Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal: 5 talking points as the Villans pick up a huge win in the relegation battle | Premier League 2019-20
In a monumental result for their Premier League survival hopes, Aston Villa pulled off a dramatic win over Arsenal tonight. The victory pulls the Villans out of the drop zone for the first time since February, and with just one game to go, their fate now rests in their own hands.
It was a tremendous performance from Dean Smith’s men overall. Despite giving up the lion’s share of the possession, Villa’s defenders largely kept Arsenal’s attackers shut out. And when they were handed a chance – via some slack marking from a corner – Trezeguet pounced to hammer the ball past Emiliano Martinez.
Surprisingly enough given Villa’s defensive issues this season, the single goal turned out to be all they needed.
Here are 5 talking points from tonight’s game.
#1 Villa grab their chance at survival with both hands
Just 12 days ago, Aston Villa’s hopes of avoiding relegation looked dead and buried. Stuck in the bottom 3 since February, Dean Smith’s men were beaten 0-3 by Manchester United. And worse for Smith, his players appeared to capitulate following United’s first goal.
Since then though, Villa have somehow managed to turn things around. A win over Crystal Palace was followed by a draw at Everton, leaving them clinging to a lifeline. Southampton’s win over Bournemouth on Sunday handed them more hope and of course, Manchester City’s 4-0 thrashing of Watford meant that a win over Arsenal would take them out of the drop zone.
That task sounded easier said than done, but somehow, Smith’s team pulled the result out. This wasn’t a lucky win, though. Villa had more shots on goal than their opponents tonight, and to a man, worked incredibly hard and put in one of their best performances of the season.
Had they played like this prior to the season’s suspension, they probably wouldn’t be in the trouble they are. Can they survive? On this showing, incredibly, yes.
#2 Smith’s tactical tweaks out-thought Arsenal boss Arteta
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been given a lot of credit lately, and for good reason. Coming into tonight’s game, his Gunners side had beaten Liverpool and Manchester City in back-to-back fixtures.
At Villa Park tonight though, the young manager was tactically beaten by his opposing boss Dean Smith.
Early on in the game, it looked like Arsenal would be able to open Villa up on the flanks by using a 3-4-3 formation using pseudo-wing backs in Bukayo Saka and Cedric Soares. With Villa preferring a flat back four, Saka and Cedric’s runs were giving the home side’s defence plenty of problems.
Following the first-half drinks break though, Smith tweaked his tactics somewhat. He moved to a 4-1-4-1 formation, forcing Jack Grealish and Trezeguet into deeper wide areas and preventing Arsenal from gaining overloads there.
That largely nullified Arsenal’s attack – particularly in the first half – and meant that despite the Gunners enjoying more possession, they weren’t really able to open Villa’s defence up. And when Arteta decided to overload the attack even more in the second half, Villa simply soaked up the pressure and looked to hit Arsenal on the break.
Smith’s tactics have come into question on numerous occasions during this season, but tonight he got them spot on.