Match Review: Arsenal 2 – 1 Aston Villa

The Gunners hosted Aston Villa, beating the visitors courtesy a relatively late goal by Cazorla, who scored a brace in the 2-1 victory. Arsenal were looking to raise their morale with all three points after they got knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship side Blackburn Rovers and were pummelled mid-week in the Champions League by Bayern Munich. Aston Villa had problems more pressing than team morale, and needed maximum points to steer clear of the dreaded relegation zone.

Squads

Arsene Wenger looked like he was done gambling and fielded what resembled a full strength squad. Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla led the attack and Lukas Podolski was benched. Jack Wilshere and Mikael Arteta were in the centre with the doubt-inducing Abou Diaby. Per Mertesacker started at the back and Laurent Koscielny was left on the bench. Bacary Sagna was out, after a knee injury sustained during the Champions League fixture.

Aston Villa looked extremely promising on paper, but any side can crumble against a rampaging Arsenal at home. Either way, Paul Lambert looked ready for their first of ’12 cup finals’, and wanted to add to the statistic of Villa having won one of their last four fixtures. Aston Villa had also just ended their eight match losing streak after beating West Ham. Gabriel Agbonlahor and Karim El Ahmadi were in the team sheet along with Charles N’Zogbia who worked through a thigh problem. Christian Benteke up front was a man to watch along with Andreas Weimann, and the former’s pace was ideal to trouble the tall German in the opposition backline. Bradley Guzman started in goal, with a huge responsibility of keeping the Arsenal attack at bay, in addition to commanding the last line of the Villa defense.

Game Review

Arsenal started strong, as was expected of a team which had been demolished over the last week and were looking for a quick scalp to come back on track. Couple of hopeful shots later, Santi Cazorla produced a left footed cross which was quickly blocked, and the rebound fell back to him. Immediately correcting his stance, Cazorla shifted weight and took another shot, this time with his right, to give Arsenal the lead in under 6 minutes. His shot nutmegged two Villa defenders before beating the outstretched American in goal, and made for good watching for a down and out fan club.

What followed immediately seemed to resemble a revival of sorts, when Arsenal looked like the Arsenal of yore, constantly pushing the ball around the penalty box. They held just over 55 per cent of the possession, and had 10 shots to show for their effort. Villa took time to warm up to the idea of trying to counter the Arsenal barrage. Lackadaisical to start off, Lambert’s men seemed more open while pushing the opposition back, and quickly connected dots, trying Szczesny’s mettle. The commentators labelled it a basketball match, referring to the box-to-box deliveries, but the score line looked anything but. At the half time whistle, only Arsenal had sufficiently impressed while Villa had the occasional chance which was diligently fluffed. Both teams essentially had enough opportunity to add to their tally, but neither capitalized.

The second half started in a lower tempo, but Villa looked more determined this time around. Arsenal were happy to knock it around, before losing the ball in the final third. In the 67th minute, an Arsenal corner taken by Cazorla was cleared by Ashley Westwood, which fell to N’Zogbia. He unleashed the bulldozing Weimann who was let go by a retreating Carl Jenkinson. He let one rip from outside the box and even though the Polish keeper managed both hands on to the ball, it refused to stay out. Villa had finally equalized, and Wenger rued his team’s inability to add to the one. A flurry of substitutions later, which brought on El Ahmadi and Podolski, Arsenal were clearly desperate for another one. The Gunners were on overdrive by the 75th minute, but were failing to find their feet. Guzman was top class in goal, but Giroud was extremely disappointing at times, letting go of free headers and losing possession in promising moves. Podolski too snatched at one before hesitating on another occasion. Eventually, in the 85th minute, Wilshere put a sublime lob through for an advancing Monreal, who cut back for Cazorla who finished in the bottom right corner. The sign of relief at the Emirates was clearly visible and the smile on Wenger’s face said it all.

At the end, Arsenal had 24 shots as opposed to 5 by the Villans. Cazorla made for the difference between the two sides, and saved the spectators from what could have been an unexpectedly drab meeting. Wilshere also showed why at 21 he is considered a star, making the assist for the first goal and the second assist for the winner. Arsenal meet Tottenham next week, in a bid to cement fourth place, while Villa meet Manchester City.