Arsenal must learn title race lesson as Martin Odegaard issue answers Aston Villa misconceptions
A tale of two halves for sure, but not without its warnings. Arsenal were deservedly beaten by Aston Villa but it could have easily been very different had the first-half dominance been turned into goals.
The Gunners had their chances with Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka all going close but Ollie Watkins and Youri Tielemans both hit the woodwork prior to the two goals which would leave the Gunners' title hopes hanging by a thread. The question marks surrounding the second-half performance however need answers and there are reasons for how things changed so dramatically.
The key points that are remembered from the second period are the Tielemans shot which hit both bar and post and the two Villa goals. However, the start of the second period which has been forgotten saw Gabriel Jesus look to win a penalty from Diego Carlos.
The Brazilian seemingly brought down his compatriot but there was not enough in it to give the Gunners what they were looking for. Martin Odegaard then had a chance from a free-kick to take a shot after John McGinn committed a foul on the edge of the box.
The Tielemans effort was sandwiched between two others from Arsenal, however. The first was an Arsenal corner seeing the ball fall to Rice on the edge of the box who took an uncharacteristically wild swing at it and a great opportunity which Jesus saw pushed wide by Emi Martinez.
However, the match, for me, changed when Martin Odegaard was taken out of the game, not by the substitution but by the kick to the chest from Watkins. He wouldn’t come off for another 10-plus minutes during which neither team created much but the impact of the Norwegian’s issue was definitely affecting Arsenal.
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