Match 5: Arsenal 2 - 1 Aston Villa

Setting the scene

Coming into the fifth game of the season, Arsenal were the only team in the league to have a perfect record and in a home match against a struggling Aston Villa side, this was expected to continue with betting companies giving Arsenal a 1/2 chance to win the game compared to 5/1 for Aston Villa (and 7/2 for a draw). Arsenal showed fantastic character to pull back against Fulham on the previous weekend in order to secure a win and demonstrate their confidence. With Arsenal having picked up their first few injuries, they were left with no Zinchenko who was left out as a precaution and no Partey who suffered a tight thigh in training and as such the two players who have played in central midfield for the first three matches of the season were unable to do so, creating a selection issue for Arteta. Against Fulham, Arsenal lined up with Kieran Tierney filling the role of Zinchenko and Elneny filling Partey's role however for this most recent match, Arteta decided to start Sambi Lakonga in Partey's role, the only change in the starting lineup from the previous week. This is how both teams lined up:

As is customary now, Arsenal lined up on paper with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Kieran Tierney on the left again in place of injured Zinchenko and Sambi Lakonga got his first start of the season in a central midfield pairing with Xhaka. Due to Aston Villa utilising a front-three, this meant that they had to play narrow in order to provide cohesion in the press against the Arsenal back 3 of White, Saliba and Gabriel. The tactical shape was the same as it has been for the previous four matches and Tierney displayed that he is capable of filling the role of a central midfielder akin to Zinchenko. Here is how Arsenal lined up in practice:

Arsenal's front three stayed the same at the disappointment of Emile Smith Rowe, but Martinelli's form has been too good as of late to take him out of the team. Meanwhile, Tierney and Lakonga had their first test as a pairing together, although Lakonga ended up playing a much more central role, allowing room for Ben White to push forward.

How it played out

Arsenal came out of the gates with a lot of intensity against Aston Villa. In the first 15 minutes, Arsenal had taken 6 shots and were not going to let up. They dominated throughout the game and did not allow Aston Villa the chance to build and sustain attacks, by pressing from the front and closing down the passing lanes. By doing this, Arsenal only allowed Aston villa 41% possession and ended up completing 58% more passes than the visitors. Arsenal were also able to nullify the Aston Villa press through the variation used when building out from the back.

In possession, Arsenal approached the game using the all familiar positional play setup, utilising Xhaka as a forward player and allowing the left-back to act as a central midfielder when Xhaka would push forwards. When building out from the back, Arsenal played somewhat reactively to the Aston Villa press- If Ben White were pressed, Ødegaard would come deep or wide in order to provide a passing option and in turn drawing Buendia away from Lakonga, giving Arsenal lots of room to manoeuvre in the centre of the pitch. On the other side of the pitch, Arsenal controlled the build up play- with Tierney and Xhaka able to rotate with each other and similarly for Martinelli and Xhaka, Arsenal ensured that they were able to drag Aston Villa players out of position in order to create space and numerical advantages around their third of the pitch.

Whilst in the attacking third, Martinelli would frequently stay on the touchline to provide width, allowing Xhaka to occupy a right-central defender or right back. This combined with Jesus' tendency to stick to the left side of the striker position, allowed Arsenal to dominate down the left and created many situations whereby two defenders would be drawn to Martinelli, allowing space for an underlapping Xhaka- as was the case for the first Arsenal goal.

These contributions coupled with a disorganised Aston Villa defence allowed Arsenal to exploit space on many occasions and forced the opposition defence to drift as a unit thereby allowing wide spaces for Arsenal to operate in if the ball were to be switched. This was the case for Arsenal's second goal and can be shown clearly in the next section.

Out of possession, Arsenal ensured to press from the front. With Arsenal operating with 4 attacking players (5 when in possession) each of the Aston Villa defenders was marked or closed down by an Arsenal player quickly as soon as they received the ball. This was demonstrated by Arsenal having a lot of interceptions in the match, with many of them occurring in the Aston Villa defensive or midfield third. By doing this, Arsenal were able to nullify Aston Villa's build up play, only allowing them 4 shots in the match, with one of them being a direct corner that went in. Due to the "freak" nature of this goal, it will not be analysed in the following section.

Goal Analysis (not all of them)

30th Minute: Arsenal 1 - 0 Aston Villa (Jesus Goal)

Snapshot 1:

Martinelli has the ball in a wide position with the other 4 attackers have taken up their positions in the half spaces and Xhaka looks to make a run in behind in his half space.

Snapshot 2:

Xhaka's is able to get in a shooting position, albeit at a very tight angle. Jesus and Ødegaard are looking to exploit the space (pink) around the 6-yard box whilst Saka makes a run to the back post.

Snapshot 3:

Martinez cannot hold onto the ball after the shot from Xhaka and can only push it into a dangerous area where Jesus and Ødegaard are waiting.

Snapshot 4:

Jesus is able to get to the loose ball first and has a relatively easy chance which he is able to convert.

30th Minute: Arsenal 2 - 1 Aston Villa (Martinelli Goal)

Snapshot 1:

Martinelli has the ball on the left and is closed down by two defenders whilst Aston Villa are not in their defensive shape.

Snapshot 2:

Martinelli's pass finds Tomiyasu who has a bit of time on the ball. Meanwhile, Saka notices his space and begins making a run to receive a pass.

Snapshot 3:

With Saka on the ball at the back post, the Aston Villa defence all shifts towards him, leaving many players unmarked and Martinelli with a vast amount of space (pink) in front of him.

Snapshot 4:

Saka's cross is easily able to find Martinelli who does well to keep his shot down and find its way past Emi Martinez.

Prominent Arsenal Performances

MotM- Gabriel Martinelli:

The match-winner Martinelli was a constant thorn in the right side of the Aston Villa defence; utilising his positional interchange with Granit Xhaka, he showed great maturity in the tactical setup and was able to use this to not only create the most shooting opportunities alongside Ødegaard but also grab a goal in recognising space. This was somewhat aided by poor defensive positioning from Aston Villa, but the ability he showed to score his goal should not go unappreciated- It was a difficult ball to get onto and keep down but he did brilliantly in doing so. Additionally, he had the most shots in the Arsenal team and second most on target, one of which looked as though it was going to nestle in the top corner from 25 yards out, before it was tipped away from goal by the former Arsenal keeper, Martinez.

Key performance- Gabriel Jesus:

Gabriel Jesus once again displayed the kind of intensity and skill that makes him such an asset in the side. His constant pressing was very difficult for Villa to deal with and he could be seen sprinting back to help an opposition counter-attack on many occasions. He was the top performer in the match in terms of xG, achieving a score of 1.1 expected goals across 4 shots, giving an average xG per shot of 0.275.

Disappointing performance- Kieran Tierney:

Kieren Tierney did not have a bad game and was instead just the least impactful on the game. He filled the role Zinchenko has displayed very well but lacked the creative and passing flair of the Ukrainian. His performance was somewhat characterised by a poor passing record, only completing 70.9% of his passes compared to Zinchenko's average of 88.1%. across his three appearances.

Area to improve

1. Finishing: Similarly to the match against Fulham, Arsenal underperformed their xG. This was down to individual mistakes as well as defensive congestion. Bukayo Saka had an easy chance to score after a ball was played into him by Martinelli, however Saka took it on his weaker foot and ended up missing a chance that looked easier to score than not. Additionally, in the first half, there were three occasions whereby Arsenal had multiple shots in the space of seconds, because Aston Villa were not able to reclaim possession. One of these brief spells resulted in Matty Cash clearing Saka's shot off the line, whilst another goal was averted by Ezri Konsa clearing the ball from the line. The scoreline could have easily been much worse for Aston Villa if it weren't for the defensive heroics but Arsenal should be looking to capitalise on these chances in future performances in order to widen the gap between themselves and their opponents.