Arsenal creative woes laid bare as Jack Grealish genius drives Aston Villa win
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Perhaps the only positive for Mikel Arteta after this defeat to Aston Villa is that he has the whole international break to work out how to get Arsenal’s attack firing.
Right now, the Gunners are just not clicking going forward and this loss only succeeded in highlighting that as the visitors ran riot at Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal’s front three of Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Willian never got going, while Villa’s sparkled as they claimed a 3-0 win.
At the heart of the Villains’ performance was Jack Grealish, who was lethal on the left flank but popped up everywhere to cause Arsenal’s defence problems all night.
He set up the third, sliding in Ollie Watkins for his second of the evening, and Arsenal just couldn’t find a way to keep him at bay.
The same went for Grealish’s partners in crime – Ross Barkley and Watkins – who looked just as threatening.
Watkins, who is well known in London from his time at Brentford, left the Emirates Stadium with two goals and he gave Gabriel Magalhaes a torrid time. The Brazilian has been one of the Gunners’ star players this season, but not tonight.
Barkley, who laid on Watkins’ first, looks back to the player he was before he joined Chelsea and his display only emphasised Arsenal’s lack of creativity.
The Gunners have struggled all season for goals and this performance will surely spark Arteta into a rethink.
Ollie Watkins gave Arsenal’s defence a torrid night at the Emirates on Sunday
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Aubameyang, in particular, looks a shadow of the player he was last season on the left. Perhaps a role through the middle is needed? That may get him into the positions required to take advantage of his talent for the finding the net.
There are questions, too, over Lacazette and Willian. Both looked short on confidence tonight and there are players waiting in the wings, namely Nicolas Pepe.
Arteta has plenty of food for thought over the next two weeks.
Willian place under threat as Brazilian struggles again
When he claimed three assists against Fulham on the opening day of the season, big things were expected to come from Willian throughout this campaign. In hindsight, however, it looks as though that display may have been telling us more about Fulham’s defensive frailties than Willian’s attacking threat.
Without doubt, the Brazilian is struggling right now and we are yet to see the player who looked so threatening for Chelsea last season.
Willian has struggled to make an impact for Arsenal
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Injuries have, of course, played their part in hampering Willian’s start to life in north London, but as we head into the third international break, surely his place in the team is under threat?
The 32-year-old is still yet to score this season, while Pepe has three to his name. The majority of those have – as people will point out – come in the Europa League.
But perhaps now is the time for Pepe to be given the chance to show he can do it in the Premier League?
Martinez enjoys easy and happy homecoming
For Emi Martinez, the only thing missing were Villa supporters and his family to see this. After being sold by Arsenal this summer, the Argentina international returned to Emirates Stadium for the first time and he left with three points and a clean sheet.
That is exactly what the goalkeeper would have been dreaming of the night before, but he cannot have imagined it would be this straightforward.
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez was afforded an easy night’s work against his former club
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In all honesty, Martinez was barely tested all game as Villa ran out comfortable winners. He had to get down smartly to stop Thomas Partey in the first half – but other than that this was a routine night’s work for Martinez.
It was just a shame none of his family, or the Villa away fans, were here to witness it.