EMERY DOWNED, FINALLY
Arsenal lovers—that was a SPECTACULAR result in the biggest game of the Premier League season so far, bar none.
Aston Villa are a top-four team—if they weren’t in the Champions League this season, I’d have them down for making the top four again.
They are mean, strong, well-drilled, and one of the best sides in the league in transition.
Unai Emery puts a little bit extra on these games because of me—and he has had his vengeance. The two losses to them last season cost Arsenal the league. Did Emery feel good about that? For sure. So good, I’m sure he’s got that game in a hidden folder on his phone for special occassions.
To go away from home in a massive game like that and play with rigid discipline and maturity like that told me one thing: We are ready to take the next step in the league this season and win it.
There were definitely some concerns during the game, but most of them are only a worry because we expect the team to be at peak after game day two. That’s not reality. Declan Rice has only trained for about 10 days. We have a collection of players that haven’t had a good preseason. That told on the pitch with Villa causing us quite a lot of bother they might not have done normally.
… but it didn’t matter. Arsenal created enough chances to bury Villa with a cameo goal from Trossard’s first touch, and a ‘kind of’ screamer from Thomas Partey from the edge of the box. Two well-crafted goals that spoke to big-man moments we didn’t have in the same games last year—and in the home game, we certainly played far better than we did yesterday.
There were some interesting line-up changes—I was expecting Partey to sit on the bench, but Gabi Jesus was not on the coach to Villa Park, which put paid to that idea. That meant the same midfield setup from last week. Jurrien Timber benched Zinchenko—something you felt was a touch harsh, but against the pace of Leon Bailey, it was probably the right move.
The game was cagey—both teams set up to guard against quick breaks, but both teams allowed quick breaks to happen to them. Arsenal also allowed themselves to get manhandled a little bit in the first half, Gabriel getting his pockets picked by Bailey (did Mikel’s hired pick pocket teach him nothing?!), leading to a glaring chance for Watkins to miss. Rogers also decided to put on another Messi-like show, walking through our entire side, only to have his cross snuffed out by the excellent David Raya.
Talking of our keeper—last year, the big question we had was, ‘is he any good at saving shots?’ because we didn’t get to see him make many saves. I prefer it that way, generally. Because yesterday, I had my heart in my mouth when a deflected Onana shot looped over his head and hit the bar—Watkins was the fastest to follow, he headed it to Raya’s right, and somehow the save was made and it was good enough to avoid the second Villa player who was also close to our goal.
Arsenal had some good chances. Saka created space for himself inside the Villa box, fizzed one of his trademark daisy-cutters at the far post, but Martinez pulled off a worldie like he always does against us. We also put Martinelli in some great positions, but his final ball either wasn’t there—or when it was, Kai Havertz couldn’t turn it in from the front post. The Brazilian paid the price for another confidence-less performance and made way for Leo.
First touch of the game was a goal. Thanks to Billy for this meme.
Saka worked a lovely one-two with Ødegaard, shook off Digne, sprinted to the byline, and wrapped his boot around the ball, feeding it into the box. Kai went for it, missed, as did the whole of Villa’s defence—but not Trossard, who swept it past Emi Martinez. It was a great goal, and the celebration spoke to a man who was not willing to accept the indignity of being benched for a player he’s outperforming. He strutted at the crowd, staring blankly. Saliba was egging him on to do the binoculars thing… he gave in at the end and dropped it. But he was mad about being benched.
The Belgian short king was at it again. The next move was built for Martinelli. Gabriel launched a cross-field ball over the top of Villa’s left side, he connected, powered into the area, and fizzed his cross to the back post. Saka collected and measured a perfect pass for Partey to curl first time past the weak wrists of Emi Martinez.
Glory to the footballing gods.
Emery can’t hurt me again this year.
Arsenal don’t have a bogeyman team or coach.
Arteta finally got the better of MY nemesis.
Thoughts and prayers for the fans yearning for Emery this week.
So let’s wrap this:
If Arsenal had done that last year, we’d have won the league. That’s a huge jolt of Compound V for the collective. We can go anywhere, anytime, and take three points.
The defence is still a little bit jittery, but that’s a lack of fitness and early-season bugs in the system. There aren’t many things I love more than watching my centre-backs celebrate winning duels in the last twenty minutes like they’ve just secured hardware at a World Cup. Gabriel loved that game. Saliba put on a mad sprint to deny Ramsey late on, and it really did cement the truth: Arsenal has the best centre-back pairing in the world right now. 23 and 26 years old. They are monsters. Duel winners. Tunnel beasts. 60-yard ball-to-chest kind of guys. They have it all. It’s our special sauce. A clean sheet away at Villa is something not many sides will achieve this season—we did, and it feels massive.
Ben White was solid, but let’s talk about his first instinct when McGinn stepped to Saliba: to SMASH the ball at his chest. Remember the years of our own players not caring about each other? Not fighting the good fight? Ben White epitomises what Arteta has built—he’d die on the battlefield for his team.
Jurrien Timber did well in his first game—there were some lovely passages of play he helped craft. He’s brave, extremely confident, and light on his feet… and he’s quite raw right now. We have to give him patience and time. I also think we need to accept that these players who skew high on the risk factor are going to… take risks and fuck up. We’re going to realise that Zinchenko is actually really good as well, and we now have incredible options at left-back.
I mean, I say Zinchenko… but he wasn’t the player who got the nod to replace Timber. That was Calaifiori. The Italian looks strong, pretty quick, and more than willing to put his head in a washing machine. I liked that one of his first actions was to smash into Emi Martinez and get into a ruck with the Villa defence. The left side of our defence is going to be interesting this season.
Next up, Brighton. The big question for the rest of the week is going to be who exits the club and who stays. If Jesus is out long-term, then Arsenal will cancel the Eddie transfer because there’s no way they’ll leave themselves short for the season. Then we’ll see if anything has been cooking elsewhere—Nico Williams for £60m would be very interesting. A longtime reader mailed me to correct the record on his salary—it’s 200,000 euros a week. That makes him more affordable than I suspected he would be. It’s still expensive, but we saw what he did to Kyle Walker at the Euros. There’s a player there for sure.
Ok, that’s me done… have yourself a very, very good day. On The Whistle is below if you want to join the site as a member. x