Home Sport Denied 2 goals, Arsenal came away empty-handed at Aston Villa’s ground, simultaneously losing their top spot to Liverpool

Denied 2 goals, Arsenal came away empty-handed at Aston Villa’s ground, simultaneously losing their top spot to Liverpool

Sport — 12/10/2023

Liverpool’s victory in the early match of round 16 of the Premier League forced Arsenal to win against Aston Villa to regain the top spot. However, coach Arteta’s team did not complete their mission when they lost 0-1 at Villa Park.

Aston Villa confidently welcomes Arsenal at home. In the 5th minute, the home team launched a precise attack from the right. McGinn received the ball in the center of the penalty area. The home team’s midfielder turned and kicked the ball into Arsenal’s net to open the score.

Conceding an early goal left the Arsenal players stunned. The away team’s attack was quite deadlocked in the first 30 minutes of the match. The “Gunners” only really put pressure on the away team’s goal after a minute. 30.

Continuously bombarded the opponent’s goal in the last 15 minutes of the match, but Arsenal’s strikers did not shoot accurately, or were too gentle to beat goalkeeper Martinez. Martinelli, Jesus, and Odegaard all had opportunities to score but were not successful once.

After failing to score an equalizer in the first half, Arsenal continued into the second half with the expectation of scoring a goal, but Aston Villa defended tightly, making it no longer easy for the away team to reach the home team’s goal. That caused Arsenal’s number of shots to decrease sharply compared to the first half.

Aston Villa does not choose a passive defensive style of play, they are ready to attack when they have the ball and so Arsenal cannot play with a high formation. In the 62nd minute, Arsenal counterattacked quickly, Saka ran down and scored the home team’s goal. However, the referee did not recognize the goal due to offside.

In the 90th minute, Havertz kicked the ball into the home team’s net after a chaotic situation in front of Martinez’s goal. However, VAR intervened when it confirmed that the German player let the ball touch his hand before kicking the ball into the net. The ball also seemed to touch the home player’s hand, but referee Gillett did not make a mistake because it was a passive situation.

Aston Villa successfully defended a 1-0 victory, thereby securing third place on the rankings with 35 points, only 2 points behind top team Liverpool and one point behind second-place team Arsenal.