Aston Villa v Arsenal 24/08/24 1730

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Barkley.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Villa 0-2 Arsenal, FT!

Get in!

[Marc Overmars]

Fantastic win. Nice to avenge last seasons results against Villa.

[Mac76]

Arsenal

Villa
Emery
Martinez
Brummies
Jeff Lynne
Peaky Blinders
Ozzy Osbourne

[HCZ_Reborn]

Don’t forget Tom Hanks

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Still can't believe we won that but if Raya keeps on with these kind of MOTM performances, maybe dreams can come true.

Thanks to Trossard for making it look easy as usual and the biggest surprise was to see Partey keep it on target

Quite unusual to see Watkins without his cheeky grin but lets hope this kind of result means we'll stop giving Villa to much credit and go after them properly next time.

Arteta's "how much pain can I take" footie wins this duel.

[Marc Overmars]

I thought Trossards lack of a celebration was a bit…unnecessary. Arteta said he is a bit upset at not starting but hopefully this doesn’t turn into anything else and he continues to do his talking on the pitch.

In fairness to him though, he has proven to be far superior than Martinelli. So I get the frustration because he’s scored so many vital goals for us.

It’s probably his lack of pace that Arteta is looking at when picking the team.

[Mac76]

I thought Trossards lack of a celebration was a bit…unnecessary. Arteta said he is a bit upset at not starting but hopefully this doesn’t turn into anything else and he continues to do his talking on the pitch.

In fairness to him though, he has proven to be far superior than Martinelli. So I get the frustration because he’s scored so many vital goals for us.

It’s probably his lack of pace that Arteta is looking at when picking the team.

We can't afford to have this version of Martinelli on the left for 60 mins against Spuds and Citeh, so Trossard has to start v Brighton and stay there for the forseeable

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

I thought Trossards lack of a celebration was a bit…unnecessary. Arteta said he is a bit upset at not starting but hopefully this doesn’t turn into anything else and he continues to do his talking on the pitch.

In fairness to him though, he has proven to be far superior than Martinelli. So I get the frustration because he’s scored so many vital goals for us.

It’s probably his lack of pace that Arteta is looking at when picking the team.

Well I didn't read that much into his celebration but if he is getting upset at this, even the blind couldn't argue with him with the kind of form and composure Martinelli shows in the final third.

I hate defending Arteta, but during the match I kind of understood why he starts Martinelli over Trossard in games like this.

If you watched closely you'd see that Martinelli covered Timber's ass effectively quite a few times. He does the same thing with Zinchencko. Trossard doesn't even come close to being as effective in covering his defender, neither in winning the ball back.

The question is, is it better to start the game trying to win with Trossard and then bring on Martinelli to defend a hopefull lead? Arteta tried it a few times last season and IIRC the results were mixed.

IMO (and I've come to this slowly), I actually think Leo is better at taking advantage of tired weakened defenders. My main gripe with Arteta is that he plays Martinelli for too long when its clear he is having no effect at all in the attack. Leo should have come on instantly the 2nd half started. I mean anyone who has never watched us would have thought the only reason Trossard was coming on was because Emery made his subs first (and then Arteta was reminded of the need to make a sub). I don't think that was the case and he was always going to bring on Trossard to hopefully steal a lead.

Anyway, with Arteta refusing to get a quality striker, he's going to need to learn to kiss Leo's ass and make him understand he is quite integral to this team.