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Game #5634

Aston Villa

Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Lost

19th (-4)

Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥

Premier League

Attendance: 60,012

Arsenal

Emirates Stadium

🕒 | HT Arsenal 1-0 Villa. New formation, new line up, Villa busier, quicker and slicker with the ball than normal. But Gerrard’s narrow style just invites pressure. Blocks and saves galore keep Arsenal at bay with the spine of Kamara, Konsa & Martinez outstanding before on 30’ a rare mistake from the ‘keeper gifts Arsenal the lead. Still time for Villa to attack.

🕒 | FT Arsenal 2-1 Villa. A defeat but if there’s any positive it’s that the team were far less passive than in recent weeks. Play was more expansive too. It was certainly a better performance, although it would feel odd to celebrate it as the best of the season. But it was.

Arsenal

2-1

Aston Villa

Assist(s) | None

KEY MAN

Douglas Luiz, ignored the noise to score from the bench in an improved defeat

PREVIOUS MATCH

NEXT MATCH

MATCH TIMELINE

Wednesday, 31 August 2022

🟨 | 13’ Booking, Jacob Ramsey, Bad foul
🥅 | 30’ Goal, 0-1, (Arsenal), Gabriel Jesus
🕒 | HT Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa
🟨 | 53’ Booking, Ezri Konsa, Shirt pull
🟨 | 68’ Booking, John McGinn, Bad foul
🔁 | 73’ Sub off, Emiliano Buendía, Sub on, Philippe Coutinho
🔁 | 73’ Sub off, John McGinn, Sub on, Douglas Luiz
⚽ | 74’ Goal, 1-1, Douglas Luiz, Direct from corner
🥅 | 78’ Goal, 1-2, (Arsenal), Gabriel Martinelli
🔁 | 83’ Sub off, Boubacar Kamara, Sub on, Danny Ings
🕒 | FT Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa

ON THIS DAY

In search of their 2,000th League win, captain John McGinn makes his 150th start for Villa. At the other end of the spectrum Leon Bailey comes in for just his tenth start in twenty two appearances for the club.

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96

Arsenal

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 2019-20

FIXTURE HISTORY

Arsenal

Previous 5 vs. Arsenal: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟥

FIXTURE DETAILS

Season | 2022-23 |
Matchday | #6 |
League Game | #5 |
Manager Game | #34 |
Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Attendance | 60,012 |

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: Steven Gerrard | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Merseyside, 2021-2022
Referee: Robert Jones | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Merseyside, 2016-
Kick off: 7.30pm
Half Time Score: 🟥 0-1
Full Time Result: 🟥 Lost
Full Time Score: 🟥 1-2
Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Robert Jones | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Merseyside, 2016-
Previous 5: 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 19 Feb 22, Villa 0-1 Watford (h)
Incidents: 🟨 🟨 🟨
Assistants: Lee Betts, Ian Hussin.
Fourth official: Craig Pawson.
VAR: Darren England.
Assistant VAR: James Mainwaring.

CARDS

Villa

🟨 🟨 🟨

Arsenal

🟨 🟨

Robert Jones

TEAM NEWS

Credit where it’s due, Gerrard has at least seen fit to tinker with the team.

Out go Ings, Chambers, Coutinho and Luiz, in come Buendía, Bailey, Ramsey and Mings.

It might be wishful thinking but 60 minutes before kick off there is a faint hope that tactics will be changed too.

Having said that Douglas Luiz is particularly hard done by to miss out however if this is the start of a Brian Little-esque formation change then we’re not ones to complain.

The bench is as would be expected with Nakamba and Sanson expected to depart before transfer deadline tomorrow. Tim Iroegbunam keeps his place alongside Cam Archer as the Villa Youth representatives.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age: | 26.21 |
Bench Average Age: | 27.90 |
Squad Average Age: | 27.06 |
Subs Average Age: | 28.35 |
Oldest Starter: GK Emiliano Martínez | 🇦🇷 | 30.01 |
Youngest Starter: M Jacob Ramsey | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 21.27 |
Oldest Squad Player: RB Ashley Young | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 37.17 |
Youngest Squad Player: M Tim Iroegbunam | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 20.07 |
Oldest Substitute: M Philippe Coutinho | 🇧🇷 | 30.48 |
Youngest Substitute: M Douglas Luiz | 🇧🇷 | 24.33 |

Steven Gerrard | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

MANAGER

MANAGER

Steven Gerrard | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Mikel Arteta | 🇪🇸 |

Aston Villa

GK Emiliano Martínez | 🇦🇷 |
RB Matty Cash | 🇵🇱 |
CB Tyrone Mings | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Ezri Konsa | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
LB Lucas Digne | 🇫🇷 |
M John McGinn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ©️ | 🟨 | 🔁 |
M Boubacar Kamara | 🇫🇷 | 🔁 |
M Jacob Ramsey | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
W Emiliano Buendía | 🇦🇷 | 🔁 |
W Leon Bailey | 🇯🇲 |
CF Ollie Watkins | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Arsenal

GK Aaron Ramsdale | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Kieran Tierney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB Ben White | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
CB William Saliba | 🇫🇷 | 🟨 |
CB Gabriel | 🇧🇷 |
M Granit Xhaka |🇨🇭|
M Albert Sambi Lokonga | 🇧🇪 |
W Bukayo Saka | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Martin Ødegaard | 🇳🇴 | 🟨 | 🔁 |
W Gabriel Martinelli | 🇧🇷 | ⚽ |
CF Gabriel Jesus | 🇧🇷 | ⚽ | 🔁 |

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | M Philippe Coutinho | 🇧🇷 | for W Emiliano Buendía | 🇦🇷 | 73’ |
🔁 | M Douglas Luiz | 🇧🇷 | ⚽ | for M John McGinn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 73’ |
🔁 | CF Danny Ings | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Boubacar Kamara | 🇫🇷 | 83’ |

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | RB Takehiro Tomiyasu | 🇯🇵 | for CB Ben White | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 65’ |
🔁 | M Emile Smith Rowe | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Martin Ødegaard | 🇳🇴 | 81’ |
🔁 | CB Rob Holding | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for CF Gabriel Jesus | 🇧🇷 | 88’ |
🔁 | CF Eddie Nketiah | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for W Bukayo Saka | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 88’ |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Robin Olsen | 🇸🇪 |
CB Calum Chambers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Ludwig Augustinsson | 🇸🇪 |
M Tim Iroegbunam | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Ashley Young | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Cameron Archer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Matt Turner | 🇺🇸 |
RB Cédric Soares | 🇵🇹 |
M Matt Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Fábio Vieira | 🇵🇹 |
W Marquinhos | 🇧🇷 |

SQUAD STATS

1st XI Cost: £185.63m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 5/11
Homegrown: 1/11
Subs Cost: £59.60m
Team Cost: £245.23m
Squad Cost: £245.23m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/20
Homegrown: 3/20

MATCHDAY SQUAD

GK Emiliano Martínez | 🇦🇷 | £19.58m |
GK Robin Olsen | 🇸🇪 | £3.15m |

LB Lucas Digne | 🇫🇷 | £27.00m |
RB Matty Cash | 🇵🇱 | £14.18m |
RB Ashley Young | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |
LB Ludwig Augustinsson | 🇸🇪 | Loan |

CB Tyrone Mings | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £20.60m |
CB Ezri Konsa | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £11.97m |
CB Calum Chambers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |

M Philippe Coutinho | 🇧🇷 | £18.00m |
M Douglas Luiz | 🇧🇷 | £15.12m |
M John McGinn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | £2.79m |
M Jacob Ramsey | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |
M Boubacar Kamara | 🇫🇷 | Free |
M Tim Iroegbunam | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |

W Emiliano Buendía | 🇦🇷 | £34.56m |
W Leon Bailey | 🇯🇲 | £28.80m |

CF Ollie Watkins | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £27.72m |
CF Danny Ings | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £31.59m |
CF Cameron Archer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |

SQUAD STATS

1st XI Cost: £293.67m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 4/11
Homegrown: 1/11
Subs Cost: £55.35m
Team Cost: £310.41m
Squad Cost: £313.11m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 8/20
Homegrown: 4/20

MATCHDAY SQUAD

GK Aaron Ramsdale | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £25.20m |
GK Matt Turner | 🇺🇸 | £5.73m |

LB Kieran Tierney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | £24.30m |
RB Takehiro Tomiyasu | 🇯🇵 | £16.74m |
RB Cédric Soares | 🇵🇹 | Free |

CB Ben White | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £52.65m |
CB William Saliba | 🇫🇷 | £27.00m |
CB Gabriel | 🇧🇷 | £23.40m |
CB Rob Holding | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £2.70m |

M Granit Xhaka |🇨🇭| £40.50m |
M Fábio Vieira | 🇵🇹 | £31.50m |
M Martin Ødegaard | 🇳🇴 | £31.50m |
M Albert Sambi Lokonga | 🇧🇪 | £15.75m |
M Emile Smith Rowe | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |
M Matt Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |

W Gabriel Martinelli | 🇧🇷 | £6.39m |
W Marquinhos | 🇧🇷 | £3.15m |
W Bukayo Saka | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |

CF Gabriel Jesus | 🇧🇷 | £46.98m |
CF Eddie Nketiah | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |

UNAVAILABLE

Injury | 2 |
GK Jed Steer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Achilles
CB Diego Carlos | 🇧🇷 | Achilles

Out On Loan | 12 |
W Indiana Vassilev | 🇺🇸 | Inter Miami
GK Viljami Sinisalo | 🇫🇮 | Burton
M Finn Azaz | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Plymouth
CF Louie Barry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | MK Dons
CF Wesley | 🇧🇷 | Levante
W Jaden Philogene-Bidace | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Cardiff
M Aaron Ramsey | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Norwich
RB Kaine Kesler Hayden | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Huddersfield
CF Keinan Davis | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Watford
W Bertrand Traoré | 🇧🇫 | Basaksehir
CB Kortney Hause | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Watford
FB Ben Chrisene | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Kilmarnock

Not Selected | 2 |
M Morgan Sanson | 🇫🇷 |
M Marvelous Nakamba | 🇿🇼 |

Bomb Squad | 1 | 💣 |
RB Frédéric Guilbert | 🇫🇷 |

UNAVAILABLE

Not Recorded

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

DEBUT APPEARANCES

FINAL APPEARANCES

MATCH STATS

Possession F | 40%
Possession A | 60%
Shots F | 4
Shots A | 22
Shots on Target F | 3
Shots on Target A | 9
Corners F | 3
Corners A | 10
Fouls F | 13
Fouls A | 10

TABLE

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

PROGRAMME

Quotation Marks.png

MATCHDAY QUOTES

“We were standoffish in the first half. Douglas [Luiz] scored a great goal and we were right back in it and then we make the same mistakes over and over again and we were punished.

“It is about us as players taking responsibility and being more streetwise. We need to start getting results and we are all aware of it, it would be a bigger problem if the effort wasn’t there.

“There were a lot more bodies on the line but we seem to be weak when we score a goal. It is something we have addressed after the game and something we need to improve if we are to take the club where we want to.

“If you don’t perform you get criticism and you can either go into your shell and worry or you can puff your chest out and try to do something about it. It is not going to turn overnight.

“It has nothing to do with the manager. Players are put out to do jobs and if we don’t perform those jobs it is our responsibility.”

John McGinn.



“I’m not in control of that [Douglas Luiz’s future].

“There’s two people, well, there’s more than two people who are in control of that, but I’m certainly not one of them.

“That will be Douglas, that will be his agent and that will be what happens around that.

“I’d like to keep him, he’s a fantastic player, I’ve made that abundantly clear.

“We are not in position where we need to lose our top players, but at the same time Douglas has a year to go and it is one of them [sic] really touchy situations where the club has to do what is best for the club, not necessarily what is best for me.”

“We improved a lot second half and had some really interesting breakaways.

“Douglas provides a bit of magic to get us back in the game. Again we concede two goals because we didn’t get the detail of our defending right.

“Of course the keeper [Emiliano Martínez] could have done a bit better for us for the second one but he kept us in the game for large parts of it as well. At the moment we are struggling to keep clean sheets and we need to get back to basics.

“Of course I do [think about being sacked]. I am really honest and critical of myself. If I stood here and said I wasn’t concerned I think you’d look at me as though I was from a different planet.

“I’m well aware of where we are at and I don’t like how the table looks.

“I’m sure my players don’t and I know the fans don’t so we all need to stick together. I think it’s natural if the pressure builds, I was asked that last weekend in terms of the Villa fans’ reaction and I take that on my shoulders, I take full responsibility, I won’t shirk that.

“I think we certainly improved as the game went on, we showed a lot of commitment, character, we were hanging in at times, but at places like Arsenal you’ve got to do that.

“You’ve got to show that you can suffer and get through it and we did at times. We looked dangerous but if we keep getting really important moment defensively wrong in key areas, we’re going to continue to concede goals and that’s a problem.

“It’s hard to put your finger on because we work on it daily. We speak about this most days about getting out to people, if it’s Martinelli we know he likes it on his right foot so show him on his left foot, if it’s Saka show him on his right foot because he has a good left foot.

“You need to get out to someone quick then you need to do it 100 per cent, full throttle, at the weekend we didn’t do it and there’s a deflection. We don’t get out to Martinelli quick enough and he’s allowed to cross it, we have a problem from it. Then we have a catalogue of errors for the second goal so it’s really frustrating that the messages don’t seem to be going in.

“I think the technical level in terms of the first half was nowhere near good enough for the talent of players we’ve got.

“We didn’t allow ourselves to create enough, because if you turn it over instantly and I think that was a collective thing, it’s very hard to go and create, especially here.

“Second half everyone improved, we kept the ball, we passed through Arsenal, we made Arsenal face their on goal, we broke quick, we showed our power and our talented players really stepped forward and I was much happier. It would’ve been nice for that to be the case for 90 minutes.

“I wish I wasn’t as frustrated as I am because I could wax lyrical about that moment for a long time and this is no fluke. I’ve not sure I’ve seen that many corners scored in my life, let alone two in three weeks so credit to him. It’s a wonderful moment but unfortunately a a group we haven’t given Douglas a better moment, because if that gives us a big point here or it leads for us to win the game it’s a more important goal.”

Steven Gerrard.

*BBC Sport*
Wednesday, 31 August 2022

**Arsenal maintained their 100% start to the season to stay top of the Premier League with a narrow victory over a lacklustre Aston Villa side.**

The result is likely to heap more pressure on Villa boss Steven Gerrard who has seen his side lose four of their first five fixtures.

However, he could have few complaints here with his side struggling to match the hosts’ intensity particularly in a one-sided first period.

Gabriel Jesus’ third goal of the season was a meagre reward for Arsenal’s first-half dominance with the Brazilian forward sweeping a low effort past Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez after he had fumbled Granit Xhaka’s deflected shot.

And while Villa improved after the break and found an equaliser directly from Douglas Luiz’s corner - as Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale protested that he was impeded by Boubacar Kamara - they were on level terms for less than three minutes.

Mikel Arteta’s side, who carried the greater threat throughout went straight back on the offensive and regained their lead with Gabriel Martinelli turning in Bukayo Saka’s pinpoint cross.

It means Arsenal have won their opening five league matches for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign, when they went on to finish second.

Arsenal good value for victory

While Arsenal stuttered to a victory by the same scoreline against Fulham last weekend they more than merited their three points against Villa.

Superior in all departments before the break, the Emirates crowd reacted with a mixture of relief and joy when Martinelli turned matchwinner with his fourth goal in his last six top-flight matches.

Arteta’s side had been given an early jolt by Emiliano Buendia’s third-minute effort but from there on it was one-way traffic as the Gunners created a series of excellent chances which should have seen them out of sight by the break.

Saka badly miscued to fire wide of an empty net from Martinelli’s cross, while Odegaard saw his goal-bound shot blocked on the line by Villa defender Ezri Konsa and Matty Cash also prevented another touch off Saka from creeping over the line.

Martinez, despite his error for Jesus’ goal, excelled for the visitors and also made a fine save to tip Martinelli’s superb volley over the bar, while centre-back Gabriel also twice went close.

However, for all their free-flowing attacking, Arteta will likely have been most satisfied by the resolve that his side showed when they were pegged back.

The Gunners will now travel to Manchester United on Sunday in buoyant mood, though Arteta’s next challenge might be how he rotates his squad with the club’s Europa League campaign set to begin next week at FC Zurich.

Meanwhile, Villa will play host to champions Manchester City, who have scored 10 goals in their last two games, needing to quickly address the defensive frailties that saw Arsenal repeatedly carve them open to register 22 shots on goal.

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