BIRMINGHAM — Arsenal finally defeated arch-rivals Aston Villa with second-half goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey. led the Gunners to a 2-0 win at Villa Park.
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Unai Emery’s Villa and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal played out another spectacular game as the floodlights sparkled under clear blue skies at a noisy Villa Park.
At the final whistle, it was Arteta and his players who celebrated with the Arsenal fans in the away section, as the Gunners had apparently taken a big step forward and finally broken their Villa curse.
Here’s a look at what we learned from a wild specimen at Villa Park.
Arsenal are lucky and show strong performance ahead of a difficult first away game
Let’s not lose sight of that, Arsenal were twice taken out of the firing line by Ollie Watkins and they made the most of it. In the first half, Watkins missed a huge chance as he narrowly missed the target. In the second half, Onana’s shot hit the crossbar and the ball fell straight to Watkins as the Holte End expected to see the net shake. But Watkins headed the ball into the only place where David Raya could make a miraculous save and he did. Those chances before and after half time were crucial to the story of this game. When Arsenal got big chances, they took them and ahead of their next two away games at Tottenham and Manchester City, the win at Villa when they were under pressure for long periods was a huge step forward. The start to the season away at Villa, Tottenham and Man City will tell us whether or not Arsenal have taken a big step forward towards winning the title. The early signs are good for the Gunners. That was a big statement.
Partey doubles Arsenal’s lead against Aston Villa
Thomas Partey shoots past Emiliano Martinez with a long-range shot to make it 2-0 for the Gunners against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Trossard proves his killer instinct as a substitute
After putting Arsenal 1-0 up just two minutes after coming on, Leandro Trossard looked a little annoyed as he ran towards the cheering away fans. He had proven once again that he can finish when Arsenal need him most. When has he not? His big miss against Villa in the 2-0 defeat at the end of last season was perhaps the only time he missed a goal for Arsenal. At the end, Trossard celebrated with his trademark eyes and joined in the celebrations. But his first reaction was a not-so-subtle message to Arteta: You can count on me. Let me start on the left. It would be a surprise if he wasn’t in the starting line-up for Tottenham or Man City next time.
Trossard scores Arsenal’s opening goal against Villa
Just moments after entering the pitch, Leandro Trossard gives Arsenal the breakthrough against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Rogers is the real star in the role of Bellingham
The biggest plus for Aston Villa was the performance of 22-year-old Morgan Rogers in attacking midfield. His surging runs were at the heart of everything Villa did well. In the first half he caused Rice and Partey a lot of problems when he appeared in front of Arsenal’s back four. Graeme Le Saux didn’t quite compare him to Jude Bellingham’s level on our show, but said Rogers’ powerful, driving runs were reminiscent of the Real Madrid and England star. That was spot on and in Villa’s counter-attacking system, Rogers will provide plenty of momentum and allow Watkins to take up dream positions on the shoulder of the last defender. Villa have discovered a rising star who should make his England debut very soon.
