of play, but Liverpool huffed and puffed and couldn’t bring that defense down.
Liverpool’s surprise loss saw them drop to third place, making Arsenal’s clash against Aston Villa all the more important. The starting lineup saw Gabriel Jesus take Jorginho’s place in the team, dropping Kai Havertz to the #8 position. We also saw Gabriel Magalhaes in the lineup despite suspicions of him missing out, which was heartwarming.
Arsenal began as a house on fire and attacked Aston Villa with intent but their profligacy got the better of them. Havertz was sent through on goal on a couple of occasions but his finishing let him down. Bukayo Saka found Jesus on the edge of the area with a brilliant cross but Jesus sent his header to the side netting.
Arsenal’s biggest chance arrived when Martin Odegaard’s shot was blocked and the ball fell kindly for Gabriel Jesus who sent a carefully-threaded ball to an onrushing Leandro Trossard. The Belgian evaded his marker and fired a shot from point blank range that was saved by Emiliano Martinez. It was really surprising to see how Arsenal attacked and played so well but failed to score.
That was the Jekyll performance. Little did we know that they were going to give us some Hyde in the second 45 minutes.
The warning signs were there. A Gabriel error saw Ollie Watkins fire a shot late in the first half that clipped David Raya’s post and crept out. Youri Tielemans robbed Oleksandr Zinchenko off the ball and smashed a piledriver that hit the cross bar and the post.
Arteta summoned Gabriel Martinelli, who I felt should have started ahead of Trossard and Takehiro Tomiyasu, but it was Ben White that was shunted out, instead of the struggling Zinchenko.
With the game delicately poised, as well as the tension that was in the air, Arteta made further changes, bringing on Emile Smith Rowe for the injured Odegaard and Jorginho for a jaded Jesus. Arsenal looked out of sorts in the second half, with Aston Villa controlling the game and having the better chances.
The sucker punch finally arrived when John McGinn teed up Lucas Digne that drilled the ball into the danger area, which evaded Gabriel and Raya before falling for Leon Bailey that placed the ball to an unguarded net. The usually reliable Declan Rice has suffered a dip and he wasn’t aware of Bailey’s presence which was rather unfortunate.
With Arsenal going for broke, Jorginho ceded possession further up the pitch which led to some transition play from Aston Villa with McGinn swinging a hopeful ball to Watkins path. The English forward guarded the ball well and fired a shot that deflected off Smith Rowe to put the game beyond doubt.
With six games to go, Arsenal is now two points behind Manchester City, and with Pep Guardiola’s side mauling the Hatters, Man City’s goal difference has improved, as they are only five goals behind Arsenal. Even the most hopeful and optimistic Arsenal fans know that when Man City get to this position in the business end of the season, they go on an annoying winning streak that will be enough for them to win the Premier League.
It’s saddening to see that Arsenal’s title winning destiny is no longer in their hands, but there’s no time to dwell on this Aston Villa loss because preparations have to be in place for the monumental clash with Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Sayonara.
