Coutinho Silenced as Arsenal Beat Villa

On the back of a tough loss to Liverpool, Arsenal travelled to play Aston Villa away from home. In the lead up to the match, there were a lot of nerves and doubts setting in about how Arsenal would respond, and even more importantly, how it would affect the Top 4 race.

After an assertive first half, many of those doubts were put to rest as Arsenal dominated the play, leaving Villa without a single shot attempt. In a much more on-the-ropes second half, the Clarets were looking to break the Arsenal deadlock but found no success, leaving Saka’s 30th minute volley to be the decisive difference. Arsenal left Villa Park with all 3 points, solidifying them in 4th place with a 4 place gap to the next closest opponent (Man Utd in 5th).

So how did the players themselves perform?

Mikel Arteta – 8

It seems like every week I am writing underneath this man’s name – Arteta put out a solid team… the tactics were effective – and no Arsenal fan in the world will see a problem with that. Arteta gave the thumbs up to Bernd Leno for the first time in 6 months (in the Premier League), with Ramsdale (hip) being sidelined for the first time since starting for the club in the Premier League. Gabriel Martinelli (illness) was also left out of the squad, being replaced by Emile Smith-Rowe, who also started his first game in a while.

The plan to link up the play using quick combinations all throughout the pitch was once again highly effective. This allowed Arsenal to dominate possession and give nothing to the Villa team. In the second half where his team had much less control, he made the perfect decision to bring on Rob Holding and change from the 4-3-3 into a 5-2-3. So in other words, he used the win condition.

Bernd Leno – 8

Ever since Ramsdale was signed, Leno has been riding the bench in the Premier League. He has been an ultimate professional though – he never complained, whined or pouted – he stuck to working and today it paid off. He didn’t have an awful lot to do in this match and looked a bit uncertain when crosses came in at times, but when the German made the save off the free kick to seal the win, all of his teammates went and celebrated with him. In all honesty, he deserved it too.

Cedric – 8.5

If I’m being completely honest, I was scared to death of Philippe Coutinho and what he would do to the Arsenal defence. In recent times, the Gunners have been constantly unlocked by quick and tricky CAMs time and time again. Today, however, I forgot that Coutinho was on the pitch at times and a lot of the credit has to go to Cedric. He silenced Coutinho, who was playing in a LAM position, giving him no time on the ball. Even when the Brazilian had the ball, Cedric held him up for long enough for the rest of the team to get back and help him out. Cedric managed to do all this and still contribute greatly to Arsenal’s attack, playing a major role in the lead up to the Gunners’ goal.

Ben White – 9

Ben White had his hands full with Ollie Watkins for the entirety of the time he was on the pitch. Once the full time whistle blew, White didn’t have his hands full – he had his pockets full. No matter how many times Villa would bomb the ball long and search for Watkins as a target man, Ben White would block, clear, repel and use any means necessary to not let Watkins past him. He was prolific in possession as well (which he had a lot of in the first half), capping off a classy performance.

Gabriel – 8.5

Gabriel also did a terrific job of silencing the Villa attack. His most notable moment was when the ball was crossed into the back post, Leno staying on his line, Watkins towering in for a header on goal and the Brazilian defender positioned himself terrifically to head the ball to safety. Overall, he stayed defensively solid and was efficient in possession.

Kieran Tierney – 8

In this game we saw the Kieran Tierney that we have all grown to love. The Scotsman defended passionately, making sure to shut down Emi Buendia every time he got the ball, as well as shutting down the overload advances of Matty Cash. He would then bomb forward when we had the ball, bombarding the Villa defence with crosses and linking up with Smith-Rowe brilliantly.

Martin Odegaard – 8

Odegaard wasn’t as dominant in the Arsenal attack as we have previously seen but that’s not to say that he had a bad game. The Norwegian linked up the play in the first half brilliantly, yet as Villa took a foothold of the second half his influence started to fade away.

Thomas Partey – 8.5

Partey continues his purple patch of form and I am all for it. Just like in previous weeks, the Ghanaian juggernaut made his presence felt in the midfield. Partey worked hard in the middle of the park to win the ball off the opposition, whether it was a 50-50 tackle, cutting a pass off or just using his body to shield the ball and reclaim possession. It seems as if this new defensive CM role that Arteta has him in plays perfectly to his strengths.

Granit Xhaka – 8

The part of Xhaka’s game I was most impressed with was not his defensive capabilities. It wasn’t his efficiency in possession. It was not his leadership. It was his discipline. Now Granit Xhaka and discipline are not normally in the same sentence without the word ‘poor’ in there somewhere, but he showed a level of maturity that we had not seen from him before. Having received a yellow card on the brink of half time, almost everyone watching the game (including the commentators) thought ‘oh no, Arsenal are going to go down to 10 men’. It was almost inevitable for Xhaka to leave a foot in a challenge or have a scrap with a player, resulting in a second yellow. Xhaka showed brilliant self-control however, not going into any rash challenge and controlling himself terrifically.

Bukayo Saka – 8.5

He provides the goods again. Having taken the short free kick out on the right wing, Saka’s instincts brought him to the top of the box and his class put the ball into the back of the net. He was quiet at times but still remained dangerous throughout the rest of the game.

Emile Smith-Rowe – 8.5

It was great to see Smith-Rowe back in the line-up. The Englishman wasted no time at all, immediately linking up spectacularly on the left hand side of the attack and asking all sorts of questions of the Villa defence. Although he didn’t come away with a goal contribution, he was definitely deserving of one.

Alexandre Lacazette – 8

Lacazette again showed his worth to this Arsenal team by dropping short and connecting the Arsenal attacks with short and sharp passing in the middle of the pitch. My only criticism of him is that he had a chance to play through Martin Odegaard, who had 20 yards of space, cutting in from the right wing but instead opted to shoot. Still a solid showing though.

SUBSTITUTIONS:

Nicolas Pepe – 6.5

He was brought on with 20 minutes to play but failed to make a real impact as Arsenal transitioned to a more defensive mindset.

Eddie Nketiah – 6.5

He too didn’t have much to do other than provide an outlet for the Arsenal defence.

Rob Holding – 7.5

As soon as you saw Holding hold up the 5-2-3 with his hand then you knew that the game was finished. Every time this man stands next to the half way line waiting for a sub, you know that the 3 points are ours.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ben White – 9

Every time the ball was bombed forward, White sent it back. No shots for the Clarets and Blue until the 60th minute – much of that has to be credited to White.