Arsenal suffered their first defeat since their 1-0 loss to Liverpool at the end of August at the hands of former manager Unai Emery and his resurgent Aston Villa side at Villa Park on Saturday (December 6).
Eberechi Eze lost track of Villa right back Matty Cash in the 36th minute, allowing the Poland international to sneak in and score a sliding half-volley through David Raya’s legs and give the hosts a well-earned lead.
In-form winger Leandro Trossard bagged the equaliser shortly after the break, latching on to a Bukayo Saka cross that somehow missed two Villa defenders and Viktor Gyokeres.
Both sides kept going at each other and it was starting to look like they’ve have to settle for a point as the game went into added time. Then, after some pinball in the Arsenal box, Emi Buendia popped up to score a dramatic 95th minute winner, and the stadium went mental.
Arsenal injuries taking their toll
Mikel Arteta’s side had managed to get away with it for a good long while, but with William Saliba and Gabriel sidelined for the past few games, their game plan has fallen apart. Today they had Riccardo Calariori, Piero Hincapie, Jurrien Timber, and Ben White as their back four, and it was easy to see it was the first time they’d played together.
22 games into the season Arsenal have already used six different centre-back partnerships. It’s not like any of their back line were poor today, they just don’t have the same level of quality or relationship that Saliba and Gabriel do. No one in the Premier League does.
Saliba should be back sooner than Gabriel, who is expected to be out until the end of December at the earliest. To make matters worse, Cristhian Mosquera is sidelined until mid-January. It might be a long festive period for Arsenal
Do we have a title race after all?
Not so long ago any potential title race was looking to be of the one-horse variety with Arsenal seven points clear of their closest competitor at one point. With two draws, two wins, and one defeat from their last five Premier League games, the others are starting to gain ground.
Villa are the most in-form of the chasers with five wins from their previous five games, but Man City, powered by their Norwegian goal machine, pose the most likely threat, sitting in second and now just two points off.
We’ve seen this film before, and it ends with Arsenal missing out. If this was Love Actually, Arteta would be that one guy who turns up at Keira Knightly’s door in the middle of the night with the signs, telling her to yell to Pep Guardiola that it’s carol singers.
Unai Emery might be the best coach in the league
It was a nightmare start to the season for an Aston Villa side that had a really disappointing summer transfer window. With almost no wriggle room due to PSR, Villa were in danger of going backwards rather than forwards.
Now, Emery has turned things around in such impressive fashion, there has to be a conversation about him being the best coach in the Premier League, although a Guardiola may have a little something to say about that.
Keeping Emery at the club should be an absolute priority for the higher-ups at Villa. If they match his ambition off the pitch, the sky’s the limit off it.